Also American

Library

Every resource in the archive — aggregated and cited for further study.

15 resources

Primary source· 1868· Primary
14th Amendment (transcript)
National Archives

Citizenship and equal protection, 1868.

Primary source· Primary
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives, 1936–1938
Federal Writers' Project

2,300+ first-person accounts of slavery and 500 photographs of formerly enslaved people.

Primary source· 1954· Primary
Brown v. Board opinion
National Archives

The 1954 decision ending school segregation.

Primary source· Primary
Civil Rights History Project (oral histories)
Library of Congress / NMAAHC

1,200+ recorded interviews and transcripts with civil-rights participants.

Primary source· Primary
Court Ruling on Anthony Johnson and His Servant (1655)
Encyclopedia Virginia

The 1655 Virginia court record in the Johnson v. Parker case.

Primary source· 1857· Primary
Dred Scott v. Sandford opinion
Library of Congress

The 1857 Supreme Court decision.

Primary source· 1863· Primary
Emancipation Proclamation (transcript)
National Archives

The full text of Lincoln's 1863 proclamation.

Primary source· Primary
Frederick Douglass Papers
Library of Congress

~7,400 items: correspondence, speeches, and writings of Frederick Douglass.

Primary source· Primary
Freedmen's Bureau Records (RG 105)
U.S. National Archives

Federal records of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

Primary source· Primary
Juneteenth — General Order No. 3 (original record)
U.S. National Archives

The original 1865 order announcing emancipation in Texas.

Primary source· Primary
Plessy v. Ferguson — digital collection
Library of Congress

Primary documents on the 1896 decision that constitutionalized "separate but equal."

Primary source· Primary
Rosa Parks Papers
Library of Congress

~7,500 manuscript items and 2,500 photographs documenting Parks's life and the movement.

Primary source· Primary
The 13th Amendment (milestone document)
U.S. National Archives

The amendment abolishing slavery, ratified December 6, 1865.

Primary source· Primary
USCT Compiled Military Service Records
U.S. National Archives

Service records of ~179,000 men of the United States Colored Troops.

Primary source· Primary
Voices Remembering Slavery
Library of Congress

Audio recordings (1932–1975) of formerly enslaved people across nine states.