Research Guides: HIST 212: The History of the African American Family: Jim Crow

Primary Source Databases

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
Broad coverage of African American history, culture, and daily life. Newspapers from over 35 states. Coverage: 1827-1998.

Race & Place: An African American Community in the Jim Crow South
An archive of papers, letters, and photographs primarily focusing on Charlottesville, VA during the Jim Crow era. "The project intends to connect race with place by understanding what it was like to live, work, pray, learn and play in the segregated South."
Elizabeth Johnson Harris Memoir
"85-page handwritten memoir supplemented with photographs and clippings documenting the personal and family history of poet and writer Elizabeth Johnson Harris of Augusta, GA, daughter of formerly enslaved parents. It includes her reflections on race relations, the place of African-Americans in society, as well as the importance of religion, education, and music in her life."
Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South
Interviews with 100 African Americans who lived in the American South during the Jim Crow Era. Primarily audio files, but some transcripts available.

Black Life in America This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive coverage of the African American experience from the early 18th century to the present. Sourced from more than 19,000 American and global news sources.

Umbra: Search African American History
A freely available digital discovery tool designed for the research and study of African American history and culture. It includes a growing collection of digital materials—images, videos, books, and more—provided by 500+ libraries, museums, and other repositories around the country.

African Americans and Jim Crow, 1883-1922 This link opens in a new window
African Americans and Jim Crow, 1883-1922 contains more than 1,000 fully searchable printed works from the beginning of Jim Crow to post-World War I. These works provide insights into African American culture and life during this period of segregation and disenfranchisement and include such topics as African American identity, relationships with peoples of other nations, and literature.
African American Communities This link opens in a new window
Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina this resource presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary full-text journal articles from 1,500 major journals. Please note: In many cases, JSTOR does not include the most recent 3 to 5 years of these journals. Please use other databases to retrieve recent articles, especially for current events topics. Coverage: Varies by title. Access is available to 2007+ alumni; requires W&M userid and password.
America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Provides full text coverage of the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes nearly 200 journals and 100 books, selective indexing for over 1,700 journals, and abstracts in English of foreign language articles.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary database of journal articles (including peer reviewed), books, book chapters, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Coverage: 1887-present.