Research Guides: Slavery & Freedom: Civil War & Reconstruction

Black History in Two Minutes: The Civil War & Emancipation

Black History in Two Minutes: Reconstruction: The Vote

Guide Author

Leah Richardson

she/her/hers

Email Me

Contact:

Special Collections Research Center
Gelman Library, Suite 704

202-994-3263

Subjects: American Studies, Gender Studies, Primary Source Collections, Women's Studies

Civil War & Reconstruction Digital Archives

Civil War and Reconstruction
A documentary perspective on the Civil War and Reconstruction from the National Archives.
The Fight for Equal Rights: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
The National Archives record-based analysis includes letters from African American soldiers.
Soldiers and Sailors Database
Searchable database listing all known participants in the Civil War and information on black military participation during the conflict.
Emancipation Proclamation
“Transcript of the document, an essay by noted historian John Hope Franklin, and an audio interview with a former slave who reflects on conditions after emancipation.”
African American Odyssey: The Civil War and Reconstruction
Annotated primary documents, including images and manuscripts, with brief introductory essays.
Reconstruction: An Overview (and other resources)
Overview of the Reconstruction Era. Text by noted historian Eric Foner. Includes images and timeline.
The Freedman’s Bureau On-line
Primary documents related to the Bureau’s role in Reconstruction.
W.E.B. Du Bois Center
Resources from the W.E.B. Du Bois Library at UMass Amherst. This useful site contains primary documents related to the Niagara Movement and the founding of the NAACP.
Booker T. Washington: Online Resources
This LOC website includes variety of material associated with Booker T. Washington, including manuscripts, photographs, and books. This guide compiles links to digital materials related to Booker T. Washington that are available throughout the Library of Congress Web site. In addition, it provides links to external Web sites focusing on Booker T. Washington and a bibliography containing selected works.”

HarpWeek (Harper's Weekly: 1857-1877) This link opens in a new window
Searchable page images from Harper's Weekly magazine for 1857-1877, the Civil War era through Reconstruction.

Newspaper & Magazine Archives

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 (Readex)
Provides access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. The collection features papers from more than 35 states and was in part created from the most extensive African American newspaper archives in the U.S.
American Periodicals Series (1741-1940)
Page-images from more than 1,100 historic American magazines, journals, and newspapers illuminating the development of American culture, politics, and society across 150 years. Articles can be searched by author, source, or words in the complete text.
African American Newspapers: The 19th Century (Accessible Archives)
This database provides full-text access to articles from a number of historic African American newspapers, beginning in 1827 with Freedom's Journal. The collection contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s and offers first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day.
Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988)
The Baltimore Afro-American (Historical), a prominent, historic African American newspaper, offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue.
19th Century U.S. Newspapers
Provides access to approximately 1.7 million pages of primary source newspaper content from the 19th century, featuring full-text content and images from numerous newspapers from a range of urban and rural regions throughout the U.S. The collection encompasses the entire 19th century, with an emphasis on such topics as the American Civil War, African-American culture and history, Western migration and Antebellum-era life among other subjects.

African American Periodicals, 1825-1995 This link opens in a new window
This collection features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations bulletins, annual reports and other genres.
National Anti-Slavery Standard This link opens in a new window
This publication was the official weekly newspaper of the American Anti-Slavery Society, an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. The newspaper contained essays, debates, speeches, events, reports and anything else deemed newsworthy in relation to the question of slavery in the United States and other parts of the world. Covers years 1840-1870.
Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Search all historical newspapers from ProQuest: The Atlanta Constitution (1869-1875; 1881-1984), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Baltimore Sun (1837-1991), Chicago Defender (1909-1975), Chicago Tribune (1849-1998), Korea Times (1950-2016), Los Angeles Times (1881-1999), The New York Times (1857-2019), The New York Tribune / Herald Tribune (1841-1962), Norfolk Journal and Guide (1916-2003), Pittsburgh Courier (1911-1950; 1955-1966), The Wall Street Journal (1889-2012), and The Washington Post (1877-2007).