March - further research: Dig Deeper into History with Primary Sources - One Book 2017-2018: March ( book 3)

ProQuest History Study Center

History Study Center (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Primary and secondary sources covering global history from ancient times to the present day. Study Units offer editorially selected material on over 500 historical topics. Over 40,000 documents, articles, images and links to websites.

Use the menus to find sources on select topics.

Study Units > American History > The United States of America, 1945 > The American Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968.

Choose from a range of primary (original to that era) and secondary (about that era) sources.

Primary Sources: General Civil Rights

Alabama Literacy Test
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"The sample test below was used by Rufus A. Lewis in voter education classes for African Americans that he led in Montgomery in the 1960s"
American Radicalism Collection (Digital Images)
The Radicalism Collection includes books, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, and ephemera covering a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, economic, and cultural issues and movements in the United States and throughout the world.
Amistad Digital Resource
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This site, provided by Columbia University, is designed as a "unique multimedia resource for secondary school teachers to enhance their knowledge and ability in teaching African-American history"
Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth Overview
Overview, timeline, oral histories, and more covering the civil rights riots in 1968 Baltimore.
BBC Black History Collection
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"Interviews with people who were there at key moments in black and civil rights history"
Birmingham Civil RIghts Institute Resource Gallery
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"... The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) documents the struggle of African-American citizens in Birmingham to becoming full participants in the city's government and business community."
Birmingham Public Library (BPL): Digital Collections
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BPL's Digital Collections were created to preserve and make available the local history of Birmingham and the surrounding area. These resources may help students, teachers, genealogists, historians and interested citizens learn more about the history of Birmingham.Description from site (BPL = Birmingham Public Library)
Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage
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A project from the University of Southern Mississippi relating to Civil Rights history. Includes transcripts and some actual voice recordings of oral history interviews. Some are from "Mississippi Voices," an award winning radio series.
Civil Rights - Document Library
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a collection of documents on Civil Rights from the TeachingAmericanHistory.org Document Library
Civil Rights and Campus Protest Collection (SJSU)
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"The San Jose State College Digital Civil Rights Collection documents campus protest movements that took place from the 1960s-1970. San Jose State College (SJSC) campus protest movements reflected the explosion of student unrest on college campuses across the nation. Between the years 1968-1972, student unrest dominated college life. Students at SJSC responded to national and local issues that included civil rights, equal access to housing, student clubs and organizations, athletics, demands for relevant curriculum, and protest against the escalation of the Vietnam War, that included protests against the draft and the presence of the ROTC and DOW Chemical on campus."
University of Mississippi Libraries: Civil Rights Archive
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"The University of Mississippi's Civil Rights Archive contains digitized versions of small (generally one box or less) collections related to the struggle for civil rights in Mississippi and the American South. Collections date from Reconstruction to the late 20th century. Major topics represented include the Freedmen's Bureau, school integration, voter registration, labor, and religious activism."
Civil Rights Data Collection
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"The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a biennial (i.e., every other school year) survey required by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Since 1968, the CRDC has collected data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation's public schools for use by OCR in its enforcement and monitoring efforts regarding equal educational opportunity. The CRDC is also a tool for other Department offices and federal agencies, policymakers and researchers, educators and school officials, and the public to analyze student equity and opportunity."
Civil Rights Digital Library from the Digital Library of Georgia
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".... promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. "
Civil Rights Greensboro
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"... provides access to archival resources documenting the modern civil rights era in Greensboro, North Carolina, from the 1940s to the early 1980s. "
Library of Congress: Civil Rights History Project
Search through this collection of filmed first-hand accounts, images, videos, articles, and essays - all focused on different aspects of the Civil Rights Movement.
Civil Rights in Maryland
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A guide to archival sources on Civil Rights in Maryland. Includes access to selected documents online.
Civil Rights in Mississippi Digital Archive
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"The University of Southern Mississippi, had the largest and most successful Freedom Summer project in 1964. The civil rights materials collected at the University document a local history with truly national significance. " Includes an archive of oral histories.
Civil Rights Movement Veterans
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A site designed "... to make sure that there is at least one place where the Movement story is told by those who actually lived it. " It includes documents, interviews, photos, etc.
Civil Rights Oral History Collection (WSU)
In the Washington State University's digital collections, search through a collection of oral histories in this civil right's-focused collection
Crossroads to Freedom
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"... connects the world with Memphis history through an archive of documents, newspapers, images and oral histories. Our goal is to empower Memphians to tell the stories of our city and region as a vital aspect of participation in the future of our community. "
Desegregating Dallas Schools: The Litigation Archives
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Contains Tasby v. Estes information from Judge Sanders’s court chambers papers, litigation files of Mr. Ed Cloutman, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, and those of Mr. Robert Hyer Thomas, the Dallas Independent School District’s lead counsel.
Dig DC
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"Dig DC is your portal to selected digitized and born-digital items from DC Public Library Special Collections. At Dig DC you can find photos, maps, audio and more documenting the history of Washington D.C."
Documented Rights Exhibit on Flicker
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Photos and documents on Civil Rights provided by the U.S. National Archives on Flicker created from the Documented Rights Exhibit
Documenting the American South
A full-text online database of primary documents about the American South.
FBI: Civil Rights
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Civil rights files from the FBI.
The Freedom Archives
"The Freedom Archives contains over 12,000 hours of audio and video recordings as well as print materials dating primarily from the late-1960s to the mid-90s. "
Freedom Riders Oral Histories
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"In the summer of 1961, the Freedom Riders, a group of mostly young people, both black and white, risked their lives to challenge the system of segregation in interstate travel in the South. The purpose of the rides was "to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional" (CORE, 2006). In 2001, participants gathered in Jackson, MS to commemorate the fortieth-anniversary of the freedom rides. Of those that attended, forty-two participants were interviewed; those recordings are available in this collection."
Freedom Summer | Wisconsin Historical Society
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"More than 25,000 pages from the Freedom Summer manuscripts -- enough to fill several file cabinets -- are available online. In them you will find official records of organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Congress of Racial Equality (CORE); the personal papers of movement leaders and activists such as Amzie Moore, Mary King and Howard Zinn, letters and diaries of northern college students who went South to volunteer for the summer; newsletters produced in Freedom Schools; racist propaganda, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and brochures, magazine articles, telephone call logs, candid snapshots, internal memos, press releases and much more. The digital collection will continue to grow as more manuscripts are added in coming months."
Gilder Lehrman Center Online Documents
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"The Gilder Lehrman Center's online document collection contains over 200 individual items, including speeches, letters, cartoons and graphics, interviews, and articles."
From The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition
HERB: Social History for Every Classroom
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"HERB's classroom-ready primary documents and teaching activities engage students with deep historical questions and are designed to support learning at every level. Grounded in decades of work with history teachers in real classrooms, HERB reflects ASHP/CML’s mission of making the past, and the working people and ordinary Americans who shaped it, vivid and meaningful. "
Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights
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A site at the Thurgood Marshall Law Library which provides access to the historical record of this Federal Agency. Documents can be accessed by title, date, subject, or sudoc number. Coverage begins with the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Additional information may also be found at U.S. Commission on Civil Rights web page (http://www.usccr.gov/).
An Imperfect Revolution - American RadioWorks
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Nearly everyone who experienced school desegregation has a story to tell about crossing racial lines. Together they reflect an era marked by struggle and hope, anger and idealism. American RadioWorks traveled to Louisville, KY and Charlotte, NC to talk with people about their memories of integration. Here are some of their stories.
I Raised My Hand to Volunteer
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".... this online exhibit contains digitized documents, images, and other archival materials relating to 1960s student protests in Chapel Hill, N.C. "
Jim Crow Stories (PBS)
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"Read and listen to these compelling first-hand accounts by people who experienced, endured, and survived Jim Crow. " part of The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow site form PBS.
Land of (Unequal) Opportunity
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A digital collection about civil rights in Arkansas.
"While the 1957 Little Rock Central High School integration crisis is well known nationally and even internationally, it is merely one of a myriad of historical events that touches on civil rights."
Library of Congress: Voices of Civil Rights
The exhibition Voices of Civil Rights documents events during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. This exhibition draws from the thousands of personal stories, oral histories, and photographs collected by the “Voices of Civil Rights” project, a collaborative effort of AARP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), and the Library of Congress, and marks the arrival of these materials in the Library's collection.
March On Milwaukee - Civil Rights History Project
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"This digital collection presents primary sources from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries and the Wisconsin Historical Society that provide a window onto Milwaukee’s civil rights history."
Mississippi Digital Archives
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MDAH Digital Archives include:
electronic records received from government agencies and officials; donated and acquired electronic resources; digital copies of original materials from MDAH collections, including paper documents, photographs, maps, audio, and video
NARA: Documented Rights
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This site from provides samples of "documents in the National Archives [that] give voice to our national struggle for personal rights and freedoms. "
Newark 1967
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"The Star-Ledger on the Newark Riots" contains a variety of resources related to the '67 riots in Newark, NJ including articles from the Star-Ledger.
NPS:Selma to Montgomery Oral Histories
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"... read the stories from the people who were there! "
The Oral History Digital Collection (U of Southern Mississippi)
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"The Oral History Digital Collection contains a selection of interview transcripts produced by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at The University of Southern Mississippi. Currently, a majority of the interviews in the collection document the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. Transcripts of additional oral history interviews are available in McCain Library & Archives."
Oral History Interview with Orval Faubus, June 14, 1974 Interview A-0031. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
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Abstract
"Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus reflects on the effects of his twelve-year tenure in the governor's mansion, state politics, and, of course, desegregation. Faubus paints himself as a populist who helped rescue Arkansas from backwardness with social programs and infrastructure. Merciless mischaracterizations from a lazy and hostile press have sullied his legacy, he claims, ignoring his many accomplishments and obscuring the true story of what happened on the courthouse steps in 1957. This interview will be useful to researchers interested in Arkansas politics in the middle of the twentieth century, the rising influence of the media in politics, and desegregation. "
Pacific Northwest Labor and Civil Rights Projects
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"No part of the United States claims a labor heritage or a civil rights history quite like the Pacific Northwest. Labor and civil rights movements have been central to the region's history and remain a powerful force in contemporary society and politics. This page is a gateway to a consortium of labor and civil rights history projects directed by Professor James N. Gregory at the University of Washington and supported by the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, the Simpson Center for the Humanities, and the Center for the Study of Pacific Northwest. "
Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress
Primary source sets from the Library of Congress are "Specific artifacts (images, manuscripts, maps, sound files) with analysis tools help students think like historians about a particular historical event or phenomenon."
Print Culture of the Civil Rights Movement, 1950-1980
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"This project highlights the newspapers, posters, broadsides, pamphlets, fliers, and other printed ephemera produced by student and community groups, leading civil rights organizations, and individuals, which documented a revolutionary era." Tulane University Digital Library
Race and Place
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"... is an archive about the racial segregation laws, or the 'Jim Crow' laws from the late 1880s until the mid-twentieth century. The focus of the collection is the town of Charlottesville in Virginia. The Jim Crow laws segregated African-Americans from white Americans in public places such as schools, and school buses. The archive contains photos, letters, two regional censuses and a flash map of the town of Charlottesville. The Jim Crow laws were not overturned until the important Brown versus Board of Education court ruling in 1954 (but not totally eliminated until the Civil Rights Act of the 1964). "
Records of Rights
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An online exhibit of documents and other items available from U.S. National Archives. It includes rights of various types including African-Americans, Native Americans, Women, privacy, sexuality, workplace, and rights from the first amendment
Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders
Rochester Black Freedom Struggle: Online Project
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"This project serves as a permanent resource for continuing conversation, learning and research around Rochester's role in civil rights history. We also hope the site will identify other participants. The Department seeks collections of personal or organizational papers, images, and ephemera related to Rochester's black freedom experience in the 1960s and '70s – especially materials related to the riots and the city's recovery."
Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project
Activist Oral Histories
Activists tell their stories in streaming video oral histories. Collections include: African American issues, Asian American issues, Latino issues, Urban Indian issues, Women's issues
Smithsonian Source: Civil Rights
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A collection of documents provided through the Smithsonian Source website.
The Struggle for Rights in America
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"Many documents at the National Archives illustrate how individuals and groups asserted their rights as Americans. Use this site to explore the topics of slavery, racism, citizenship, women’s independence, immigration, and more." Docs Teach at the National Archives
The Supreme Court - Expanding Civil Rights
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primary sources from PBS related to the Supreme Court and civil rights
Television News of the Civil Rights Era, 1950-1970
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"aims to collect, digitize, and present in streaming video format over the World Wide Web television news footage from the period and to make these valuable materials available to scholars, teachers, and students. The current archive contains films from the nightly news from two local television stations in Virginia--WDBJ (CBS) Roanoke and WSLS (NBC) Roanoke. In this initial installment we have digitized over 230 films. This rare footage includes full speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, the governors of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as original footage of school desegregation, public meetings, local debates over civil rights matters, and interviews with citizens." Additional sections of primary source documents and oral histories are available.
Time Collection: Civil Rights
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Time Magazine covers and articles related to civil rights.
Time Collection: Murder in Mississippi
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Covers and articles from Time Magazine's coverage of the three murdered civil rights workers in 1964 Mississippi.
Tuskegee University Archives: Audio Collection
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"Tuskegee University Archives recently released new recordings from the Tuskegee Civic Association records that feature prominent leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. These speeches, addressing the Tuskegee community, fill in historical gaps to illuminate the relationships between leaders and their constituents.

The collection was digitized from reel-to-reel tape under the care of university archivist Dana Chandler and made available through funding by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to the Council of Independent Colleges. The recordings are freely available to listen to on Shared Shelf Commons." ARTstor Blog
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
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Provides access to various publications and legislation.
U.S. Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division
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Provides information on civil rights, has topical newsletters/bulletins, an Electronic Reading Room, FAQs, selected decisions and briefs, and special topics.
University of Southern California Digital Library
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"Spanning a wide range of visual media, the USC Digital Library offers digital images of drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books, as well as audio and video recordings. Encompassing the subject strengths of the vast collections of the libraries at the University of Southern California, these materials represent the applied sciences, fine and decorative arts, history, performing arts, and social sciences."
Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project
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"The Voices of Democracy project is designed to promote the study of great speeches and public debates. The emphasis of the project is on the actual words of those who, throughout American history, have defined the country’s guiding principles, debated the great social and political controversies of the nation’s history, and shaped the identity and character of the American people. " It is run by the University of Maryland
Voices of Freedom
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"... produced by the Virginia Civil Rights Movement Video Initiative, a non-profit organization incorporated in 2002 to produce videotaped oral histories of leaders of the Civil Rights movement in Virginia. "

Many thanks to Christopher Newport University Library for this list of links

Primary Sources: Events

16th Street Church Bombing
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September 15, 1963
1963 March on Washington U.S. National Archives
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The National Archives has extensive holdings from the March on Washington, and highlights are online.
Attica Revisted
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A project of the Talking History project provides access to New York State Special Commission on Attica Hearings, State Police videos, oral histories etc. regarding the September 13, 1971 uprising at Attica.
Birmingham Bomb Kills 4
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Article from the NY Times about the bombing of the 16th Street Church that killed 4 little girls.
Civil Rights: March on Washington, 28 August 1963
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12 digital pages from the Kennedy Library related to the 1963 March.
Eulogy for the Young Victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing
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"Delivered at funeral service for three of the children—Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, and Cynthia Diane Wesley—killed in the bombing. A separate service was held for the fourth victim, Carole Robertson."
Evening public ledger., June 06, 1921
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Tulsa Race Riot - article
Famous Trials: Mississippi Burning Trial (1967)
FBI: Mississippi Burning (MIBURN) Case
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FBI files on the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964 (Chaney, Schwerner & Goodman)
Freedom Riders Oral Histories
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"In the summer of 1961, the Freedom Riders, a group of mostly young people, both black and white, risked their lives to challenge the system of segregation in interstate travel in the South. The purpose of the rides was "to test the Supreme Court's ruling in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional" (CORE, 2006). In 2001, participants gathered in Jackson, MS to commemorate the fortieth-anniversary of the freedom rides. Of those that attended, forty-two participants were interviewed; those recordings are available in this collection."
Freedom Summer - Digital Collection
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The Mississippi Freedom Summer Project website, from Miami University of Ohio, documents the history of 1964's "Freedom Summer", which was when volunteers gathered at the former Western College for Women in order to be trained to register African-American voters in Mississippi. Three volunteers were subsequently murdered in Mississippi, and "these events called attention to racial inequality and served as a catalyst for change." The collection was created by a grant from the Ohio Humanities Council, the Miami University Libraries, and a generous grant from Catherine Ross-Loveland, a 1952 graduate of the Western College for Women. The materials here include over 765 documents related to the Freedom Summer, including reports from the FBI about those involved with the activities around this form of civil rights activism and articles from the Ohio press about the civil rights movement in the South during that time. There are also 27 videos here from conversations and tours held on campus in 2004 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Freedom Summer. The videos include walking tours of the Western College for Women and panel discussions about faith and activism. Overall, it's a tremendous collection and one that merits several visits. [KMG] Description from July 22, 2011 | Volume 17, Number 29 The Scout Report
Jackie Robinson's Telegraph to President Johnson
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The telegram urges President Johnson to take action in Alabama (re - the Voting Rights situation 1965)
JFK's address to the American People on Civil Rights, 11 June 1963
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"Audio recording of President John F. Kennedy’s radio and television address on civil rights. In his speech the President responds to the threats of violence and obstruction on the University of Alabama campus following desegregation attempts, explaining that the United States was founded on the principle that all men are created equal and thus, all American students should be allowed to attend public educational institutions without the presence of military force, regardless of race. He also discusses how discrimination affects education, public safety, and international relations, noting that the country cannot preach freedom internationally while ignoring it domestically. The President asks Congress to enact legislation protecting all Americans' voting rights, legal standing, educational opportunities, and access to public facilities; but recognizes that legislation alone cannot solve the country's problems concerning race relations. "
Johnson Conversation with J. Edgar Hoover, June 25, 1964
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"Hoover reports on talks with gov. Johnson, John Stennis; question of having marines or navy personnel help in search for missing Civil Rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner; reasons for not activating Mississippi National Guard"
Johnson Conversation with J. Edgar Hoover - June 24, 1964
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"LBJ assures Hoover of his respect for FBI and Hoover in investigation of missing Civil Rights workers, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner; LBJ explains background of his appointment of Allen Dulles as observer of investigation"
Johnson on KKK Murder of Civil Rights Worker
March on Washington 50th Anniversary Oral History Project
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"The March on Washington 50th Anniversary Oral History Project gathers first-hand accounts of the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place at the National Mall on August 28, 1963."
March on Washington August 28, 1963
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Video footage provided by the U.S. National Archives
March on Washington — Documents
Mike Wallace Interview: Orval Faubus
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Mike Wallis interviewed Governor Orval Faubus about Little Rock school integration - September, 15, 1957
Official Program for the March on Washington (1963)
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"This program listed the events scheduled at the Lincoln Memorial during the August 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The highlight of the march, which attracted 250,000 people, was Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech."
A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
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"The final report is contained here in PDF format. This document is over 170 pages with photographs." from the Oklahoma Historical Society website
Six Dead After Church Bombing
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Washington Post article on the 16th Street Church bombing.
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing
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Newspaper clippings and photos related to the bombing in 1963 from the Birmingham Public Library's Digital Collection.
Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 Bibliography
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Provides information on sources related to the Tulsa Race Riot.
Tulsa Reparations Coalition
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Includes items such as Commission Report, related books and articles and the stories of the survivors of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.
The TRC "is sponsored by the Center for Racial Justice, Inc. a 501c3 organization"
U.S. vs Cecil Price et al. ("Mississippi Burning" Trial)
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includes various primary source materials related to the case
Why Should We March? (1941) Flyer
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"See a flyer promoting the proposed March [1941] on Washington spearheaded by A. Philip Randolph."
“Now Tulsa Does Care”: A White Tulsan’s Perspective on the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
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"In an article in the magazine Survey, Amy Comstock, personal secretary to the editor of the Tulsa Tribune, attempted to deflect attention from Tulsa’s white citizenry by fixing blame for the 1921 riot on an ostensibly impoverished and licentious black community. Comstock argued that the responsibility for improving conditions, and for enforcing law and order, in this bustling community rested with white officials. "
“The Eruption of Tulsa”: An NAACP Official Investigates the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921
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"Walter White, an official of the NAACP, traveled to Tulsa in disguise to survey the damage caused by the 1921 race riot. His report, one of many articles on the riot, was published in the Nation in the summer of 1921. "

Many thanks to Christopher Newport University Library for this list of links

History Reference Center

History Reference Center (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Ebsco History Reference Center offers full text from more than 1,620 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, cover to cover full text for more than 150 leading history periodicals, nearly 57,000 historical documents, more than 78,000 biographies of historical figures, more than 113,000 historical photos and maps, and more than 80 hours of historical video.

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Primary Sources: Organizations

A Report by Mary Church Terrell, Founder of the NACW.
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"Read an address by Mary Church Terrell, president of the National Association of Colored Women, on the progress made by African-American women since Emancipation."
American Radicalism Collection (Digital Images)
The Radicalism Collection includes books, pamphlets, periodicals, posters, and ephemera covering a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, economic, and cultural issues and movements in the United States and throughout the world.
CORE-Lator
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Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) newsletter
March 1964, September 1964, and March 1965
FBI: Black Panther Party
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"The Black Panther Party (BPP) is a black extremist organization founded in Oakland, California in 1966. It advocated the use of violence and guerilla tactics to overthrow the U.S. government. In 1969, the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office opened an investigative file on the BPP to track its militant activities, income, and expenses. This release consists of Charlotte's file on BPP activities from 1969 to 1976. "
FBI: NAACP
FBI files on the NAACP - housed in The Vault Collection which includes" 6,700 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies"
FBI: Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam - Elijah Muhammad
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"...radio broadcast by Muhammad was aired in the NYC area on radio station WNTA on November 23, 1960. It was part of a series of radio broadcasts by the NOI that -- in part -- sought to explain the group's separatist and nationalist racial philosophy to the public. "
University of Albany Talking History website.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Region I, Records, 1942-1986
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Selected items available online.
"The Records of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Region I document the daily work of the NAACP in the Western United States from 1942-1986 (bulk 1945-1977). Regular additions to the collection are expected. Although the Region initially consisted of four states and grew to include nine, the bulk of the collection documents the work of the Region I Office in California, particularly in regard to statewide legislation. One of the most comprehensive record series is that of Branch Files, which contains documentation of the work of local (usually citywide) branches throughout the Region. The work of Regional Directors, Noah W. Griffin, Franklin Williams, Tarea Hall Pittman, Leonard H. Carter, and Virna M. Canson, is especially well represented within the collection."
Oral History Interview with Ella Baker, September 4, 1974
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"Ella Baker was an instrumental figure in the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) during the late 1950s and in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) during the early 1960s."
Platform Adopted by Those Who Helped Found the NAACP, 1909
A primary source document from the online exhibit "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crom" - "The platform adopted by a group of roughly 60 individuals that led to the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)."
Rules of the Black Panther Party
SNCC Chairman John Lewis' Speech to the March
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Speech as given at the March 1963 March on Washington.
SNCC Chairman John Lewis' Speech to the March (Original Draft)
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Speech as originally written
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Founding Statement
Ten-Point Health Program of the Young LordsTen-Point Health Program of the Young Lords
Ten-Point Program and Platform of the Black Student Unions
The Basis of Black Power
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Position Paper, 1966
The Panthers' Ten-Point Platform
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"The Black Panther Party issued this statement in October 1966, listing its political aims and citing parts of the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence in support of its points." from the PBS show American Experience - Eyes on the Prize
The Student Voice
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Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Newsletters: February 25, 1964
March 3, 1964
June 9, 1964
July 15, 1964
July 22, 1964
July 29, 1964
August 19, 1964
August 30, 1965
UC Berkeley Library Social Activism Sound Recording Project: The Black Panther Party
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"The UC Berkeley Social Activism Sound Recording Project is a partnership between the UC Berkeley Library, the Pacifica Foundation, and other private and institutional sources. The intent of the project is to gather, catalog, and make accessible primary source media resources related to social activism and activist movements in California in the 1960's and 1970's. Some recordings have been slightly edited for purposes of sound quality and continuity. "
Young Lords Party 13-Point Program and Platform

Many thanks to Christopher Newport University Library for this list of links

U.S. History in Context

U.S. History in Context (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers, reference sources, primary documents, and selected websites.

U.S. History in Context will return a collection of information on a given topic. Search by keyword or Browse by topic to find relevant resources. Use the menu on the right to limit your search to Primary Sources. Note that you may find images, video, and text.

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Primary Sources: Opposition to Civil Rights

Documents of Senator Harry F. Byrd and other related materials
FBI: Jesse Helms
FBI: White Supremacist Groups
Governor George C. Wallace's School House Door Speech
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Governor Wallace read this proclamation when he first stood in the door-way to block the attempt of two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, to register at the University of Alabama. June 11, 1963
Leaflet Circulated by the KKK in Mississippi in 1964
Oral History Interview with George Wallace, July 15, 1974
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"Longstanding Alabama governor and former presidential candidate George Wallace discusses Alabama politics and racial issues in the American South. Wallace speaks at length about the alienation of politicians from a majority of Americans, and explains that his success is due to his effective reconnection with this frustrated constituency. Race plays a significant role in this interview, with Wallace defending his opposition to civil rights legislation by saying he did so on behalf of states' rights and asserting that Alabama has much to offer its African American citizens. He also offers a number of insights on the state of southern politics, the region's increasing penetration into the national political consciousness, and his rehabilitation as a politician after his 1968 presidential run and an assassination attempt. "
Oral History Interview with Jesse Helms
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"Jesse Helms, at the beginning of a long career as a Republican senator from North Carolina, discusses his entry into politics, describes some of his political positions, and reflects on the state of the Republican Party. A Democrat, Helms was inspired to switch parties after hearing a speech delivered by Richard Nixon; shortly after doing so, he won a Senate seat. In the Senate, and in this interview, he argued forcefully against busing to achieve desegregation, against the welfare system, and against government interference in the free market. At the time of this interview, in 1974, he does not see a significant political shift in North Carolina's future despite the recent, historic election of a Republican as governor. He maintains that voters cast their ballots for candidates rather than for parties. The issues that Helms hopes to engage include what he sees as family values—which would indeed come to dominate political discourse—and the racial issues that signaled the growing strength of the frustrated white voters who would cast their votes for Republicans in the 1970s and 1980s. This interview provides a useful look into the mind of one of the most influential southern senators of the post-1960s era, as well as into the budding conservative movement. "
Oral History Interview with Strom Thurmond
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"Strom Thurmond had a long career as an attorney, judge, and governor in South Carolina before serving in the United States Senate. Here he addresses his childhood and the predecessors who inspired his lifelong work. Starting with his parents' farm, Thurmond explains how he learned to save and invest by working on local fields. His parents, he says, modeled ambition and diligence. Local leaders such as Benjamin Tillman introduced him to the world of politics and the rhetoric of race relations. Through the example of others, he developed his own appreciation for constitutional literalism and states' rights. Thurmond discusses how he argued for these issues in his book and during his terms in office. He also gives his opinion on the desegregation process he witnessed in South Carolina and envisions how he would have reacted to major issues such as slavery. "
Southern Manifesto on Integration
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"In 1956, 19 Senators and 77 members of the House of Representatives signed the "Southern Manifesto," a resolution condemning the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The resolution called the decision "a clear abuse of judicial power" and encouraged states to resist implementing its mandates. In response to Southern opposition, in 1958 the Court revisited the Brown decision in Cooper v. Aaron, asserting that the states were bound by the ruling and affirming that its interpretation of the Constitution was the "supreme law of the land."" From Congressional Record, 84th Congress Second Session. Vol. 102, part 4. Washington, D.C.: Governmental Printing Office, 1956. 4459-4460.
Citizens' Council Collection
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"The first Citizens' Council (also known as the White Citizens' Council) was formed in Indianola, Mississippi, following the United States Supreme Court's 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which struck down segregation in public schools. Other Citizens' Council chapters were formed around the state, and soon a statewide body, the Association of Citizens' Councils of Mississippi, was founded in Winona, Mississippi. By 1956, the group claimed eighty thousand members in Mississippi. It was particularly active in the Delta region and also had a powerful Jackson chapter. A national group, the Citizens' Councils of America, was formed by 1956."
Mike Wallace Interview: Orval Faubus
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Mike Wallis interviewed Governor Orval Faubus about Little Rock school integration - September, 15, 1957
Oral History Interview with Orval Faubus, June 14, 1974 Interview A-0031. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
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Abstract
"Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus reflects on the effects of his twelve-year tenure in the governor's mansion, state politics, and, of course, desegregation. Faubus paints himself as a populist who helped rescue Arkansas from backwardness with social programs and infrastructure. Merciless mischaracterizations from a lazy and hostile press have sullied his legacy, he claims, ignoring his many accomplishments and obscuring the true story of what happened on the courthouse steps in 1957. This interview will be useful to researchers interested in Arkansas politics in the middle of the twentieth century, the rising influence of the media in politics, and desegregation. "

Many thanks to Christopher Newport University Library for this list of links

Selected Songs from the Civil Rights Era

Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
We Shall Overcome (Not sure which version yet; there are many)
If I had a Hammer (Again , not sure which version)
The Times They are a Changin' - Dylan
I'm On My Way - Odetta
Mississippi Goddam - Nina Simone
A Change is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke
People Get Ready - Curtis Mayfield
Say it Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud - James Brown

Holman Library

One Book 2017-2018: March ( book 3): March - further research: Dig Deeper into History with Primary Sources

Primary v Secondary

ProQuest History Study Center

Primary Sources: General Civil Rights

Primary Sources: Events

History Reference Center

Primary Sources: Organizations

U.S. History in Context

Primary Sources: Opposition to Civil Rights

Selected Songs from the Civil Rights Era