LibGuides: ENGL 248 African American Literature: Find Websites

Finding Reliable Sources on the Web - Secondary & Primary Sources

Suggested Websites

Use the topical tabs in this box to find links to various credible websites where you can find background information, web articles, and even primary sources on the subject.

Use the tabs in this box to navigate some suggested websites on the following topics:

Slavery
The Civil War
The Reconstruction Era
Segregation
The Harlem Renaissance
The Civil Rights Movement
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Black Arts/Power Movement

Slavery

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

The Age of Slavery (1800-1860): The African Americans—Many Rivers to Cross
Streaming video available from Films on Demand
more...less...
This film illustrates how black lives changed dramatically in the aftermath of the American Revolution. For free black people, these years were a time of opportunity, but for most African Americans, the era represented a new nadir. King Cotton fueled the rapid expansion of slavery into new territories and the forcible relocation of African Americans to the Deep South. Yet as slavery intensified, so did resistance. From individual acts to mass rebellions, African Americans demonstrated their determination to undermine and ultimately eradicate slavery.
Documenting the American South
A full-text online database of primary documents about the American South.
Georgetown Slavery Archive
"The Georgetown Slavery Archive is a repository of materials relating to the Maryland Jesuits, Georgetown University, and slavery."
Library of Congress: Slavery Resource Guide
Manuscript Collections Relating to Slavery (New York Historical Society)
The Penn & Slavery Project
Just one of the many American universities that are taking an honest look at their history, contribution, and past reliance on Slavery in American history.
Pre-Civil War African-American Slavery
From the Library of Contregreen collection of US History Primary Sources
Slavery Fact Sheets
From the University of Houston's Digital History website - a timeline of topics with various resources, images, multimedia, and more.
Slavery in the United States: An Overview
From the American Battlefield Trust
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories
"The recordings of former slaves in Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories took place between 1932 and 1975 in nine states. Twenty-three interviewees discuss how they felt about slavery, slaveholders, coercion of slaves, their families, and freedom. Several individuals sing songs, many of which were learned during the time of their enslavement."

Civil War

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

Library of Congress: Abraham Lincoln Papers
"The papers of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), lawyer, representative from Illinois, and sixteenth president of the United States, contain approximately 40,550 documents dating from 1774 to 1948, although most of the collection spans from the 1850s through Lincoln’s presidency (1861-1865). "
The Civil War: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence
AN article from "Studies in Intelligence", Winter 1998-1999
National Archives: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
An article from the publication "Social Education" - on the National Archive website.
13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865)
From the America's Historical Documents collection at the National Archives

Featured Content

African Americans in Civil War Medicine from the National Institutes of Health

(click on image to enlarge)

screenshot of the featured source, use link below to access website

African Americans in Civil War Medicine from the National Institutes of Health
This online exhibit "Binding Wounds, Pushing Boundaries: African Americans in Civil War Medicine looks at the men and women who served as surgeons and nurses and how their work as medical providers challenged the prescribed notions of race and gender."

Reconstruction

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

The Battle Over Reconstruction - Article & Curriculum
From the National Endowment for the Humanities, this page on EDSITEment!, features curriculum covering aspects of the reconstruction,
Reconstruction in South Carolina: 1861-1876 - LDHI
An online exhibition "After Slavery: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Emancipation Carolinas" from the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative
American's Reconstruction: People and Politics After the Civil War
An online exhibit from the Digital History website, featuring some short articles about the Reconstruction.
America's Reconstruction
Provided by the University of Houston
Lowcountry Digital History Initiative
A Digital History Project hosted by the Lowcountry Digital Library at the College of Charleston - contains many online exhibitions with both primary and secondary sources

Jim Crow & Segregation

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

Jim Crow in America - Smithsonian
An article with primary source documents, from the larger online exhibit "Separate Is Not Equal - Brown v. Board of Education" from the Smithsonian
Rise and Fall of Jim Crow from PBS
While this website is no longer maintained, the online exhibit provides first-hand stories from those fighting for equality or those living thru the Jim Crow Era. There are some interactive mpas and timelines with short articles about different people, places, and events, and online resources for teachers.
Jim Crow Laws
Who Was Jim Crow: National Geographic
African American Eras, Segregation to Civil Rights (in GVRL)
School Segregation in Seattle
Classroom activity from the UW Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project
Somebody Had To Do It: First Children in School Desegregation - LDHI "Somebody Had To Do It examines the history of school desegregation in South Carolina and the U.S. South. This online exhibition features oral histories with Black Americans who were the “first children” to integrate public schools in the mid-twentieth century. It also includes an essay by Somebody Had To Do It project director and “first child” Millicent E. Brown, historic context by Jon Hale and Clerc Cooper, and an interactive map and timeline. Published May 2015."

Harlem Renaissance

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

Against the Odds: The Artists of the Harlem Renaissance
Streaming Video available in Films on Demand.
Children's literature of the Harlem Renaissance / Katharine Capshaw Smith
Closing Time: Langston Hughes and the Queer Poetics of Harlem Nightlife
Harlem Renaissance - National Gallery of Art
Includes secondary and primary info on the topic from the National Gallery of Arts website
Digital Harlem
A map and database of the lives of Harlem residents from 1815-1930
African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond
This online exhibit "presents a selection of paintings, sculpture, prints, and photographs by forty-three black artists who explored the African American experience from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil Rights era and the decades beyond, which saw tremendous social and political changes" - From the Smithsonian Museum
Library of Congress: Harlem Renaissance - Primary Source Investigation
A collection of primary source materials from the Library of Congress
PBS NewsHour: Harlem Renaissance
A PBS forum addresses the questions: "What was it about the 1920s and 30s that opened up the pathways toward African-American cultural expression? Are we still experiencing the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance today?"

Civil Right's Movement

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

Civil Rights Movement Resources
"This guide compiles links to civil-rights resources throughout the Library of Congress Web site. In addition, it provides links to external Web sites focusing on civil rights and a bibliography containing selections for both general and younger readers."
Civil Rights Movement Veterans
more...less...
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.
Competing Voices of the Civil Rights Movement
An article and lesson plan with related content, from the EDSITEment website
HuffPost: 50 Top Films about the Civil Rights Movement
Documentary and Fiction Film List
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.
National Public Radio (NPR): Code Switch: The Books That Bring The Civil Rights Movement To Life
National Public Radio (NPR): Songs of the Civil Rights Movement
Print Culture of the Civil Rights Movement, 1950-1980
more...less...
"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
StoryCorps: Civil Rights Movement

Featured Content

Civil Rights Digital Library from the Digital L
(click on image to enlarge)

ibrary of Georgia

Civil Rights Digital Library from the Digital Library of Georgia
"The Civil Rights Digital Library 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."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

The FBI and Martin Luther King: The Atlantic Magazine
The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
"Established in 1968 by Mrs. Coretta Scott King, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change (“The King Center”) has been a global destination, resource center and community institution for over a quarter century."
Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia
From the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute, this website houses the "Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia" Featured there are topical articles, King's speeches, letters, as well as an array of other primary source materials.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Look Here Available online in Films on Demand
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial
Martin Luther King Jr. - Biography
From the Nobel Prize website
MLK Day of Service
Use this site to find a volunteer opportunity near you.
MLK Day of Service
Use this site to find a volunteer opportunity near you.
National Public Radio (NPR): The Speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.

Black Arts Movement

Use the links below to access some websites on the topic.

Poets.org: Black Arts Movement
Black Arts Movement Poets
Poetry Foundation
National Archives: Black Power
A part of the African American Heritage collection at the National Archives
The Black Arts Movement (1965-1975)
From the websites Black Past

Evaluating Sources

Not all resources are created equal! There are a number of criteria to consider when determining whether or not a source is reliable (able to be trusted) and appropriate for your academic work.

Authorship

Who is the author?
What makes the author an expert in the field they are writing about? What are their qualifications? Do they have education or work experience in the field? Do they have firsthand experience? Have they published anything else about the subject? (HINT: Google the name of the author to find this information).
If there isn't an author listed, is the information authored by a government, corporate, or non-profit agency? Is the agency or organization recognized in the field in which you are studying, and is it suitable to address your topic?

Point of View or Bias

Does the source promote one point of view or one agenda?
Is the information provided as fact or opinion?
If the information is found online, does the Web site have advertisements? If so, are the ads part of or separate from the rest of the site?

Currency

Does your topic require current information?
Does the source include a date of publication or a "last updated" date?

References to Other Sources

Does the source include a bibliography or links to other web sites?
What types of sources are cited (primary/secondary, popular/scholarly, current/historical, etc.)

Relevance to Topic and Assignment

Is the information you found related to and useful for your topic and assignment?
Is the source the appropriate type for your needs? For example, do you need a book or a scholarly journal article? Do you need primary or secondary sources of information?
Is the information too broad or too specific?

Image source: "Evaluation" by NY is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Limit to specific domains in when searching Google

Limiting the domain of the websites you're searching in Google is one of the quickest ways to narrow your results and find more credible resources quickly! URL domains can be clues to a site's reliability and ownership.

Common URL domains:

.com = commercial (ads & pop-ups)
.gov = U.S. government (official agencies)
.mil = U.S. military
.edu = educational (colleges & universities)
.org = organization (could be non-profit or for-profit, can be informative but often biased)
.net = network (could be almost anything, including personal websites)
.info = information (generic domain, no criteria needed for companies or individuals to use)
.biz = business (an alternative to .com)

You can also limit your searches, like through a Google search, by using the "site:" search shortcut.

"Site searching" examples:

(click on image to enlarge)

politics in art site:edu (would find educational resources on this topic)
politics in art site:gov (would find U.S. government resources on this topic)
Note that there are NO spaces before or after the colon after the word "site"

Use different information resources to find different kinds of information.

Reference book articles, or academic encyclopedias, are a great place to start. Go to reference for background knowledge, theoretical terms, an overview of the history of a subject or issues, key players - and leads to more information.

example of sources
Reference book articles, or academic encyclopedias, are a great place to start. Read reference for: background knowledge theoretical terms an overview of the history of a subject or issues key players leads to more information.
Read books, book chapters, and essays in anthologies for: in-depth analysis history opinion theory multiple perspectives
Read newspaper articles for: a daily account of events and issues on a local, regional, national or international scale analysis of current issues editorial and opinion pieces business, environment and science news
Read magazine articles for: more in-depth discussion of current events and issues in the news longer articles written for an interested audience in lay-person language on technology, health, science, business and more illustrations: charts, pictures and graphs
View and listen to multimedia for: documentaries on current science, engineering and business topics informed discussion and analysis case studies & personal accounts background information
Read trade articles to learn about: news briefs or overviews of current research and tools current trends and updates in the profession professional terminology opinion on governmental policy, current issues, and more professional development to find leads to more information on your subject
Read scholarly articles and books to learn about: current research in-depth analysis metareviews of the literature professional terminology find data, statistics, charts, and other factual information to get a sense of the scope of the scholarly conversation on your subject to find leads to more information on your subject

Don't Settle - Advanced Googling

Effective Web Searching

Improve your search results with site-specific searching:

Limit to:

Government websites: site:.gov
Educational institutions (but watch out for student work!) site:.edu
Non-profit organizations (and some businesses) site:.org
Specific industries and many news sources are commercial enterprises. site:.com

Google Advanced Search
Use this search to help you limit by resource, date and more. Find specific types of websites, such as those created for academic purposes (.edu) or government (.gov).

ENGL 248 African American Literature

Finding Reliable Sources on the Web - Secondary & Primary Sources

Suggested Websites

Use the tabs in this box to navigate some suggested websites on the following topics:

Slavery

Featured content

Civil War

Featured Content

Reconstruction

Jim Crow & Segregation

Featured content

Harlem Renaissance

Featured Content

Civil Right's Movement

Featured Content

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Featured Content

Black Arts Movement

Featured Content

Evaluating Sources

Evaluating Sources

Authorship

Point of View or Bias

Currency

References to Other Sources

Relevance to Topic and Assignment

Limit to specific domains in when searching Google

Common URL domains:

You can also limit your searches, like through a Google search, by using the "site:" search shortcut.

"Site searching" examples:

Use different information resources to find different kinds of information.

Reference book articles, or academic encyclopedias, are a great place to start.

Read reference for:

Read books, book chapters, and essays in anthologies for:

Read newspaper articles for:

Read magazine articles for:

View and listen to multimedia for:

Read trade articles to learn about:

Read scholarly articles and books to learn about:

Don't Settle - Advanced Googling

Effective Web Searching

Improve your search results with site-specific searching: