We want to hear from you. You're viewing the newest version of the Library's website. Please send us your feedback!
Welcome
Go to UWaterloo Library's History Research guide
This guide points to overviews, scholarly analysis, primary sources, and more. Caution: Many historical collections linked to from these pages contain language and images that people may find disturbing.
Compiled with the support of the History Anti-Racism Taskforce.
Please provide feedback and suggestions to Mike Chee, History Librarian.
Sections on this page
- Overviews and selected readings
- Scholarly research: databases
- Scholarly works by broad theme
- Topics and incidences across the globe
- Primary source collection: "Governing Africa, 1808-1995"
- more Primary sources: databases for all geographical areas
- Join the discussion: Sankofa Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
Other pages in this guide
Territorial acknowledgement
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes 6 miles on each side of the Grand River.
Racism: origins and legacies
1. Overviews and selected readings
Race and Racialization Essential ReadingsPublication Date: 2018
Anti-Racism by Publication Date: 2000
The Feminist Bookstore Movement: Lesbian Antiracism and Feminist Accountability by Publication Date: 2016
2. Scholarly research: databases
- Black Thought and CultureNon-fiction works by leading African-Americans. Includes monographs, essays, articles, speeches, letters and interviews.
Coverage: 1700s - present - Iportal: Indigenous Studies PortalArticles, theses, photographs, archival resources, maps, etc. Focusing on Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States.
Coverage: varies - Bibliography of British and Irish HistoryIndexes historical scholarship relating to the British Isles, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth. Time periods range from 55 BC.
Coverage: 1901 - present - Historical AbstractsArticles, books, and dissertations on world history from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada).
Coverage: 1955 - present - JSTORProvides access to back issues of journals in the humanities, social sciences, and physical sciences, many of which date from the 1800s.
Coverage: varies (excludes current 3 to 5 years)
- Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Lawvia HeinOnline
3. Scholarly works by broad theme
This is just a sample list of subjects with links to works available through Omni, the Library's catalogue.
- Atlantic enslavement: a bibliographyvia Oxford Bibliographies
4. Topics and incidences across the globe
This is just a sample list of topics and incidences that link to related works available through Omni, the Library's catalogue.
5. Primary sources collection: "Governing Africa, 1808 - 1995"
6. more Primary sources: all geographical areas, 1450 - present
- Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice, 1490-2007Manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings, maps and images relating to enslavement.
Coverage: 1490 - 2007
- Testimonies of the enslavedFind manuscripts, court records, and more. These 70 entries are part of the Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice database.
Coverage: 1713 - 1897
- American Race Relations: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996Reports, publications, and news broadcasts covering racial justice in the United States and US race relations with Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Coverage: 1941 - 1996 - Apartheid: Global Perspectives, 1946-1996English translations of news broadcasts and publications on the reaction to apartheid throughout the African continent and from around the world.
Coverage: 1946 - 1996 - Black Women's Suffrage Digital CollectionFind correspondence, speeches, event programs, oral histories, photos, and more relating to Black women’s rights, voting rights, and civic activism.
Coverage: 1850s - 1960s
- Cambridge History of Black and Asian British WritingPublication Date: 2019
- Drama Online -- themes around racismSearch playtexts, books, video, and audio collections.
- Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO)English and other language books, pamphlets, broadsides and other ephemera published in the United Kingdom and the Americas.
Coverage: 1701 - 1820 - Empire OnlineCollections of primary source material and scholarly literature relating to empires around the world.
Coverage: 1492 - 1962 - Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave TradeFind primary sources relating to individuals from around the world involved in the slave trade - including enslaved people, enslavers, and slave traders. Explore stories, biographies, documents, and data visualizations that are presented and centered in ways that honour enslaved persons.
Coverage: 1500s - 1880s - Frontier Life: Borderlands, Settlement and Colonial EncountersThemes include Indigenous peoples, land & property, business, religion, and women's history. Find both primary sources and commentaries relating to the migration of Europeans to Africa, Australasia, and North America.
Coverage: 1650 - 1920 - Gale Primary SourcesSearch across UWaterloo Library-owned collections from Gale, including Eighteenth Century Collections (ECCO), American Historical Periodicals, The Times, The Economist, Burney Newspapers, The Listener, and various subcollections in Archives Unbound.
Coverage: Varies - Immigrations, Migrations & Refugees: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996English-language and English translations of radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, books, and United States government documents relating to immigration.
Coverage: 1941 - 1996 - Indigenous Peoples of North AmericaFacilitates the study of invasion and colonization. Find materials relating to customs, dance, music, warfare, peace treaties, removal grants, legends, and myths.
Coverage: 1600s - 2000s - Mass Observation OnlineReports, surveys, diaries, photographs, maps, and essays related to social research. Geographical area: Britain.
Coverage: 1930s - 1970s - Nexis UniNews, legal, and business sources from around the world, Find news, legislation, case law, statutes, company profiles, market & industry reports.
Coverage: 1970s - present - Nineteenth Century British PamphletsNine pamphlet collections covering various socio-political themes in Britain including Anti-slavery, universal suffrage, criminal punishment, and more.
Coverage: 1545 - 1931 - Gale Academic OneFile: NewsAccess over 2500 news sources via Gale; mostly from the United States but also Canada, the UK, Australia, and other parts of the world.
Coverage: 1950s - present - Periodicals Archive Online (PAO)An archive of digitized journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Coverage: 1802 - 2005 - Slave Voyages: the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade DatabasesSearch details of over 35,000 voyages involving the forcible transport of some 12 million Africans to the Americas. Find data and analysis on the trans-Atlantic and intra-American enslavement including an African name registry, interactive maps, timelines, and images.
Coverage: 1514 - 1866 - Slavery, Abolition, Emancipation and Freedom: Primary SourcesThis collection focuses on African American life and history in the United States and the Caribbean. It includes documents created by Black people, slave
trade correspondence, and government publications. From Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Coverage: 1780 - 1910s - UK Parliamentary PapersFind documents of the British House of Commons and House of Lords: Hansard (Debates), bills, acts, reports of Royal Commissions, and select committees, Command papers, accounts and more.
Coverage: 1688 - 2022 - World Protest & Reform Movements: Global Perspectives, 1945-1996English translations of and English-language radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, books, and United States government documents, relating to global reaction to major protest and reform movements.
Coverage: 1945 - 1996
7. Join the discussion: Sankofa Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
This journal was conceived by UWaterloo's Dr. Christopher Stuart Taylor to support his fourth-year course, "B[l]ack to the Future: Black Settlements in Canada for the 2020s and Beyond" in May 2021.
Add your voice.
From the journal's "About" page:
"The Sankofa Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies is a peer-reviewed journal that supports the amplification of subaltern and marginalized voices at the University of Waterloo. The journal encourages submissions from all University of Waterloo communities (staff, faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students) from across all faculties and disciplines. Sankofa encourages us to 'look back' to 'move forward' by challenging traditional and eurocentric ideals of scholarship. We seek interdisciplinary works (original content that is rooted with-in and with-out the academe) that are rooted in praxis.
... Positive journal submission process: we take great care to support, and not denigrate or discourage, the academic journal submission process. Sankofa is meant to be a gateway for other publishing opportunities."
Go to the top of this page
Go to UWaterloo Library's History Research guide