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Racism, Anti-racism in the United States
This page points to overviews, scholarly analysis, and primary source materials that focus on the history of racism in the United States of America.
Compiled with the support of the History Anti-Racism Taskforce.
Please provide feedback and suggestions to Mike Chee, History Librarian.
Sections on this page
Racism in the United States
Drawing: Burt Goldblatt. From Lomax, Louis E. “The Negro Revolt Against ‘The Negro Leaders’”. Harper's Magazine 220:1321 (1960:June) p.41. Via: Periodicals Archive Online
1. Overviews with suggested further readings
Encyclopedia of Racism in the United StatesPublication Date: 2005
The Oxford Handbook of American Immigration and EthnicityPublication Date: 2016
Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era [print]Publication Date: 2017
2. Scholarly research: databases
- America History and LifeIdentifies articles, book reviews, and dissertations on American and Canadian history and culture from prehistoric times to the present.
Coverage: mid 1950s - present - Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North AmericaIndexes books, articles, and government documents about Indigenous peoples of North America, covering the 1500s to the present.
Coverage: 1500s - present - North American Indian Thought and Culture
Biographies, autobiographies, speeches, diaries, letters, and oral histories on Indigenous peoples of North America.
Coverage: 17th century - present
3. Scholarly works by theme
The subjects below link to lists of books and articles available through Omni, the Library's catalogue.
The Life and Death of Anna Mae Aquash by Publication Date: 1978"The weather in the village of Wanblee, South Dakota, was unseasonably mild on February 24, 1976..."
Account of the Mi'kmaq tribal member from Nova Scotia, who was part of the occupation of Wounded Knee, SD, and the FBl's actions towards her and other members of the American Indian Movement (AIM).
A State-By-State History of Race and Racism in the United States [2 Volumes]Publication Date: 2018
The Oxford Handbook of Asian American HistoryPublication Date: 2016
Voices in Our Blood: America's Best on the Civil Rights MovementPublication Date: 2001
4. Topics and incidences relating to the United States
- Black America & Public Opinionvia the Roper Center
5. Primary sources: United States from settlement - present
- Indigenous Newspapers in North America (formerly American Indian Newspapers)A collection of papers from Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada.
Coverage: 1828 - 2016 - American Periodicals Series OnlineA digital archive of general interest magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and other periodicals.
Coverage: 1740 - 1940 - Black Studies CenterContains historical and current material and analysis relating to African-Americans, Africans, and the wider African Diaspora.
Coverage: 1800s - present - Black Thought and Culture
Non-fiction works by leading African-Americans. Includes monographs, essays, articles, speeches, letters and interviews.
Coverage: 1700s - present - 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 - Chicago Defender [digital archive]Search this African American, Caribbean, and African focused paper for news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements, historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements.
Coverage: 1909 - 1975 - Crime, Punishment, and Popular CultureCovers law, criminology, popular culture, phrenology, fiction, and more.
Coverage: 1790 – 1920 - 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 - HeinOnlineArticles on law and legal history, court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from Canadian, U.S. and UK jurisdictions.
Coverage: varies
- Historical African American Newspapers Available Onlinevia Marist College, Poughkeepsie, New York
- Independent Voices: an Open Access Collection of an Alternative Press
Periodicals by feminists, student radicals, Indigenous peoples, anti-war activists, Black rights advocates, two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual (2SLGBTQ+) activists, extreme right-wing press, and more.
Coverage: 1950s - present - 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 - Iportal: Indigenous Studies Portal
Articles, theses, photographs, archival resources, maps, etc. Focusing on Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States.
Coverage: varies - Los Angeles Times [digital archive]Search for news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements, historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements.
Coverage: 1881 - 1985 - Nation ArchiveFull archive of this American current affairs weekly magazine.
Coverage: 1865 - 2nd most recent month - New Republic ArchiveAmerican magazine that features political and social commentaries.
Coverage: 1914 - 2010 - New York Times [digital archive]Search for news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements, historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements.
Coverage: 1851 - 3 years ago - Nexis UniNews, legal, and business sources from around the world, Find news, legislation, case law, statutes, company profiles, market & industry reports.
Coverage: 1970s - present - North American Indian Thought and Culture
Biographies, autobiographies, speeches, diaries, letters, and oral histories on Indigenous peoples of North America.
Coverage: 17th century - present - 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 - Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal NarrativesFind diaries, letters, biographies, oral histories, government documents, videos, and periodicals, and more originating from the United States, Canada, and Europe. Scholarly commentary also included.
Coverage: 1960-1974 - 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
- The Souls of Black Folkby W.E.B. du Bois
- Time Magazine [digital archive]Popular American weekly publication. Articles cover United States of America and international news on a broad spectrum of topics.
Coverage: March 1923- December 2000 - Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1600-2000
Primary and secondary materials about the history of women in social movements.
Coverage: 1600 - 2000
Photograph of LaNada Means (also known as: LaNada War Jack)
LaNada Means is interviewed in Peter Collier's "The Red
Man's Burden," Ramparts, Feb, 1970. Via: The Sixties