LibGuides: Ethnic Studies: Find Primary Sources

Primary Sources

What is a primary source?
Primary sources at the Leatherby Libraries

Primary sources are materials that provide firsthand accounts of events by people who participated in or were present at the time the event occurred. Some examples of primary sources are letters, diaries, speeches, company records, government documents, films, photographs, Tweets, maps, audio recordings, posters, postcards, or other materials. According to the Library of Congress, "Primary sources provide a window into the past—unfiltered access to the record of artistic, social, scientific and political thought and achievement during the specific period under study, produced by people who lived during that period."

Primary Source Databases:

African American Historical Serials Collection This link opens in a new window Developed in conjunction with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), this collection includes more than 170 unique titles and 60,000 pages related to African American life and culture. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1829-1922.
American Civil War: Letters and Diaries This link opens in a new window Over 1,000 diaries, letters, and memoirs provide views on almost every aspect of the war. The writings of politicians, generals, slaves, landowners, farmers, seamen, wives and even spies are included. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1855-1959.
Exploring Race in Society This link opens in a new window Academic journal articles, primary source documents, government agency reports, speeches, and essays written and reviewed by diverse writers from the fields of academia, journalism, medicine, and more addressing issues related to race. | Terms of Use. Coverage: 1863-present.
History Vault This link opens in a new window Digitized archival collections from a wide variety of institutions, curated by subject. Included in subscription: Black Freedom Struggle; CIA Cold War Research; Japanese American Incarceration. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1895-1985.
North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories This link opens in a new window Over 100,000 pages of personal narratives from immigrants to the U.S. and Canada including letters, diaries, pamphlets, autobiographies, and oral histories. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1840-present.
Open Society Justice Initiative This link opens in a new window Briefing papers, publications, reports, handbooks, legal and policy submissions, and fact sheets by the Justice Initiative on issues of human rights and justice. Unique to this collection is the ability to search by Publication Type. Terms of Use. Coverage: 2003-present.
Refugees, Relief, and Resettlement: Forced Migration and World War II This link opens in a new window Chronicles the plight of refugees and displaced persons across Europe, North Africa, and Asia from 1935 to 1950 through correspondence, reports, studies, and organizational and administrative files. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1935-1950.
Sixties, The: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives, 1960 to 1974 This link opens in a new window Documents the key events, trends, and movements in 1960s America, vividly conveying the zeitgeist of the decade and its effects into the middle of the next. Covers the 1960s through Watergate and the evolution of society, politics, and culture in the United States during those times. Terms of Use. Coverage: 1960-1974.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new window English-language legal materials on slavery. Every colony, state, and federal statute dealing with slavery and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Over 1,000 pamphlets and books. Terms of Use.

Search the Frank Mt. Pleasant Library of Special Collections and Archives.

Japanese Internment posters This collection contains one folder consisting of two posters. They are both notices for Civilian Exclusion Order No. 55, March and May 1942, ordering the evaciation and internment of Japanese citizens. These posters were in Covina, California and ordered the evacuation of portions of Los Angeles County. Instructions include property required to bring with them to the American Legion Hall, Civil Control Station by May 10 or 11, 1942. Noted at bottom: J.L. DeWitt, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Commanding.
Letters from Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II This collection contains five original letters written by Japanese Americans during and after their imprisonment at World War II internment camps. These included Rohwer Relocation Center, Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, and Manzanar War Relocation Center.
Mendez v. Westminster Archive (digital archive) A selection of images from the Mendez, et al. v. Westminster, et al. Archive
Munemitsu-Sasaki family collection The collection consists of papers, photographs, ephemera, and realia from the Munemitsu and Sasaki families, some of the earliest Japanese families to live in Orange County, California. Included in this collection, are documents, photographs, and objects regarding the lives of the families at the turn-of-the-century in the agricultural industry; the incarceration of Munemitsu and Sasaki family members in internment camps in New Mexico, Poston in Arizona and Welby, Colorado; and other material pertaining to their life beyond the war. Notable items include late 1800s and early 1900s photographs of the families, official government and personal documents regarding their incarceration, handcrafted wooden furniture and objects (made at Poston and brought back to California) a period radio (brought to Poston and also brought back home), and handmade Japanese-style kites.
Series 2. The African American Experience, 1930 - 1980 This series of photographs addresses significant events and people in Black American history from the 1930s through the 1970s. A number of photos address desegregation, the civil rights movement, and the Black Panthers.
Subseries 3. Desegregation in Education This series contains 2 folders that capture the desegregation in education during 1956-1975. The folders contain candid press photographs depicting marches/demonstrations both for/against integration in schools; photographs of "black pride" classes; photographs of Governor George Wallace preventing integration at the University of Alabama; photographs of integrated classrooms; and photographs of several African-American educational leaders. Notable photographs include a poignant photograph depicting Caucasian boys carrying signs reading "Down with Integration" (September 26, 1957), and several photographs of James Meredith, who was the first African-American enrolled at the University of Mississippi.
UPI - The African American Experience 1930-1980 Part of the United Press International (UPI) collection, this series of photographs addresses significant events and people in Black American history from the 1930s through the 1970s. A number of photos address desegregation, the civil rights movement, and the Black Panthers.

Archives, Repositories, and Other Primary Source Collections

African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection The African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection consists of 2,329 photographs documenting African Americans in California between 1869-2008. The photograph collection consists of photographs donated to the African American Museum & Library at Oakland, and its predecessor the East Bay Negro Historical Society. The collection is organized into 28 series by subject, and includes photographs of significant African Americans such Martin Luther King Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Byron Rumford, and documents various aspects of the African American community in Oakland including athletics, business, churches, civil rights, early pioneers, entertainment, military, fraternal and women's organizations.
The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship The exhibition The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship, showcases the incomparable African American collections of the Library of Congress. Displaying more than 240 items, including books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings, this is the largest black history exhibit ever held at the Library, and the first exhibition of any kind to feature presentations in all three of the Library's buildings.
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States This website contains over 3,000 documents focused on six different phases of Black Freedom: Slavery and the Abolitionist Movement (1790-1860) The Civil War and the Reconstruction Era (1861-1877) Jim Crow Era from 1878 to the Great Depression (1878-1932) The New Deal and World War II (1933-1945) The Civil Rights and Black Power Movements (1946-1975) The Contemporary Era (1976-2000)
Civil Rights Digital Library 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.
Civil Rights History Project A survey of existing oral history collections with relevance to the Civil Rights movement to obtain justice, freedom and equality for African Americans and to record new interviews with people who participated in the struggle.
Colored Women's Clubs Associations Collection The records included within this collection trace the histories of three different associations of colored women's clubs: the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs; the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs; and the National Council of Negro Women. These associations were all united by a common purpose of improving the welfare of African Americans and of providing service to the African-American community.
Independent Voices: Black American The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was an important milestone in the effort to achieve equality and autonomy for African Americans. In the decades that followed, Black Power, the Black Arts Movement, Black Nationalism, Separatism, and Black Feminism emerged as movements and grew in influence. Independent Voices provides scholars unprecedented access to writings and thoughts of those who led and participated in these diverse movements.
KZSU Project South Interviews This collection contains transcribed meetings and interviews with Civil Rights workers in the South recorded by several Stanford students affiliated with the campus radio station KZSU during the summer of 1965. Much attention was focused on white civil rights workers, although a great deal of other documentation relevant to black history was also obtained.
NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom "The NAACP: A Century in the Fight for Freedom exhibition presents a retrospective of the major personalities, events, and achievements that shaped the NAACP’s history during its first 100 years."
Origins of the Congressional Black Caucus A legislative voice for African-Americans, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) traces its history back to the important civil rights victories of the 1960s.
Rosa Parks Papers The papers of Rosa Parks (1913-2005) span the years 1866-2006, with the bulk of the material dating from 1955 to 2000. The collection, which contains approximately 7,500 items in the Manuscript Division, as well as 2,500 photographs in the Prints and Photographs Division, documents many aspects of Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans.

Ansel Adams's Photographs of Japanese-American Internment at Manzanar In 1943, Ansel Adams (1902-1984), America's most well-known photographer, documented the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California and the Japanese-Americans interned there during World War II.
Chinese in California Virtual Collection The Chinese in California, 1850-1925 illustrates nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese immigration to California through about 8,000 images and pages of primary source materials. Included are photographs, original art, cartoons and other illustrations; letters, excerpts from diaries, business records, and legal documents; as well as pamphlets, broadsides, speeches, sheet music, and other printed matter.
Echoes of Freedom: South Asian Pioneers in California, 1899-1965 Indians began coming to California in the 19th century. The exhibit focuses on California, leaving out much material from British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, though major events that had profound effect on the entire immigrant community such as Komanata Maru have been included.
Fujimoto family diaries This collection consists of the diaries of Japanese Americans Toranosuke (George) Fujimoto from 1913-1968, and George Fujimoto Jr.from 1942-1948. The diaries notably cover their experiences during World War II, when the family was forcibly removed from their Riverside, California home to an incarceration camp in Poston, Arizona.
Images and Imaginings of Internment: Comics and Illustrations of Wartime Incarceration In this exhibition, you will learn about the Japanese American wartime incarceration and its legacy through images, mainly comics.
Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers, 1942-1946 Produced by the Japanese-Americans interned at assembly centers and relocation centers around the country during World War II, these newspapers provide a unique look into the daily lives of the people who were held in these camps. They include articles written in English and Japanese, typed, handwritten and drawn. They advertise community events, provide logistical information about the camps and relocation, report on news from the community, and include editorials.
Register of the Harold S. Jacoby Nisei Collection, 1942-46 The collection includes WRA reports and other printed materials, periodical articles both by Japanese Americans and by others, field notes, internment camp newspapers and highschool yearbooks, clippings, and ephemera relating to the Japanese-American relocation. It contains materials pertaining to nearly all of the ten internment camps, but is strongest in materials from Granada (Colorado) and from Tule Lake.
Southeast Asian Archive The Archive's collection is broad and interdisciplinary in documenting the social, cultural, religious, political, and economic life of members of the Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese diaspora. Collection strengths include Southeast Asian American experiences of resettlement and community formations since the Vietnam War, Cambodian Genocide, and geopolitical turmoil in the former French-occupied "Indochina" in the latter half of the 20th century.

Chicana/o Studies Oral History Project This project seeks to commemorate that historical development and document the formation of Chicana/o Studies through in-depth interviews with the first generations of scholars who shaped it.
Independent Voices: Latino The Chicano press was an important component of the Chicano Movement to disseminate Chicano history, literature, and current news. The press created a link between the core and the periphery to create a national Chicano identity and community. The Chicano Press Association, created in 1969, was significant to the development of this national ethos. The publications that make up the Latino series have been linked to the Movement and represent the Chicano voice on such key issues as voter rights, criminal justice and relations with the police, support for the anti-war movement, racism, and quality education.
Latino Cultures in the US Presented by Google Arts & Culture, discover the contributions and experiences of Latinos in the United States through high-resolution images of artworks housed in partner museums.
Mapping the Movimiento: Places and people in the struggle for Mexican American Civil Rights in San Antonio Research for this tour utilizes archives from Special Collections housed at the UTSA Libraries and Institute of Texan Cultures and includes input from long-time community activists whose work was instrumental in calling for political, economic and educational reform.
Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Perspectives Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age encompasses historically important writings by prominent Puerto Rican political activists and historians dating from approximately seventy years before the Spanish-American war (1831) until some thirty years after it (1929). Texts from the postwar period include the only English-language works in the collection. Among these are soldiers' reminiscences about the conflict and short histories designed to acquaint an American audience with Puerto Rico in the earliest years of its affiliation with the United States.

Breaking the Silence: Nineteenth-Century Indian Delegations in Washington, D.C. Examines a selection of photographs taken by the McClees Gallery and the Addis Studio from 1858–1867 in Washington, D.C., of Native American delegates to the U.S. government. The exhibition explores the context for these visits, the identities of the individuals portrayed, and the use of this type of photography in fashioning an iconic image of the Native American, an image that persisted well into the twentieth century and, in some ways, still survives.
Independent Voices: Native American The late 1960s and early 1970s saw an increase of Native American activism and the rise of "Red Power" as an activist movement demanding greater educational and economic opportunities and tribal rights. At the same time, U.S. policy toward Native American tribes provided greater opportunities for indigenous people to manage local government and local issues. This led to the establishment of an active Native American press, with publications like NARP Newsletter, Many Smokes, and Native Movement, that championed such key issues as Native American rights, religious freedom, equal education, and preserving community, language and tribal sovereignty.
Native American Treaty Signers in the Great Lakes Region From February 23 through July 16, 2004 the exhibit galleries of the Clarke Library explored the world of Native American leaders from the Great Lakes area who signed treaties with the federal government during the 1820s.
Seeing Red Audio Archive In this LibGuide, you will find fifty-five (55) archival recordings of Seeing Red, a radio program hosted by Suzan Shown (Harjo) and Frank Harjo from 1971-1974 on WBAI Radio in New York City. It was the first nationally syndicated radio program focused on contemporary Native American issues. Each of the recordings will feature a mixture of music by Native American artists, interviews with Native leaders, press conferences, news reports, and pieces with historical background of various tribal and advocacy groups.
We are Still Here: Contemporary Issues in Native America The purpose of this exhibit is to highlight some contemporary issues facing Native Americans and analyze common stereotypes of American Indians with the hope that this will increase understanding between cultures.
“If you knew the conditions…”: Health Care to Native Americans The exhibit focuses on the administration of health care to Native American recipients by the United States Government. It examines the evolution of government responsibility and its transfer through the Departments of War, the Interior, and Health, Education, and Welfare, now the Department of Health and Human Services.