African & African American Studies: Civil Rights

The AAACRHSC is a collaboration among 20 historic places of worship, lodging and civic engagement that played significant roles in the African American struggle for freedom. While recent history focuses on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, these institutions have been dedicated to improving the quality of Black life since Reconstruction.

BCRI is a cultural and educational research center that promotes a comprehensive understanding and appreciation for the significance of civil rights developments in Birmingham with an increasing emphasis on the international struggle for universal human rights. Visit the BRCRI Resource Gallery for newspaper articles, timelines, interviews, images and video.

An extensive collection of digitized resources about the Civil Rights Movement across the United States. Includes an interactive map, keyword search, and browsable index of people, places, and topics related to Civil Rights in America.

The King Library and Archives in Atlanta is the largest repository of primary source materials on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American Civil Rights Movement in the world. The collection consists of the papers of Dr. King and those of the organization he co-founded, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, as well as the records of 8 major civil rights organizations and of several individuals active in the Movement. The archives also include more than 200 oral history interviews with Dr. King’s teachers, friends, family and civil rights associates.

In the summer of 1965, Stanford University's radio station (KZSU) sent interviewers to the South for ten weeks to record interviews, speeches, meetings, and demonstrations related to the civil rights movement in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Efforts focused on white civil rights workers, but also documented the role of black activists, local people, and segregationists. The archive contains over 330 hours of recordings and includes representatives and those otherwise affiliated with groups such as the NAACP, SNCC, SCLC, CORE, and the KKK.

The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material related to civil rights, including photographs, documents, and sound recordings. 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.

The papers of Rosa Parks (1913-2005) span the years 1866-2006, with the bulk of the material dating from 1955 to 2000. The vast majority of items in the Parks Collection have been digitized in their entirety and may be viewed in this online collection.

Hosted by Stanford University, the collection builds on Stanford's Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project.

This web version of the Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States is based on a paper version with the same title compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al in 1995. This version incorporates descriptive information about federal records acquired by the National Archives after the 1995 paper edition went to press, and it is regularly updated to reflect new acquisitions of federal records. Topic Guides provide quick access to critical documents in key subject areas.

NMAAHC is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture. It was established by Act of Congress in 2003, following decades of efforts to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans. To date, the Museum has collected more than 36,000 artifacts and nearly 100,000 individuals have become members.

On March 7, 1965, hundreds of people gathered in Selma, Alabama to march to the capital city of Montgomery. They marched to ensure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional right to vote — even in the face of a segregationist system that wanted to make it impossible. This is a link to the Whitehouse's 50th anniversary commemorative website.

"Tuskegee University Archives recently released new recordings from the Tuskegee Civic Association records that feature prominent leaders of the Civil Rights Movement;" from the ArtStor Blog. May 2017.

The AMERICAN EXPERIENCE collection, features a selection of award-winning films from Stanley Nelson, documenting pivotal moments in the 20th century civil rights movement. The website also includes articles, digital shorts, and original features exploring America’s continued struggle with race, democracy, and justice.

A PBS American Experience series film, this two-hour documentary is based on Raymond Arsenault's book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice.

Produced and directed by Stanley Nelson, this film is part of the PBS American Experience collection.