Research Guides @ Fordham: African &amp; African American Studies: Civil Rights

Recommended Books

African Americans and the First Amendment : The Case for Liberty and Equality by Timothy C. Shiell
Albany : State University of New York Press, 2019.
The Civil Rights Movement in America by Peter B. Levy (Editor)
Call Number: (RH) Reference E185.61 .C6148 2015
Santa Barbara, California : Greenwood, an Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2015.
Encyclopedia of American Civil Rights and Liberties: Revised and Expanded Edition, 2nd Edition [4 Volumes] by Kara E. Stooksbury (Editor); John M. Scheb (Editor); Otis H. Stephens (Editor)
Santa Barbara, California : ABC-CLIO, [2017]
Freedom Facts and Firsts : 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience by Jessie Carney Smith; Linda T. Wynn
Canton, Mich. : Visible Ink Press, 2009.
Boston, Mass. : Credo Reference, 2012.
Historical Dictionary of the Civil Rights Movement, 2nd ed. by Christopher M. Richardson; Ralph E. Luker
Call Number: (RH) Ref E185.61 .L84 2014
Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
Longman Companion to Slavery, Emancipation and Civil Rights by Harry Harmer
Harlow, Eng. ; New York [N.Y.] : Longman, c2001 Credo Reference, 2011.)
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Encyclopedia by Clayborne Carson; Tenisha Armstrong; Susan Carson; Erin Cook; Susan Englander
Call Number: (RH) Ref E185.97.K5 M334 2008
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2008.
Multiracials and Civil Rights : Mixed-race Stories of Discrimination by Tanya Katerí Hernandez
Call Number: (LC, RH) Stacks KF4755 .H47 2018
New York : New York University Press, [2018]
Nobody : Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, From Ferguson to Flint and Beyond by Marc Lamont Hill; Todd Brewster (Foreword by)
Call Number: (LC, RH) Stacks HN90.S62 H55 2016
New York : Atria Books, [2016].
The Oxford Handbook of African American Citizenship, 1865-Present by Henry Louis Gates; Lawrence D. Bobo (Editor); Linda Darling-Hammond (Editor); Michael Dawson (Editor); Gerald D. Jaynes (Editor); Claude Steele; Lisa Crooms-Robinson (Editor)
Call Number: (RH) Stacks E185.6 .O95 2012
New York : Oxford University Press, 2012.
Race, Law, and American Society 1607 to Present by Gloria J. Browne-Marshall
Call Number: (LC, RH) Stacks KF4755 .B76 2007
New York : Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2007.
Racial Justice in America by David B. Mustard; Mildred Vasan (Editor)
Call Number: (RH) Stacks E185 .M95 2003
Ripples of Hope : Great American Civil Rights Speeches by Joshua Gottheimer
New York [N.Y.] : Basic Civitas Books, 2003 Credo Reference, 2012.)
Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement by Hasan Kwame Jeffries (Editor)
Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2019]
Voices of Civil Rights Lawyers by Kent Spriggs (Editor)
Gainesville ; Tallahassee ; Tampa ; Boca Raton : University Press of Florida, [2017]
Why Busing Failed : Race, Media, and the National Resistance to School Desegregation by Matthew F. Delmont
Call Number: (RH) Stacks LC214.52 .D45 2016
Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2016].
Wilmington's Lie : The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino
Call Number: (LC, RH) Stacks F264.W7 Z83 2020
New York : Atlantic Monthly Press, 2020.

African American Civil Rights Database and Digital Collections

The Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium (AAACRHSC)
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.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI)
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.
Civil Rights Digital Library
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.

Fannie Lou Hamer: Papers Of A Civil Rights Activist/Political Activist/And Woman This link opens in a new window
Primary source documents related to voting rights activist and civil rights leader. Collection comprises more than three thousand pieces of correspondence plus financial records, programs, photographs, newspaper articles, invitations, and other printed items of Fannie Lou Hamer, field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

The King Center
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.
KZSU Project South Interviews, Stanford University
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 Library of Congress Civil Rights Resource Guide
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 Library of Congress 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 vast majority of items in the Parks Collection have been digitized in their entirety and may be viewed in this online collection.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute
Hosted by Stanford University, the collection builds on Stanford's Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project.

History Vault: NAACP Papers, The NAACP's Major Campaigns-Legal Department Files (Platform Ends 1/8/2025) This link opens in a new window
Working case files of the NAACP's Legal Department from 1956 to 1972. The cases pertain to school desegregation, abuses of police procedure, employment discrimination, freedom of speech, privacy, freedom of association, and housing discrimination.
History Vault: NAACP Papers, Special Subjects (Platform Ends 1/8/2025) This link opens in a new window
Records covering subjects that are crucial to the NAACP's history, such as civil rights complaints and legislation, the Klan, Birth of a Nation, the Walter White-W. E. B. Du Bois controversy of 1933-1934, the "red scare," relations with African colonial liberation movements, fundraising and membership recruitment, urban riots, the War on Poverty, and the emergence of the Black Power Movement.

National Archive Civil Rights Topic Guide
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.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) Digital Collections
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.
SELMA TO MONTGOMERY: 50 YEARS LATER
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's Hidden Audio Collections 1957-1971
"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.

Selected Multimedia

PBS American Experience Film Series - Civil Rights Collection
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.
Freedom Riders, A Film by Stanley Nelson
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.
The Murder of Emmett Till
Produced and directed by Stanley Nelson, this film is part of the PBS American Experience collection.

On August 24, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till reportedly flirted with a white cashier in Money, Mississippi. Four days later, two white men tortured and murdered Till. His murder galvanized the emerging Civil Rights Movement.

Title: Emmett Till Is Murdered
Author: History.com Staff
Website Name: History.com
Year Published: 2010
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till
Publisher: A+E Networks

African & African American Studies: Civil Rights

Recommended Books

African American Civil Rights Database and Digital Collections

Selected Multimedia

Reference & Instruction Department