Walker Library: ENGL 3340: African American Literature (Dubek): Historical Resources

Racial Riots

Why Race Riots Happen in U.S. Cities
Article analysis from the African American Intellectual History Society website.
List of Racial Riots in the U.S.
Wikipedia can get you started with a few basic facts.
Encyclopedia of American Race Riots; Vol. 1 & 2 by Rucker (2006)
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism

Newspapers

Be flexible with your keywords. Expand on the word riot (synonyms) and try using keywords describing the instigation of the riot. For example: personal name or an event associated with the riot

Historical Newspapers Database
--Ethnic News Watch, 1959-1989
--New York Times, 1851-2014
--Washington Post, 1877-2001
--Chicago Defender, 1900-1975
--Atlanta Constitution, 1868-1945
--Wall Street Journal, 1889-2000
--Norfolk Journal, 1916-2003
--New York Amsterdam News, 1922-1993
--Nashville Tennessean, 1812-2002
--Daily News Journal, 1999-present
more...less...
Newspaper titles can be searched separately by selecting or deselecting titles on the main search screen or selecting titles through the Library Database A-Z link.
Chronicling America
View content from historic newspapers pages from 1777-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present.
MTSU Library Microtext Collection - African Americans
Lots of newspapers and other primary sources; 2nd floor DMS - ask for help

African American Newspapers (History Commons) This link opens in a new window
Select Titles in Collection:
The Bee
The Christian Recorder
The Colored American/Weekly Advocate
Frederick Douglass' Paper
Freedom's Journal
The Langston City Herald
The Louisianan
The Nashville Globe
The National Era
The North Star
Provincial Freeman
The Semi-Weekly Louisianian
The Tulsa Star
...and more

AFRO American Newspapers Collections
Digital issues spanning over 100 years - 20th century.

Media

Kanopy Streaming Video This link opens in a new window
Watch streaming films, documentaries, and training videos from Criterion Collection, Women Make Movies, First Run Features, and other leading producers. The library owns some titles on this platform, but most content is leased solely for classroom use; see https://library.mtsu.edu/mediaresources/policy
Kanopy Troubleshooting Guide
Kanopy Accessibility Statement
Creating playlists and/or clips (Must first create a Kanopy account)
PBS Video Collection This link opens in a new window
Streaming video of almost 1,600 videos aired on PBS, including series such as NOVA, Nature, American Experience, etc.
Product brochure (pdf)
60 Minutes: 1997-2014 This link opens in a new window
250 hours of streaming video from the CBS News show, 60 Minutes.
Title list (.xls)
American History in Video This link opens in a new window
Collection of video available online for the study of American history.
American History in Video provides the largest and richest collection of video available online for the study of American history, with 2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles on completion.
The collection includes:
•Commercial and governmental newsreels
•Archival footage
•Public affairs footage
•Important documentaries
Product Brochure (pdf)
Title List (Excel file)
Docuseek2 This link opens in a new window
Streaming documentary films from a number of sources, including Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films, and the National Film Board of Canada. Many films in this collection focus on social and environmental issues.
Docuseek Help Wiki
Instructors can register a personal account in order to create clips and playlists.

Open Vault
Online access to unique and historically important content produced by public television and radio station WGBH.
American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Digitized television and radio programs selected by more than 100 public broadcasting stations throughout the nation dating from the 1940s to the 21st century.
Remembering the Complicated Life Story of Rodney King
PBS News Hour, after King's death
Rodney King's Legacy
King’s lawyers, Milton Grimes and Bobby McDonald discuss King’s legacy.

Suggestion for Primary Sources

Check the public library websites located in the city/county/state where the riot occurred. Public libraries and state archives often collect digital photographs, newspaper articles, interviews, and audio/video recordings covering historic events within their geographic area. Call or email the public library closest to the riot area for further information.

Some Primary Sources

NAACP Papers This link opens in a new window
Digitized documents from the NAACP's major campaigns and important local NAACP branches, 1909-1972. Full-text and searchable. Part of the Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle collection, which also includes Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century modules.
Digital copies of nearly two million pages of NAACP internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. Click on a module below for a content description.

Modules:
Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files
Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files
Special Files
The NAACP's Major Campaigns - Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces
The NAACP's Major Campaigns - Legal Department Files
The NAACP's Major Campaigns - Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses
Sixties, The: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960 - 1974 This link opens in a new window
123,000 pages of primary documents related to 1960s America, including diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
See product brochure (pdf)
Download bibliography (Excel file)
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
Searchable texts of non-fiction work by prominent African Americans, 1700 to present.
Contains 1,297 sources with 1,098 authors, covering the non-fiction published works of leading African Americans. Particular care has been taken to index this material so that it can be searched more thoroughly than ever before. Where possible the complete published non-fiction works are included, as well as interviews, journal articles, speeches, essays, pamphlets, letters and other fugitive material.

FBI Vault
Rodney King's FBI file and a copy of the videotaped beating. The file has hundreds of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, interviews, case related findings, etc.
Library of Congress Civil Rights History Project
National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian
Calisphere: A World of Primary Sources and More
University of California; contains several documents and images pertaining the the LA Riots and Rodney King
Famous Trials -- Rodney King
This webpage was put together in 2001 by Law Professor George Linder, UMKC. There is some good info here but it contains several dead links.
Address to the Nation on the Civil Disturbances in Los Angeles, California (1992)
Transcript of President George Herbert Walker Bush's speech to the nation
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Photos of the 1992 Riots
Personal Memories & Experiences Collected by the L.A. Times
Series of Video Portraits of the Riots Experienced from the Perspective of Children & Young Adults
Private Photo Collection of the LA Riots of 1992
This is a collection of photos and personal thoughts posted in an online zine called Fragments. The photographer is James VanHise.
Asian Americans and the 1992 Los Angeles Riots
Use the Primary Sources link to view materials that shed light on Asian American experiences before, during, and after the Los Angeles riots. Many of these materials are easily accessible via online sources.

About Us

ENGL 3340: African American Literature (Dubek): Historical Resources

Racial Riots

Newspapers

Media

Suggestion for Primary Sources

Some Primary Sources