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Slavery: Primary Sources: Home

Selected E-Books

Search the Library Catalog. Find books with primary sources by combining slave* with such terms as sources, correspondence, diaries, personal narratives, sermon, and address. Examples of books with a good mix of primary sources include Witness for Freedom and Women and Slavery in America: A Documentary History.

General Digital Collections

Digital Public Library of America
Search digital collections from archives and libraries across the United States.
National Museum of African American History & Culture

Library-Purchased

Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice This link opens in a new window
Slavery and the Law (1775-1867) This link opens in a new window

More about this database (pdf)
Title List (pdf)
ProQuest LibGuide (help and documentation)
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law This link opens in a new window

Includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, all reported state and federal cases on slavery, and hundreds of books and pamphlets on the subject.
Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantation Records, Part 1 This link opens in a new window

More about this database (pdf)
Title List (pdf)
ProQuest LibGuide (help and documentation)

Newspapers/Runaway Slaves

Freedom on the Move
Search ads from numerous states.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
See Search Tips

African American Newspapers (Accessible Archives) This link opens in a new window

Titles in Collection:
The Christian Recorder
The Colored American/Weekly Advocate
Frederick Douglass' Paper
Freedom's Journal
The National Era
The North Star
Provincial Freeman

Slave Narratives

A Muslim American slave: the life of Omar Ibn Said

Abolitionists

Black Abolitionist Papers, 1830-1865 This link opens in a new window

Over 15,000 items written by nearly 300 Black men and women are available for searching. Unique, hand-written correspondence and documents comprise around 30% of this collection. See brochure (PDF) for more information.

Civil War and Emancipation

American Civil War: Letters & Diaries This link opens in a new window

This release contains 2,009 authors and approximately 100,000 pages of diaries, letters and memoirs. Particular care has been taken to index this material so it can be searched more thoroughly than ever. Each source has been carefully chosen using leading bibliographies. Includes 4,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts such as the letters of Amos Wood and his wife and the diary of Maryland Planter William Claytor.

Slavery & Universities

Last Updated: Oct 25, 2022 1:46 PM
URL: https://library.mtsu.edu/slavery
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Subjects: History

Tags: art history, modern slavery