This blog post is part of the Woodson Project—a series of events, posts, and book lists on subjects including empowering Black families, amplifying Black voices, exploring Black identity and intersectionality, and discovering Black influencers in STEAM. The project was created by branch staff from across NYPL to honor Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who in 1926 created Negro History Week—the precursor to Black History Month.

The New York Public Library is an invaluable resource for writers, scholars, students, and creators seeking knowledge  through lifelong learning and community citizenship. Explore NYPL’s wide array of digital resources and find both primary documents and scholarly sources in our online databases. Below is a list of databases highlighting historical maps, oral histories, archived newspapers and magazines, peer-reviewed journals, and much more that are particularly useful for learning about Black history.

Africana Age via Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: Retrace the turbulent history of challenges, tragedies and triumphs of the diaspora. Discover essays, images,  multimedia and maps on Du Bois, Garvey, Parks, Decolonization, the Harlem Renaissance, Mandela, Pan Africanism and more. 

African American Experience: The African American Experience is the widest ranging and easiest-to-use online database collection on African  American history and culture. Explore time periods of the African American Experience from 500’s to the New  Millennium. 

African American Historical Serials Collection: Documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922. Over 170 titles from 75 different institutions are fully text-searchable. 

African American Newspapers 1827-1998: Documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922. Over 170 titles from 75 different institutions are fully text-searchable.

African Journals Online (AJOL): African Journals Online (AJOL) is a database of African-published journals, published in a range of  academic disciplines. AJOL includes information about each participating journal, including aims and  scope, contact details and general information. It also provides tables of contents and abstracts (where  available) for all articles published within these journals. Some full text articles are also available.

Digital Public Library Of America: The Digital Public Library of America hosts curated sets of primary sources for subjects relating to history, culture, and literature. Perfect for anyone looking for a starting point in their research and educators. Featured sets include African American Soldiers in World War I, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Civil Rights Movement in Rural Mississippi, and Ida B. Wells and Anti-Lynching Activism.

The History Makers: The History Makers database is a video collection of oral histories documenting African American life,  history & culture. Over 148,163 stories are assembled here from life oral history interviews with 2,691  historically significant African Americans as of December 28, 2020.

Digital Resources for Children