LibGuides: Researching Black History of the Pacific Northwest: Home

Open Online Resources

On this site you can search and access complete content for historic Oregon newspapers that have been digitized as part of the Oregon Digital Newspaper Program (ODNP). This full-text searchable database contains almost 1,400,000 pages from Oregon newspapers dated 1846 - 2020. A complete list of newspapers titles can be found on the Title page.

Washington Digital Newspapers

The Washington Digital Newspapers program brings together over 400,000 pages from the earliest online Washington Territorial newspaper collection with titles digitized by the state library.

The History of Portland's African American Community

"This document is not intended to provide a set of conclusions about the African American experience in Portland. The intent is to educate the general public about the African American presence in Portland by highlighting significant places, events, institutions, individuals and group achievements from 1805 to 1993".

Bibliography

History of African Americans in Portland and Oregon: A selected Bibliography (2010)

OSU Subscription Resources

America's Historical Newspapers (Newsbank)
OSU has a temporary trial subscription to "African American Newspapers" for the month of February 2021.
Oregonian (Newsbank Historical Newspapers Archive)
Research Portland history through the Oregonian Collection with coverage from 1861 through current. Study trends, issues, events, advertisements, companies and more through historical and current full newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Available remotely 24/7 on any device.
Chicago Defender (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) 1909-1975
A leading African American newspaper, with more than two-thirds of its readership outside Chicago. News articles, photos, advertisements, obituaries, cartoons, etc. Full page and article images with searchable full text.
Black Thought and Culture (Alexander Street Press)
Black Thought and Culture contains 1,303 sources with 1,210 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.
Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle (History Vault)
ProQuest History Vault's coverage of the Black Freedom Struggle offers the opportunity to study the most well-known and also unheralded events of the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century from the perspective of the men, women, and sometimes even children who waged one of the most inspiring social movements in American history. This category consists of the NAACP Papers and federal government records, organizational records, and personal papers regarding the Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century.

The NAACP Papers collection consists of 6 modules. The NAACP Papers collections contains internal memos, legal briefings, and direct action summaries from national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country. It charts the NAACP's work and delivers a first-hand view into crucial issues. With a timeline that runs from 1909 to 1972, the NAACP Papers document the realities of segregation in the early 20th century to the triumphs of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and beyond.The Black Freedom Struggle in the 20th Century consists of four modules: two modules of Federal Government Records, and two modules of Organizational Records and Personal Papers, offering unique documentation and a variety of perspectives on the 20th century fight for freedom. Major collections in these modules include Civil Rights records from the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush presidencies; the Martin Luther King FBI File and FBI Files on locations of major civil rights demonstrations like Montgomery and Selma, Alabama or St. Augustine, Florida; and the records of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
African American Historical Serials Collection (EBSCOhost)
This collection was developed with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) as part of an effort to preserve serials related to African American religious life and culture. It documents the history of African American life and religious organizations from materials published between 1829 and 1922. More than 170 unique titles, approximately 60,000 pages of searchable primary source content, and reports and annuals from African American religious organizations and social service agencies and African American periodicals are included.

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Researching Black History of the Pacific Northwest

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