LibGuides: Primary Sources: Activism and Protest

Activism and Protest

1980s Culture and Society This link opens in a new window Contains a wide variety of material from the US, UK, Australia and Canada. Includes newspapers and zines from grassroots organisations and under-represented groups, newsletters, films, photographs as well as some government papers. The resource aims to show the key social, cultural, and political concerns of the decade.
Africa Commons: History & Culture This link opens in a new window Curated collection of African historical and cultural materials held by organisations around the world, with links to repositories where the materials are accessible. It includes a variety of cultural artefacts such as books, magazines, comics, photographs, music ,maps, speeches, letters and diaries. Modules include: Black South African Magazines, East African Magazines, Newspapers and Films: The Hilary Ng'weno Archive, History and Culture, and Southern African Film and documentaries.
African Diaspora, 1860-Present This link opens in a new window Focusing on communities in the Caribbean, Brazil, India, United Kingdom, and France, this archive represents the voices of people of African descent. The archive includes personal papers, organizational papers, journals, newsletters, court documents, letters, and ephemera. Includes Hansib publications and the writings of George Padmore.
Aluka: Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa This link opens in a new window An archive of objects, documents and images relating to 20th Century Southern Africa’s fight for independence. Materials include periodicals, pamphlets, speeches, interviews, personal papers, letters and official documents from this time with an emphasis on Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.
Amnesty International Archives: A Global Movement for Human Rights This link opens in a new window Contains the records of Amnesty International from the second half of the C20 (mainly 1960-1994 with some sources available up to 2013). It includes minutes, reports, correspondence, first-hand accounts, publicity materials and circulars relating to human rights violations of all kinds in all parts of the world. Images, written accounts and oral histories are all included.
Apartheid Through the Eyes of South African Political Parties, 1948-1994 This link opens in a new window Contains various materials published by political parties on both sides of the racial and ideological divide. Most documents are from the archives of the main opposition movement, the African National Congress (ANC). The main party of government, the National Party, is also well represented, as are several minor parties and independent candidates.
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window Covers the work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection includes the writings of the activists themselves, including pamphlets, newspaper articles and books.
Decolonization: Politics and Independence in Former Colonial and Commonwealth Territories This link opens in a new window First-hand primary sources from over 70 former British colonies and Commonwealth nations, plus some former French and Portuguese territories. Focusing specifically on 20th century political movements within individual countries, the content includes the African Trade Union Papers, Marjorie Nicholson papers and the Political Pamphlets from the Institute of Commonwealth.
Federal Surveillance of the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueo This link opens in a new window FBI file, including surveillance and informant reports and correspondence, on the Partido Independentista Puertorriqueo (1941-1982), the largest of the Puerto Rican independence parties.
Independent Voices This link opens in a new window Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals. These materials were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.
Liberation Movement in Africa and African America This link opens in a new window FBI surveillance files (1970 to 1985) on the activities of the African Liberation Support Committee and All African People’s Revolutionary Party .; this collection provides two unique views on African American support for liberation struggles in Africa, the issue of Pan-Africanism, and the role of African independence movements as political leverage for African Americans.
Making of Modern Law: American Civil Liberties Union Papers (Primary Sources): Part I: 1912-1990 This link opens in a new window Search the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) records on free speech, citizenship, race, discrimination, and other topics.
NAACP Papers: Board of Directors, Annual Conferences, Major Speeches, and National Staff Files This link opens in a new window Papers of the U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, covering 1909-1970. This collection covers the work for civil rights and includes minutes of directors' meetings, monthly reports from officers to the board of directors, proceedings of the annual business meetings, significant records of the association's annual conferences, plus many special reports on a wide range of issues.
NAACP Papers: Branch Department, Branch Files and Youth Department Files This link opens in a new window Papers of the U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, covering 1913-1972. Covers the work for civil rights in the branches by local activists as well as and youth department of the organisation. Files are divided by region and topic.
NAACP Papers: Special Subjects This link opens in a new window Papers of the U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, covering 1912-1972. Covers the work for civil rights that fell outside of the major campaigns, including the Klan, Birth of a Nation, communism and anticommunism, prosecution of Hollywood personalities and conscientious objectors during World War II, relations with African colonial liberation movements and more.
NAACP Papers: the NAACP's Major Campaigns - Education, Voting, Housing, Employment, Armed Forces This link opens in a new window Papers of the U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, covering 1913-1965. Covers the work for civil rights via major campaigns of the NAACP including on equal access to education, voting, employment, housing and the military.
NAACP Papers: the NAACP's Major Campaigns - Legal Department Files This link opens in a new window Papers of the U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, covering 1956-1972. Covers the work for civil rights done by the NAACP's general counsel and his Legal Department staff. Covers the NAACP's campaign to bring about desegregation throughout the United States, particularly in the South. Includes over 600 cases from 34 states and the District of Columbia.
NAACP Papers: the NAACP's Major Campaigns - Scottsboro, Anti-Lynching, Criminal Justice, Peonage, Labor, and Segregation and Discrimination Complaints and Responses This link opens in a new window Papers of the U.S. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, covering 1912-1965. Covers the work for civil rights, specifically the NAACP's efforts to combat lynching, mob violence, discrimination in the criminal justice system, and white resistance to civil rights efforts. Includes coverage of the Scottsboro boys trial as well as the NAACP's campaign to introduce a federal law against lynching.
Power to the People: Counterculture, Social Movements, and the Alternative Press This link opens in a new window Covering C19-C21, this collection covers mainly the US and UK, but also includes coverage of global events. It contains alternative press publications representing anti-establishment and countercultural ideas and movements through art, satire, humour, and alternative lifestyles. Publications include Bizarre, Viz and Fortean Times as well as pamphlet and poster collections.
Race Relations in America This link opens in a new window Documenting three pivotal decades in the fight for civil rights (1940s to 1970's), this resource showcases the speeches, reports, surveys and analyses produced by the Departments staff and Institute participants, including Charles S. Johnson, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thurgood Marshall.
Rastafari Ephemeral Publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project This link opens in a new window This collection contains magazines, newsletters and ephemeral publications from the Written Rastafari Archives Project (WRAP). The period covered is the early 1970s to 2014 and covers a transitional period, where the movement has spread across the Afro-Atlantic world and has become more globalized.
Revolution and Protest Online This link opens in a new window Provides comparative documentation, analysis, and interpretation of political processes through the lens of revolutions, protests, resistance and social movements. Organised around specific events and themes, the collection predominantly consists of government documents, but also contains ephemera and video content. Coverage is global and mainly C20, though there are also some older events covered.
Sabinet This link opens in a new window SA Media is a news research and press clipping service that retrospectively covers mainstream publications in South Africa, from 1978 to present day.
Socialist and Radical Periodicals This link opens in a new window This collection sheds light on the 20th/21st–century history of a variety of movements and ideologies on the political left, including Marxist, socialist, communist, social democratic, and Fabianist publications.