Primary sources for research on Black Boston and the Civil Rights Movement @ Northeastern University
Archives and Special Collections and 
Beyond Busing: Boston School Desegregation Archival Resources
Northeastern University Digital Repository
James Fraser images (desegregation photographs)
Charles H. Bruce Photographs (early Black Boston)
Carmen Pola (bilingual education activist)
Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion (Puerto Rican activism)
La Alianza Hispana (Pan-Latino activism)
Lower Roxbury Oral History Project (local activists)
Books @ BPL
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Boston Sites and Insights by Whether you're looking for a history of one of the city's world-class museums or for a fascinating story about Boston's popular North End, Susan Wilson covers it all in Boston Sites and Insights. Divided into six sections that reflect the diversity of people, activities, and landmarks within the city, this fascinating book leaves no stone unturned. With practical, up-to-date information in an "Essentials" section at the end of each chapter as well as fresh retellings of popular legends and lore, Wilson provides everything the modern visitor or current resident needs to know to enjoy the multicultural city of Boston, Massachusetts."ISBN: 9780807071359Publication Date: 2004 -
Common Wealth by The story of African Americans in the visual arts has closely paralleled their social, political and economic aspirations over the last four hundred years. From enslaved craftspersons to contemporary painters, printmakers and sculptors, they have created a wealth of artistic expression that addresses common experiences, such as exclusion from dominant cultural institutions, and confronts questions of identity and community. This generously illustrated volume gathers works by leading figures from the nineteenth century to the present Henry Ossawa Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones, Gordon Parks, Wifredo Lam, Kara Walker, Glenn Ligon, Kerry James Marshall alongside many others who deserve to be better known, including artists from the African diaspora in South America and the Caribbean. Arranged thematically and accompanied by authoritative texts that provide historical and interpretive context, this book invites readers to share in a rich outpouring of art that meets shared challenges with individual creative responses.ISBN: 9780878468157Publication Date: 2015 -
Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America by In 1847, a five-year-old African American girl named Sarah Roberts was forced to walk past five white schools to attend the poor and densely crowded all-black Abiel Smith School on Boston's Beacon Hill. Incensed that his daughter had been turned away at each white school, her father, Benjamin, sued the city of Boston on her behalf. The historic case that followed set the stage for over a century of struggle, culminating in 1954 with the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education.ISBN: 9780807050194Publication Date: 2006 -
Having Our Say by Warm, feisty, and intelligent, the Delany sisters speak their mind in a book that is at once a vital historical record and a moving portrait of two remarkable women who continued to love, laugh, and embrace life after over a hundred years of living side by side. Their sharp memories show us the post-Reconstruction South and Booker T. Washington; Harlem's Golden Age and Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Paul Robeson. Bessie breaks barriers to become a dentist; Sadie quietly integrates the New York City system as a high school teacher. Their extraordinary story makes an important contribution to our nation's heritage—and an indelible impression on our lives.ISBN: 9780440220428Publication Date: 1994
Get a BPL library card to borrow books, search databases and listen/watch streaming media.
Places and Spaces in Boston
Boston Planning and Development Agency (formerly Boston Redevelopment Agency) has community information and data. Use the All Neighborhoods dropdown to find your community
"Imagine All the People" is a series of publications about Boston communities, such as
Haitians in Boston
includes digital materials on African Americans
Crispus Attucks Online Museum includes information about the Crispus Attucks Monument
Local Publications
Not scholarly, but Boston Magazine articles are available online with in-depth look at local issues and personalities.
Don’t F*ck with Linda
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Head Negro In Charge
Remembering the Boston Busing Crisis, Four Decades Later
The Road to Perdition
What does "perdition" mean? Look it up on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Digital Resource
Google Cultural Institute -- Black History and Culture
A treasure trove of online black history and culture, including
Library of Congress and Other Collections
Changes over time: Library of Congress Subject Headings for African Americans
includes
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Poject, 1936 to 1938.
Collection of over 100 interviews with African Americans who migrated to Newark, New Jersey between 1910 and 1970. Videos are included with interviews. From the Sample stories page.
An online reference source to African American history.
Boston Desegregation
Interacting with Primary Sources
University of Southern Mississippi. Special Collections. Student Printz front page
NOTE: enlarge the image and select With Frazier to see the missing lead article!
includes Animation of Freedom's Ring: King's "I Have a Dream" Speech
Use the The Digital Vault on Docs Teach to create exhibits or lessons from the resources in the Digital Vaults.