UWM Libraries Research and Course Guides: African and African Diaspora Studies: Primary Sources

Digital Collections

Africa Commons
A project to digitize, disseminate, and discover African cultural materials. Africa Commons helps preserve African content and enable African scholars easily to find and access expressions of their heritage in Western collections.

Tips: Create a free account using your UWM credentials to sign-in and view documents. Browsing by topic is the easiest way to explore materials.
African Online Digital Library
ODL is an open access digital library of African cultural heritage materials created by Michigan State University in collaboration with museums, archives, scholars, and communities around the world. AODL has materials related to Mauritania, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, Ethiopia, and South Africa.
Umbra Search
Umbra Search African American History brings together more than 400,000 digitized materials from over 1,000 libraries and archives across the country.
The Black Past: An Online Reference Guide to African American History
3,000 page reference center is dedicated to providing information to the general public on African American history in the United States and on the history of the more than one billion people of African ancestry around the world. It includes an online encyclopedia of hundreds of famous and lesser known figures in African American history, Global African history and specifically the history of African Americans in the West.
NMAAHC Open Access
The digital collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Explore and reuse thousands of digital items from the NMAAHC's collections.
African Activist Archive
The African Activist Archive is preserving and making available online the records of activism in the United States to support the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s.

HistoryMakers Digital Archive
Access ends July 1, 2025.
HistoryMakers Digital Archive is an extensive video oral history collection of thousands of African Americans from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences.
World Digital Library
Launched in 2009, the World Digital Library (WDL) was a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, with the support of UNESCO, and contributions from libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations around the world.

Say it Plain, Say it Loud: A Century of Great African American Speeches
Public speech making has played a powerful role in the long struggle by African Americans for equal rights. This collection, for the ear and the eye, highlights speeches by an eclectic mix of black leaders. Their impassioned, eloquent words continue to affect the ideas of a nation and the direction of history.
Archives Nationales d' Haïti
The Archives Nationales d'Haïti houses civil and state records as well of those of the Office of the President and most government ministries.
Digital Library of the Caribbean
dLOC is a cooperative of Partners within the Caribbean and circum-Caribbean that provides users with access to Caribbean cultural, historical and research materials held in archives, libraries, and private collections. dLOC comprises collections that speak to the similarities and differences in histories, cultures, languages and governmental systems.

UWM Archives

UWM Archives and Area Research Center Webpage

Email: ASKARCH@UWM.EDU

Location: Milwaukee Campus Library 3rd floor, West wing

Help with:

Primary Research Support and Primary Source Literacy instruction
History reference materials and vital statistics for Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sheboygan, Washington, and Waukesha Counties
University records and local manuscript collections
WTMJ Footage
Inter-archives loan requests

UWM-Special Collections

UWM Special Collections Webpage

Email: LIBSPECIAL@UWM.EDU

Location: Milwaukee Campus Library 4th Floor

Help With:

Rare and unique printed and published materials (zines, pamphlets, ephemera)
Rare books and illuminated manuscripts and art
UWM Author's Collection and Morris Fromkin Memorial Lecture
Primary source literacy instruction

American Geographical Society Library

American Geographical Society Library Webpage

Email: AGSL@UWM.EDU

Location: Milwaukee Campus Library 3rd floor, East wing

Help With:

Maps, atlases, and globes
GIS Data and GIS Data Literacy Instruction
Classical geography, arctic exploration and research, Western imperialism
The American Geographical Society Archives
Census data
Primary Source Literacy Instruction