Slavery in the United States: Databases for Primary Sources

Diverse primary source materials reflecting broad views across American history and culture have been assembled into comprehensive databases. Includes:

• African American Newspapers
• American County Histories
• Civil War Newspapers
• Godey’s Lady’s Book
• The Pennsylvania Gazette
• History of Woman Suffrage
• Frank Leslie’s Weekly
• The Liberator
• National Anti-Slavery Standard


• Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman
• Twelve Years a Slave
and full collection list.

...comprehensively details the extensive work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection presents the massive, international impact of African American activism against slavery, in the writings and publications of the activists themselves. The approximately 15,000 articles, documents, correspondence, proceedings, manuscripts, and literary works of almost 300 Black abolitionists show the full range of their activities.

Covers hearings, reports, documents and committee prints. The subscription also covers bill tracking & profiles, bill text, members and committee coverage, the Daily Congressional Record and the Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register, and political news.

For a better understanding of what is covered, here is a link to a Content Coverage Chart

HathiTrust is a partnership of academic and research institutions, offering a collection of titles digitized from libraries around the world.

SAS includes collections on the transatlantic slave trade, the global movement for the abolition of slavery, the legal, personal, and economic aspects of the slavery system, and the dynamics of emancipation.

Features petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867. Includes Judicial Cases Concerning American Slavery and the Negro; Law of Freedom and Bondage in the United States; Race, Slavery, and Free Blacks, Series I & II; and State Slavery Statutes.