"Primary sources are materials produced by people or groups directly involved in the event or topic under consideration, either as participants or witnesses." Secondary sources, on the other hand, "comment on and interpret primary sources".*
*Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 4th ed. (Boston: Bedford, 2004), pp. 5-6.
See Primary Sources in American History for details on primary sources and how to find them.
More than 60 searchable African newspapers published in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Features English and foreign-language titles.
Expanding the coverage found in African Newspapers, Series 1, 1800-1922, with 40 additional African newspapers published between 1835 and 1925.
Rare and historically significant magazine content produced for Black African audiences.
Magazines, newspapers, and films from Kenyon journalist Hilary Ng'weno's media company.
Rare and historically significant magazines from West Africa.
African National Congress, Historical Documents Archive (from World History Resources with printer-friendly version)
Historical documents from South Africa, by or about the ANC in the anti-apartheid struggle.
U.S. Declassified Documents Online
Post WW II
For U.S.-Africa relations from the 1940s on. Contains declassified memos, diplomatic correspondence, national security policy statements, and intelligence estimates.
The United States and Africa : guide to U. S. official documents and government-sponsored publications on Africa, 1785-1975 (print and online)
Govt Ref LC 1.12/2:AF 8/2/785-975
Africa South of the Sahara, Selected Internet Sources from Stanford University
Web site of primary sources from many African countries.
Digital Imaging Project at the University of Kwazulu-Natal
"freely accessible online scholarly resource focusing on the socio-political history of South Africa, particularly the struggle for freedom during the period from 1950 to the first democratic elections in 1994."
World History- Africa
Center for History and New Media, George Mason University
The Black culture collection. Africa Collection. From the holdings of Atlanta University Library
Main Micro Film 1701-1881
Black culture collection, Africa catalog
Main Micro Index GN645 .B55
A microfilmed collection of books, pamphlets, letters and official documents from 19th and 20th century Africa, collected by Henry G. Slaughter. The catalog provides subject access.
Web Dossier on Nelson Mandela
A comprehensive gathering of publications--books, speeches, poems, addresses--by and about Mandela.
African Studies Centre Library in Leiden
Offers a catalogue of African Studies books, journals, web links, a thesaurus, etc.
A rich collection of objects and pages of documents and images from Southern Africa and the dismantling of the Apartheid regime, documenting colonial rule, dispersion of exiles, international intervention, and the worldwide networks that supported successive generations of resistance within the region.
20th century archival material from newly-independent nations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
