Voting Rights Act: Primary Sources - HIS 200 - Applied History - Research Guides at Southern New Hampshire University

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Primary Sources

Consider using search terms like Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights movement, voting rights, African-American, etc. as you explore the library's subscription databases and the selected outside websites with quality digitized primary source collections. If you can identify any key figures in the movement, you can use their names as keywords as well. Keep in mind that many databases and websites will also have a date filter that you can use to ensure that you are looking at the right time period in history.

Databases with Primary Sources

Black Studies Center - ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Black Studies Center, from Chadwyck Healey US, brings together essential historical and current material for researching the past, present and future of African Americans, the wider African Diaspora, and Africa itself. It is comprised of several cross-searchable, component databases including: Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience; International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP); The Chicago Defender; the Black Literature Index, the HistoryMakers oral history video resource, and Black Abolitionist Papers .
History Vault - ProQuest This link opens in a new window
History Vault is a collection of primary source material pertaining to the civil rights movement and to U.S. foreign policy during the Vietnam War era. This rich collection of federal records, letters, papers, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records, and diaries is organized in five subject categories: 1) Civil Rights and the Black Freedom Struggle; 2) Southern Life, Slavery, and the Civil War; 3) American Indians and the American West; 4) American Politics and Society; 5) International Relations and Military Conflicts; 6) Women's Studies; and 7) Workers and Labor Unions.
New York Times (Historical) - ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Digitized articles from the New York Times from 1851 - 2014. Looking for the most recent NYT editions?
Primary Source Collections by Adam Matthew This link opens in a new window
Adam Matthew publishes unique primary source collections from archives around the world. SNHU Shapiro Library subscribes to the following collections: African American Communities, American History 1493-1945, the Confidential Print: North America collection in Archives Direct, Defining Gender, Empire Online, Everyday Life and Women in America 1800-1920, Race Relations in America, and Socialism On Film. For more information on how to use these database, please see these tutorial videos.
U.S. History In Context - Gale This link opens in a new window
Includes more than 5,000 primary source documents, full-text articles drawn from top periodicals and newspapers, thousands of images, videos, and audio selections.

Websites with Primary Sources

Digital Public Library of America: Voting Rights Act of 1965 This link opens in a new window
The sources in this set, including letters, photographs, petitions, reports, hearings, and more, provide further insight into the context of this important Act.
National Archives: Congress and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 This link opens in a new window
The National Archives' document collection includes letters, photographs, and congressional records related to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.