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U.S. History: 1877 to present - HIST202 - Primary Sources

Primary sources available in the library or on the Internet relevant to U.S. History after 1877

Resources in Library Catalog

eBooks on this list are only available to RVCC students, faculty, and staff and require a login with your G# and password.

African-Americans

African American mosaic : a documentary history from the slave trade to the twenty-first century

With the proliferation of courses in African American history, a single collection of primary documents has become essential. This reflects both the recent trends and the enduring political and social themes regarding gender and culture in African American history.

African American political thought, 1890-1930 : Washington, Du Bois, Garvey, and Randolph

A collection of essays, letters, speeches, and editorials produced by four prominent African American civil rights leaders in the late 19th century.

Afro-American history : primary sources

50 complete documents present Afro-American history from colonial times to the 1970's. Includes speeches, articles, reports, and poetry from figures like: Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Langston Hughes, Stokely Carmichael, and Jesse Jackson.

Autobiography of a people : three centuries of African American history told by those who lived it

Contains primary source material from the early 18th to late 20th centuries.

Black protest; history, documents, and analyses, 1619 to the present

A wide selection of documents that provides the historical setting of today's protest thought and actions. Writings by: W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes, John Brown, Tom Hayen, William Bradford Huie, James Farmer, Roy Wilkins, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Stokely Carmichael.

The burden of race : a documentary history of Negro-white relations in America

Contains primary source documents spanning American history from slavery to the 1960's.

Civil rights and the American negro : a documentary history

Sturdy documentary evidence of the deep-rooted schism in American racial views, from the record of the first slave cargo in 1619 to the Summary of the Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders.

Eyewitness; the Negro in American history

Illuminates the contributions of African Americans in every period of our history: from the early explorers to today's champions of true equality and civil rights. Clear narratives of every period set the stage for eyewitness accounts drawn from letters, army records, travel accounts, magazines, and other authentic sources of the times.

Freedom on my mind : a history of African Americans, with documents

This book weaves together narrative and a wealth of carefully selected primary sources. The narrative focuses on the diversity of black experience, on culture, and on the impact of African Americans on the nation as a whole. Every chapter contains two themed sets of written documents and a visual source essay.

Freedom on my mind : the Columbia documentary history of the African American experience

Chronicles the experiences of African-Americans from the Colonial era to the present, using personal letters, slave narratives, autobiographies, leaflets, speeches, oral histories, and political manifestos to recount African-Americans' efforts to pursue freedom in the U.S.

In search of democracy : the NAACP writings of James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins (1920-1977)

In this engrossing collection of editorials, petitions, reports and speeches, archivist Sondra Kathryn Wilson delineates fifty-seven years of the NAACP's program under the successive direction of James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins. By gathering the public writings of these heroic figures, she has created a narrative that spans more than half a century of racial conflict and civil rights history.

In their own words; a history of the American Negro

A history of Black people in the United States, as told through letters, speeches, articles, eyewitness accounts, and other documents. This is a collection of personal accounts of the experiences of African Americans. There are excerpts from the memoirs of slaves, from educator Charlotte Forten while observing a regiment of young freedmen, from Fannie Lou Hamer during unofficial hearings on brutality in Mississippi, & from Maya Angelou on being a black female artist. Issues from slavery to the Ku Klux Klan, to marches, boycotts, & political power, are presented.

Mary McLeod Bethune : building a better world : essays and selected documents

Examines the career of African-American leader Mary McLeod Bethune through a collection of seventy-five documents she created or contributed to, covering a period that ranges from 1902 to 1955; and includes a chronology, as well as a biographical and historical assessment of Bethune and her legacy.

Milestones along the march : twelve historic Civil Rights documents, from World War II to Selma

Contains documents related to Civil Rights, including Executive Orders from FDR and Truman, court statutes, letters, speeches, and the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Story of the riot

Statement and proofs written and compiled by Frank Moss and issued by the Citizens' Protective League regarding persecution of African-Americans by "roughs" and policemen, in the city of New York, August, 1900.

With pen and voice : a critical anthology of nineteenth-century African-American women

Here―in the only collection of speeches by nineteenth-century African-American women―is the battle of words these brave women waged to address the social ills of their century. In this chronological anthology, Shirley Wilson Logan highlights the public addresses of these women, beginning with Maria W. Stewart’s speech at Franklin Hall in 1832, believed to be the first delivered to an audience of men and women by an American-born woman.

Women, Native Americans, immigrant groups

America's working women

Contains primary source materials and sections on black slaves, Lowell, women on the Oregon trail, nursing, white slavery, letters from black migrants, the Lawrence textile strike, the Triangle fire, and child care.

American Indians

This collection brings together recent essays covering over five hundred years of American Indian history. Attached to each essay are primary historical documents that deal with issues of survival, resistance, accommodation, and adaptation, all of which illuminate the complexity and diversity of American Indian experiences.

American women activists' writings : an anthology, 1637-2002

A collection of writings by American female activists highlights the contributions of women involved in environmental protection, wildlife conservation, civil rights, abolitionism, and many other causes. Includes works by Abigail Adams, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger, Amelia Earhart, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and many more.

Before they could vote : American women's autobiographical writing, 1819-1919

The life narratives in this collection are by ethnically diverse women of energy and ambition - some well known, some forgotten over generations - who confronted barriers of gender, class, race, and sexual difference as they pursued or adapted to adventurous new lives in a rapidly changing America. The engaging selections - from captivity narratives to letters, manifestos, criminal confessions, and childhood sketches - span a hundred years in which women increasingly asserted themselves publicly (eBook).

Chinese American voices : from the gold rush to the present

Offering a textured history of the Chinese in America since their arrival during the California Gold Rush, this work includes letters, speeches, testimonies, oral histories, personal memoirs, poems, essays, and folksongs. It provides an insight into immigration, work, family and social life, and the longstanding fight for equality and inclusion (eBook).

The Columbia documentary history of race and ethnicity in America

This invaluable resource documents all eras of the American past, including black/white interactions and the broad spectrum of American attitudes and reactions concerning Native Americans, Irish Catholics, Mexican Americans, Jewish Americans, and other groups. Each of the eight chronological chapters contains a survey essay, an annotated bibliography, and 20 to 30 related public and private primary source documents, including manifestos, speeches, court cases, letters, memoirs, and much more (eBook).

Controlling reproduction : an American history

This informative, detailed text contains 39 writings on the history of reproduction in the U.S. The historical path of reproduction control is viewed in the contexts of politics, law, medicine, sexuality, business, and social change.

Defining Documents in American History: Immigration & Immigrant Communities (1650-2016)

This text explores the full history of immigration issues in America, from those early immigrants making their way through Ellis Island, to immigration issues in modern society. With in-depth analysis of a broad range of documents, researchers come away with fresh understanding and insight to study this hot button topic (eBook).

From megaphones to microphones : speeches of American women, 1920-1960

An anthology of speeches by women activists from 1920 to 1960 which address a wide array of debated topics including child labor, international relations, nuclear disarmament, consumerism, social welfare, and feminism.

History of woman suffrage

Originally published starting in 1881. Reprints of the 1881-1922 editions ; reprinted from copies at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library. V.1-3 edited by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage ; v.4 edited by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper ; v.5-6 edited by Ida Husted Harper.

I have spoken; American history through the voices of the Indians

A chronological compilation of both famous and unfamiliar Indian speeches from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries.

Immigration: select documents and case records

A source book containing primary source documents related to the immigrant experience and spanning the history of America; including acts, essays, legislation, Senate documents, court documents, and social case records.

The Jews of the United States, 1790-1840, a documentary history

Provides access to primary source documents affecting the Jewish population of the United States from the late 18th to 20th centuries.

The memoirs of Chief Red Fox

Memoirs of the American Indian Chief, born in 1870. From over seventy-five years of notes, Chief Red Fox has given us a remarkable record of Native Americans' fight for survival, the loss of rights and their identity.

Race and racism in the United States : an encyclopedia of the American mosaic

This book provide readers with comprehensive content supplemented by historical backgrounds, relevant examples from primary documents, and first-hand accounts. To access primary source documents, click List of Primary Documents under Contents. Not all primary sources on this list are available online (eBook).

Root of bitterness : documents of the social history of American women

Presenting a diverse collection of documents, Root of Bitterness reaches from the colonial era through the nineteenth century, focusing on six dominant themes: women's work, the power of gender, the physical body, women's collective efforts, diversity and conflict among women, and women's relation to state authority. This edition contains about twenty selections from the original volume and almost sixty new ones.

The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony : Their Place Inside the Body-Politic, 1887 to 1895

This book opens in February 1887, just after the U.S. Senate had rejected woman suffrage, and closes in November 1895 with Stanton's grand birthday party at the Metropolitan Opera House. It contains letters written by Stanton and Anthony during this period (eBook).

Sexual harassment in America : a documentary history

The definition of sexual harassment and our developing awareness of the concept in the late twentieth century is explored in this unique collection of over 90 documents. Political and social aspects of sexual harassment are examined through legal cases that defined and prohibited it, as well as government documents, major studies, and newspaper accounts of major developments concerning sexual harassment.

The soul of an immigrant

The author of this book arrived in Boston Harbor on July 3, 1902; it tells the story of his struggles as an immigrant in America, an experience similar to that of many others.

Testimonio : a documentary history of the Mexican American struggle for civil rights

Historical documents help chronicle the struggle of Mexican Americans for equal civil rights in the United States from the early 1800s through the modern era, with individual prefaces for each document and suggestions for further reading (eBook).

This country was ours : a documentary history of the American Indian

Numerous extracts from firsthand accounts and documents provide both Indian and white perspectives on the life styles, white relations, and tragic plight of the North American natives since the early European invasions. Covers eras from before Columbus to the 1970's.

With pen and voice : a critical anthology of nineteenth-century African-American women

Here―in the only collection of speeches by nineteenth-century African-American women―is the battle of words these brave women waged to address the social ills of their century. In this chronological anthology, Shirley Wilson Logan highlights the public addresses of these women, beginning with Maria W. Stewart’s speech at Franklin Hall in 1832, believed to be the first delivered to an audience of men and women by an American-born woman.

Women's America : refocusing the past

Featuring a mix of primary source documents, articles, and illustrations, Women's America: Refocusing the Past has long been an invaluable resource. Now in its eighth edition, the book has been extensively revised and updated to cover recent developments in U.S. women's history.

Women's suffrage in America : an eyewitness history

Chronicles the struggle of American women for the right to vote, from 1800 to their victory in 1920. Includes quotations from contemporary witnesses through memoirs, letters, and other documents of the period.

Other social and political issues

America's families : a documentary history

Contains a collection of documents on the American family from colonial times to the present including letters, diaries, popular songs, advice manuals, laws and trial records, marriage contracts, and government investigations.

Arms control and disarmament agreements : texts and history of negotiations

Published in 1977, this book contains a secondary source description of the history of each treaty, plus the full text of the treaty or agreement itself. Some of these documents include the Geneva Protocol, Treaty for the prohibition of nuclear weapons in Latin America, and Limited test ban treaty.

The Central Intelligence Agency, history and documents

This volume pulls together a core collection of documents pertaining to the CIA. Leary's introduction provides an overview and chronology of the US intelligence operations from the American Revolution through to World War II, and places the documents in proper perspective.

The Columbia historical portrait of New York; an essay in graphic history

Running commentary accompanies more than nine hundred illustrations which illuminate the evolution of the city as well as the changes in man's consciousness of his urban environment.

Constitutional government in the United States

This book has its origins in a series of lectures Wilson delivered at Columbia University in 1907. It is carefully organized around three separate but mutually supporting arguments: constitutional government evolves toward an ideal form, the evolution contains an analysis of where the Constitution fits in, and the benefit of looking at history when setting up a modern government.

Controlling reproduction : an American history

This informative, detailed text contains 39 writings on the history of reproduction in the U.S. The historical path of reproduction control is viewed in the contexts of politics, law, medicine, sexuality, business, and social change.

The Declaration of Independence : a global history

In a stunningly original look at the American Declaration of Independence, David Armitage reveals the document in a new light: through the eyes of the rest of the world. Not only did the Declaration announce the entry of the United States onto the world stage, it became the model for other countries to follow.

Defining Documents in American History: Dissent & protest (1635-2017)

This collection of historical documents gathers a wide variety of examples of dissent and protest throughout American history. It is divided into two volumes: From Colonies to Nation and Slavery and Abolition. Also available as an eBook.

Documenting American violence : a sourcebook

Violence forms a constant backdrop to American history, from the revolutionary overthrow of British rule, to the struggle for civil rights, to the present-day debates over the death penalty. Organized topically, this volume looks at such diverse topics as famous crimes, vigilantism, industrial violence, domestic abuse, and state-sanctioned violence (eBook).

Education as my agenda : Gertrude Williams, race, and the Baltimore Public Schools

When Gertrude Williams retired in 1998, after forty-nine years in the Baltimore public schools, The Baltimore Sun called her "the most powerful of principals" who "tangled with two superintendents and beat them both." In this oral memoir, Williams identifies the essential elements of sound education and describes the battles she waged to secure those elements, first as teacher, then a counselor, and, for twenty-five years, as principal (eBook).

The encyclopedia of war journalism, 1807-2010

This book examines the development, history, and current state of war journalism. Primary sources are scattered throughout the book; after clicking "Read Online," click on "Primary Documents" to see where they are located (eBook).

The Environmental Debate

This unique collection of primary documents examines the evolution of concern about environmental degradation, pollution, and resource conservation in America from the Colonial period the present (eBook).

Free expression in America : a documentary history

A collection of primary sources on freedom of expression in America, starting with the founding of our nation and spanning through to the 20th century.

The Hammonds of Redcliffe

This is the story of the Hammond Family of South Carolina and of their attachment to a place, Redcliffe, their plantation home in Beech Island. The author has selected nearly 200 letters to tell the story of Southern life experienced by a prominent family, from 1855-1938.

Have faith in Massachusetts; a collection of speeches and messages

Calvin Coolidge is generally remembered as our most laconic President, to the point that most jokes about him revolve around the silence of "Silent Cal." Before he went to Washington as Vice President, and then succeeded to the Presidency, Coolidge was the 46th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (1916-19), and then the Bay State's 48th Governor (1919-21). In those years, he spoke and wrote frequently.

Inside the Oval Office : the White House tapes from FDR to Clinton

During four years of research in the National Archives and Presidential Libraries, William Doyle unearthed scores of White House tapes and transcripts, many never before published. He interviewed over one hundred Oval Office insiders.
Cabinet members, and White House aides, from FDR's personal secretary to Henry Kissinger.

Jim Farley's story; the Roosevelt years

Postmaster General under the first two administrations of President Franklin Roosevelt, Farley recalls campaigning, conventions, and World War II, among other topics.

The journals of David E. Lilienthal

Diaries kept during his years as head of the Tennessee Valley Authority and of the Atomic Energy Commission, among other important posts, form an autobiography of an important, versatile statesman.

Notable speeches in contemporary presidential campaigns

Friedenberg examines William Henry Harrison's first ever speech by an American presidential candidate on behalf of his own candidacy as a prelude to the detailed examination of notable contemporary campaign speeches. Key speeches by John F. Kennedy, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and George W. Bush are analyzed (eBook).

Old New York : a journal relating to the history and antiquities of New York City

A wealth of information on early New York City, from biographical notes on citizens, to churches, claims, diaries, extracts from early newspapers.

The papers of Woodrow Wilson

This massive collection includes all important letters, speeches, interviews, press conferences, and public papers on Woodrow Wilson. The Papers not only reveal the private and public man, but also the era in which he lived, making the series additionally valuable to scholars in various fields of history between the 1870's and the 1920's.

Presidents from Hayes through McKinley : debating the issues in pro and con primary documents

This resource of primary documents and commentary spans the Hayes and McKinley administrations, selecting and describing five to ten of the foremost issues of the day. The actual texts of the presidents' positions, along with the opposing viewpoints, are presented. Helpful background information and commentary clarifies the primary sources, accurately depicting this dynamic time in the country's past and providing an invaluable resource to any student of American history (eBook).

The President, roles and powers

This book contains writings that illustrate the workings of the presidency from authors such as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and John F. Kennedy.

The published writings of Wilbur and Orville Wright

The authors bring together for the first time nearly seventy of Wilbur and Orville Wright's published writings into a single, annotated reference. Spanning the decades from the brothers' turn-of-the-century experiments with gliders until Orville's death in 1948, the articles describe the design of their aircraft, early test flights, and camp life at Kitty Hawk.

Readings for Democrats

Contains political essays and speeches by figures like Woodrow Wilson, FDR, John Quincy Adams, Grover Cleveland, Andrew Jackson, Harry Truman, JFK, and more.

Readings for Republicans

Contains political essays and speeches by figures like Abraham Lincoln, Herbert Hoover, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Earl Warren, Thomas E. Dewey, and more.

The role of police in American society : a documentary history

Contains ninety-five primary documents, grouped into seven different time periods, that chronicle the history and development of police policy and the role of police in American society from the 17th to 20th cemturies.

Sexual harassment in America : a documentary history

The definition of sexual harassment and our developing awareness of the concept in the late twentieth century is explored in this unique collection of over 90 documents. Political and social aspects of sexual harassment are examined through legal cases that defined and prohibited it, as well as government documents, major studies, and newspaper accounts of major developments concerning sexual harassment.

Social security : a documentary history

A Documentary History tells the story of the creation and development of the U.S. Social Security program through primary source documents, from its antecendents and founding in 1935, to the controversial issues of the present. This unique reference presents the complex history of Social Security in an accessible volume that hightlights the program's major moments and events.

The South and the southerner

This book is a blend of history and autobiography; a description of the many Souths experienced by McGill (1898-1969), including Appalachian gorges, Civil War battlefields, and Vanderbilt University.

To make all laws : the Congress of the United States, 1789-1989

This history of the United States Congress was written in 1989, on its Bicentennial celebration. Although the text in this book is a secondary source, it is full of political cartoons, sketches, and photographs taken from the Library of Congress's historical collection.

Washington wife: journal of Ellen Maury Slayden from 1897-1919

This unique account, written by the wife of a congressman from Texas and just brought to light, is a tart, lively, and enormously diverting firsthand report about people and events in a fascinating period of American history. In 1897 Ellen Maury Slayden accompanied her newly elected congressman husband to Washington. James Luther Slayden served as a member of the House of Representatives for the next twenty-two years.

The White House tapes : eavesdropping on the President

Contains complete transcripts of recorded phone conversations by presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, and Ronald Reagan as they shaped historic events of the 20th century. Includes historical prefaces to each conversation offering context and identifying participants, and an extended introduction by John Prados telling the complete story of presidential recordings.

The wisdom of conservatism

An anthology of primary source writings on the topic of conservatism from individuals like Aristotle, Machiavelli, Alexis de Tocqueville, Adam Smith, Andrew Carnegie, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, C. S. Lewis, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and many more.

Years of renewal

Here are intimate, candid, and sharply intelligent portraits of world leaders, from Mao Zedong teasing Kissingery, to Leonid Brezhnev, confused, unwell, desperately trying to conceal the Soviet Union's growing difficulties with a facade of blustering bravado, as well as a galaxy of European, Middle Eastern, Asian, Latin American, and African leaders.

Years of upheaval

Kissinger recalls the second administration of Richard Nixon, the Watergate scandal, the 1973 October war in the Middle East, Year of Europe; two Nixon-Brezhnev summits and the controversy over detente; the Shah of Iran; the oil crisis and the effort to overcome it, the US airlift to Israel and military alert; the origins of shuttle diplomacy; the fall of Salvador Allende in Chile; and the events surrounding Nixon's resignation.

Historical document collections

American diaries : an annotated bibliography of published American diaries and journals

V.1 - Diaries written from 1492 to 1844 -- V.2 - Diaries written from 1845 to 1980. This impressive work expands and revises the pioneer efforts of William Matthews 's American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of American Diaries Written Prior to the Year 1861. The authors have increased the scope of the work to include Spanish-American, Alaskan, and Hawaiian material and diaries of American missionaries serving in foreign countries.

An American primer

Anthology of essays, laws, speeches and other writings illustrating the American way of life from the Mayflower Compact to Lyndon B. Johnson's address on voting rights in 1965.

Documents of American history

Documents of American History is a collection of documents that span the time between 1492-1973 that were edited by Historian Henry Steele Commager. Contained within the collection are various types of documents from legislative statutes, Supreme Court decisions, to presidential addresses, party platforms, etc. (Reference books must be used in the library).

Documentary source book of American history, 1606-1926

Includes the charters of Virginia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, as well as acts and treaties spanning American history.

Historical statistics of the United States: colonial times to 1970

This bicentennial edition includes more than 12,500 time series, mostly annual, providing a statistical history of U.S. social, economic, political, and geographic development during periods from 1610 to 1970 (eBook).

Milestone documents in American history : exploring the primary sources that shaped America

Contains thirty-two full-text primary source documents that helped to shape American society from 1763 to 1823 including the Proclamation of 1763, Treaty of Fort Pitt, the Bill of Rights, the Missouri Compromise, and the Monroe Doctrine (eBook) .

Our documents : 100 milestone documents from the National Archives

A collection of one hundred documents that were important in the development of the United States from its founding to 1965, including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and lesser-known writings.

Reading the twentieth century : documents in American history

The focus of Reading the Twentieth Century is on the role of the United States in the world in the twentieth century, after the nation became a major world player. Readings include public documents, memoirs, and media comments, many of which have never been published before (eBook).

Records of our national life : American history at the National Archives

Published in honor of the Archives' 75th anniversary, Records of Our National Life is a highly illustrated volume that takes the reader on a journey through American history, from the struggle for independence to the 2009 tally of electoral votes. Featuring more than 800 documents, maps, photographs, and drawings, as well as essays by some of America's leading journalists, political commentators, and broadcasters, the book provides readers with a glimpse into the extensive holdings of the Archives.

The story of America : essays on origins

In this book, the author investigates American origin stories, from John Smith's account of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address, in order to show how American democracy is bound up with the history of print. It presents readings of Benjamin Franklin's Way to Wealth, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, and Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as histories of lesser-known genres, including biographies of presidents, novels of immigrants, and accounts of the Depression.

Voices from America's past

The history of the United States told through letters, diaries, memoirs and other contemporary documents from before the Revolutionary War to the 1970's.

The Way we lived : essays and documents in American social history

Uses both primary and secondary sources to explore social history topics and sharpen your interpretive skills. Each chapter includes one secondary source essay and several related primary source documents. Spans American history from before the Revolutionary war to the early 20th century.

We hold these truths; documents of American democracy

This book contains numerous primary sources, like The Mayflower Compact, 1620; First inaugural address, 1789 by George Washington; The Monroe Doctrine, 1823; The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863; War message, 1917 by Woodrow Wilson; and First inaugural address, 1933 by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Resources on the Internet