Skip to Main Content

AFS 365W|HIST 365W: Slavery and Abolition in Africa

Primary Sources

Primary sources are firsthand accounts of events, recorded or produced by witnesses or recorders who were present at the time of the event or experienced the conditions being documented. Primary sources are characterized by their content, not their format. A primary source can be in a database, on microfilm, in print, etc.

Secondary sources are works that interpret or analyze an event or phenomenon. It is generally at least one-step removed from the event. Examples include scholarly or popular books and articles, reference books, and textbooks.

Digital Archives (Emory-Licensed)

Non-Emory Digital Archives

The Abolition of Slavery (The UK National Archives)

Endangered Archives Programme: History of Bolama, the first capital of Portuguese Guinea (1879-1941), as reflected in the Guinean National Historical Archives (EAP266)

In Motion: The TransAtlantic Slave Trade

National Library of France 

Recovered Histories: "Recovered Histories captures the narratives of the enslaved, enslavers, slave ship surgeons, abolitionists, parliamentarians, clergy, planters and rebels."

Slavery and Manumission Manuscripts of Timbuktu: "Digitized versions of approximately 200 19th-century manuscripts (in Arabic) relating to slavery and manumission in Timbuktu. These provide documentation on Africans in slavery in Muslim societies."

The Slave Route: UNESCO: "Since its launch in 1994, the UNESCO "Routes of Enslaved Peoples: Resistance, Liberty and Heritage" Project has contributed to the production of innovative knowledge, the development of high-level scientific networks and the support of memory initiatives on the theme of slavery, its abolition and the resistance it generated."

Digitized Images and Other Primary Resources (Non-Emory)

African Newspapers

European Newspapers

Caribbean Sources

Google Advanced Book Search

undefined

Google Advanced Book Search

  • You can find entire books for download that are out of copyright. 
  • A great resource for finding books written during the historical time period you are interested in.