Skip to Main Content
Research Guides

History : African American: Books & eBooks

A research guide to primary and secondary sources for African American history.

Selected eBooks

Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South
The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era
Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora
Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State
An Army Afire: How the US Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era
Washington State Rising: Black Power on Campus in the Pacific Northwest
A Place Called Ilda: Race and Resilience at a Northern Virginia Crossroads
John Lewis: In Search of the Beloved Community
The Tuskegee Student Uprising: A History
https://offcampus.lib.washington.edu/login?url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/jj.1791938
Frontline Bodies: Sports and Black Struggles for Justice since the Late Nineteenth Century
Race in the Crucible of War: African American Servicemen and the War in Vietnam
Living the Dream: The Contested History of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Black Elders: The Meaning of Age in American Slavery and Freedom
Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics
White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food from Black Exclusion to Exploitation
Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement
Lifting the Chains: The Black Freedom Struggle Since Reconstruction

Finding Books

UW Libraries Search logo  

Advanced Search | FAQ | Known Issues

Find eBooks

You can find eBooks in two ways:

  • Do your search and then on the results screen, filter your results by using the toolbar:
    • Choose Availability: "Available Online" and Resource Type: "eBooks"
    • And then click on the green "Apply Filters" button
       
  • Use the Advanced Search option
    • Change "Show Only" to "UW Libraries" and "Material Type" to "eBooks"
       
  • See the eBook FAQ for more information

Search Tips

 

  • By Topic - Type in the keywords that broadly describe your topic. For example: slavery united states women history
     
  • By Title - search for a specific book by title. Type in the first few words of the book title in quotations. For example: "saltwater slavery"
     
  • By Author - search for books written by a specific author. Type in the last name followed by the first name of the author in quotations. For example: "camp stephanie"

History eBook Collections

 Additional collections of eBooks can be found on eBook Collections guide. The following collections have strong history content:

Finding Books Beyond the UW

If you can't find the books you need at the UW or through our Summit partner libraries (Summit material can be found in UW Libraries Search), use the following catalogs. Books not available at the UW can be requested through Interlibrary Loan. 

Browsing African American History

The UW Libraries arranges books by Library of Congress call numbers. Though African American history is covered in under various subjects (e.g., there will be African American history in the women's history call numbers, the urban history call numbers, etc.) the major section for African American history is listed below.

E184-E185 African American history Suzzallo 3
E441-E453 Slavery Suzzallo 3


For a more specific breakdown of the call numbers see the Library of Congress Classification Online.