African and African American Studies Research Guide

Browse more than 11,000 items ranging from prints and photographs to historical documents relating to African and African Diasporan history and cultures from the 17th to the 20th centuries.

Features collections of images and essays related to Black Internationalism, Colonization of Africa, and Pan-Africanism.

This collection contains more than 3000 slides, 500 photographs, and 50 hours of sounds from forty-five different countries.

The Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at the National Museum of African Art is a research and reference center with over 300,000 still photographic images documenting the arts, peoples and history of Africa over the past 120 years. Eliot Elisofon (1911-1973) was an internationally known photographer and filmmaker who created an enduring visual record of African life from 1947 to 1973.

The posters represent a variety of social, political, and cultural issues, including public health, education, liberation and independence, political campaigns, the anti-apartheid movement, Biafra, Darfur, economics, art, publishing, and music. You can search for these posters in the online catalog and view them in person at Northwestern's Africana Library.

From Michigan State University, this project aims to preserve records and memories of activism in the United States to support the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s. The project includes an online archive of historical materials, remembrances and interviews with activists, and a directory of archives of organizations and individuals at libraries and historical societies that are available for further research.

From Michigan State University, this digital collection presents first-hand accounts of this important political movement. Interviews with South African activists, raw video footage documenting mass resistance and police repression, historical documents, rare photographs, and original narratives tell this remarkable story.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art created a timeline of African art that begins with African Christianity in Ethiopia in the 4th century up through African influences in modern art. Website includes mini-essays on art forms such as rock art, terracottas, basketry, and portraits, and topics such as Islam, the transatlantic slave trade, and Great Zimbabwe.

The website for the African Art collection at the Smithsonian includes highlights of the collection and allows you to search by artist, cultural groups, and objects, and features mini-essays on various topics related to the collection.

Browse all the TED talks that have been tagged "Africa."