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African American Studies in Library Special Collections

Library Special Collections holdings on African Americans include significant collections which reveal the influence of individuals, organizations and institutions and their role in the development of Los Angeles.

Online Archive of California (OAC)

Keyword search for primary source materials in UCLA's online finding aids:

 

African American Studies Resources beyond Library Special Collections

Toward Ethical and Inclusive Descriptive Practices in UCLA Library Special Collections

LSC is committed to remediating harmful description by creating and implementing an anti-oppressive approach to discovery and access. We aim to:

  • Be clear about what we know, how we know it, and what we don't know
  • Embrace baseline description as a tool to improve the discoverability of all our materials
  • Demonstrate an understanding that description is a continuous and necessarily iterative endeavor

Read more about our past and current approaches to description in Toward Ethical and Inclusive Descriptive Practices in UCLA Library Special Collections.

African American Studies

The original forty-four pobladores (settlers) who founded Our Lady of the Queen of the Angels (Los Angeles) in 1781 included several of Afro-Mexican descent. In the more than two hundred years since, African-American Angelenos have played an integral role in the city’s development into a world-class metropolis. Library Special Collections holdings on African Americans include significant collections which reveal the influence of individuals, organizations and institutions and their role in the development of the city. African Americans came to Los Angeles in multiple waves of migration from Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, and other states and, once here, fought and triumphed over the racism and bias they believed had been left behind in their home states.

Quick Tips

Online Archive of California

  • Begin with the Online Archive of California (OAC). Many special collections held by UCLA are included in the OAC database. Vary your search from the very general terms such as “African Americans” to more specific terms such as “African Americans in Los Angeles,” or "African American Photographs."

Search UCLA's finding aids on the Online Archive of California:

 


UCLA Library Resources

* Also note campus departments, units, and organizations with ties to the larger African American community in Los Angeles.