Research Guides: Literary Research in Special Collections: African American

Related Resources

African-American and African Pamphlet Collection
The African-American and African Pamphlet Collection consists of 20th century materials on African, African-American, and Caribbean culture and literature. The collection spans the years 1905-1979, although the majority of the pamphlets date from the 1960s and 1970s. The pamphlets are in English, French, and a variety of African languages, such as Swahili, Tsonga, Tswana and Xhosa. Some of the unique publications include a transcript of a 1931 worker's trial by the U. S. Communist Party on a race-related incident, 1970s university studies on integration, and texts of speeches given by American radical leaders and leaders of African countries. The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject.
Authors and Poets Collection
Slave Narratives
Slave narratives are a rich source of information about the personal experiences of individual African Americans in early American society. Special Collections at the University of Maryland is home to a wide variety of slave narrative and oral histories that document the individual experiences of slaves within the state

African American Authors and Poets

Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Maryland houses many works by African American authors and poets. Below is a selection of African American literature from Special Collections. Search the catalog for addition works, or contact us with any questions.

Black poets write on! An anthology of Black Philadelphian poets
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 294
Publication Date: Philadelphia, Black History Museum Committee [1970]
Four Black revolutionary plays, all praises to the Black man by Amir Baraka
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks PS3519.O4545 F6
Publication Date: Indianapolis, Bobbs-Merrill [1969]
Negro songs : an anthology by Clement Wood
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 134
Publication Date: Girard, Kan. : Haldeman-Julius Co., c1924
Freedom school poetry by Compiled by Nancy Cooper; foreword by Langston Hughes
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 575
Publication Date: Atlanta : Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ; 1965 [c1966]
On these I stand : an anthology of the best poems of Countee Cullen by Countee Cullen
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks PS3505.U287 A6 1947
Publication Date: New York ; London : Harper & brothers, 1947
Black poetry; a supplement to anthologies which exclude Black poets by Edited by Dudley Randall
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 90
Publication Date: Detroit, Mich., Broadside Press [1969]
Weep no more : dramatic narrative poem by Evelyn Patterson Burrell
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 615
Publication Date: Philadelphia : Burton Johns Pub. Co., c1973.
The Black experience; an anthology of American literature for the 1970s by Francis E. Kearns
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks PS509.N4 K4 1970b
Publication Date: New York, Viking Press [1970]
Family pictures by Gwendolyn Brooks
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 301
Publication Date: Detroit, Broadside Press [1970]
Bandanna ballads, including "Shadows on the wall; verses and pictures by Howard Weeden
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks PS3545.E4 B3 1899
Publication Date: New York, Doubleday & McClure, 1899
Just above my head by James Baldwin
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks PZ4.B18 Ju
Publication Date: New York : Dial Press, c1979.
No name in the street by James Baldwin
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks E185.615 .B28 1973
Publication Date: New York : Dell, 1973
One day, when I was lost; a scenario. Based on Alex Haley’s "The autobiography of Malcolm X." by James Baldwin
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks PN1997.O45 B3
Publication Date: New York, Dial Press, 1973
Tell me how long the train’s been gone : a novel by James Baldwin
Call Number: Special Collections Stacks PS3552.A45 T4 1968a
Publication Date: New York : Dial Press, 1968
Jim Crow’s last stand by Langston Hughes
Call Number: Rare Stacks PS3515.U274 J5
Publication Date: [New York] Negro publ. soc. of America [c1943]
The backlash blues by Langston Hughes
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 300 no. 13
Publication Date: Detroit : Broadside Press, 1967
Can I poet with you by Mae Jackson
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 108
Publication Date: New York, N.Y. Black Dialogue Publishers, c1969
For my people by Margaret Walker
Call Number: Special Collections Folio PN841 .A1 no. 574
Publication Date: New Haven : Yale university press, 1942
Negro anthology by Nancy Cunard
Call Number: Rare Folio HT1581 .C8
Publication Date: London, Published by Nancy Cunard at Wishart & Co., 1934
Poets of today; a new American anthology by Walter Lowenfels. With a prologue poem by Langston Hughes
Call Number: Maryland Stacks PS614 .L75
Publication Date: New York : International Publishers, 1964

Search the UMD Catalog for Items in Special Collections

Use the University of Maryland classic catalog to search for titles in the rare book collection by date of publication, author, or keyword. Select Advanced Search and select Marylandia and Rare Books to search for works housed in Special Collections and University Archives.

Contact us with any questions about locating books in Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Maryland.

All rare books can be requested online and viewed in the Maryland Room, located in Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland College Park.

Related Guides

Slavery and Freedom in Maryland