Primary sources are first-hand accounts of an event or time in history that has yet to be interpreted by another person.
Examples of primary sources include:
This site features digital copies of 113 antique maps of Africa and accompanying text dating from the mid 16th Century to the early 20th Century. Northwestern Univ.
Africa through a lens is a set of thousands of images taken from a broader photographic collection of Foreign and Commonwealth Office images, held at The National Archives. UK
The 1,280 images in this collection have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. This collection is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, etc.
On this site you will find videos relating to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi enriched with synchronized transcripts, searchable index terms, and maps. Videos include testimonies of Genocide survivors and perpetrators, Gacaca Justice System court proceedings, and remembrance ceremonies.
Features 32 manuscripts from the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library and the Library of Cheick Zayni Baye of Boujbeha, both in Timbuktu, Mali. The manuscripts presented online are displayed in their entirety and are an exemplary grouping that showcase the wide variety of subjects covered by the written traditions of Timbuktu, Mali, and West Africa.
The Liberian Collections include historical and ethnographic documents, newspapers, government publications, books, journals, dissertations, maps, slides, negatives, photographs, microfilms, audio & videotapes, artifacts, and memorabilia. IU
"twenty-two Islamic manuscripts [in Arabic script] containing important insights into the life and culture of West Africans during the late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era." A project of the Library of Congress and the Mamma Haidara Commemorative Library of Timbuktu, Mali.
A biography, bibliography of books on Nkrumah, photographs, audio clips. Designed by Zizwe Mtafuta-Ukweli for R4R productions.
The archive preserves and makes accessible a set of linguistic field notes recorded by Eleanor Vandevort, who was a missionary in the South Sudan between 1949 and 1963.
The Archive aspires to include all the figurative African objects in books, periodicals, catalogues, newspapers, and other publications appearing in 1920 and earlier - the oldest dates to 1591.
Documents regarding slaving through Timbuktu.
Digital National Security Archive.
The TRC effected its mandate through 3 committees: the Amnesty Committee, Reparation and Rehabilitation (R&R) Committee and Human Rights Violations (HRV) Committee.
Full-text access to records of the South African TRC, a project of the Historical Papers Archive of Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, and the South African History Archives Project.
The report contains major findings on the root causes of the conflict, the impact of the conflict on women, children and the generality of the Liberian society; responsibility for the massive commission of Gross Human Rights Violations (GHRV), and violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), International Human Rights Law (IHRL) as well as Egregious Domestic Law Violations (EDLV).
The National Reconciliation Commission’s mandate was to promote national reconciliation among Ghanaians by establishing "an accurate and complete historical record" of human rights violations and abuses related to the killing, abduction, disappearance, detention, torture, ill-treatment, and seizure of property during three periods of
The Equity and Reconciliation Commission’s mandate was to investigate forced disappearances and arbitrary detention between Morocco’s independence in 1956 and 1999, to rule on reparation requests pending before the former Independent Commission of Arbitration (created in 1999), and to determine “the responsibility of the state organisms or any other party”.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was to produce a report on human rights violations beginning in 1991, provide a forum for both victims and perpetrators, and recommend policies to facilitate reconciliation and prevent future violations. The TRC act provided one year for the commission to produce its report and recommendations, with the possibility of an extension.
Includes over 1,700 photographs showing life in East Africa from 1860-1960. Materials part of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University.
UNESCO's World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world.
The African Online Digital Library (AODL) is a portal to multimedia collections about Africa. MATRIX, working in cooperation with the African Studies Center at Michigan State University, is partnering with universities and cultural heritage organizations in Africa to build this resource.
UCLA / Andrew Apter.