Images

Adding images to research projects can add a sense of impact and context for researchers. Although this research guide provides suggestions for discipline specific image databases, you can access all of the image databases held by SJSU/King Library here.

Recommended Image Databases:

The number of databases which provide image files related to the civil rights movement are limited. However, there are several rich sources of image files available through historical, cultural, and journalistic sources. This guide will offer information and examples for a few of these sources.

  • AP Images: This database is available through King Library and delivers access to the Associated Press' archive of not only still images and photos but audio files as well! As this is an EBSCO database, so many of the search terms you would use to find books and articles can used in this database as well to locate images which can bring context to your research pursuits.
This image from AP Images provides insight into some of the attitudes of southerners to the voting rights marches in Alabama.
Anonymous. (2009). African American Anti Voting Civil Rights Marchers Reaction March 25, 1965. The Associated Press. Retrieved from here.
  • Civil Rights Digital Library: This database is also available through the SJSU/King Library. This digital collection is the result of a collaboration between a number of Georgian universities, encyclopedias, archives, libraries and private collections. In addition to providing indexed access to still images, this database also contains a rich collection of streaming video, streaming audio clips, articles, data, records, documentaries and ephemera from this time period.
Georgia State University Library. (n.d.). African Americans at a segregated malt bar. Retrieved from here.
  • Library of Congress Prints and Photographs: The Library of Congress not only offers access to prints and photographs, but maps, digitized pamphlets, leaflets, ephemera and newspapers as well! This is an excellent source for gathering contextualizing documents for your research. Although some of the full size images available to users are only available for viewing at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. (some thumbnail images can be seen online), the library of Congress provides an extensive archive of historical photos and images to online users. To view just the images available online, users need only select "Larger image available anywhere" at the top of the screen.
Pettus, P. (1965). Participants, some carrying American flags, marching in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 [photograph]. Retrieved from here.
  • Digital Public Library of America: This online database provides access to a host of digitized photography and image collections held by other sources, such as universities, archives, and private collections. A search for "Civil Rights" immediately produces over 29,000 image results. This platform is also an excellent resource for streaming video regarding various aspects of the civil rights movement.
From Labadie Collection work notes: "Selma, AL, As youthful negroes applaud, young white girl holds aloft burning Confederate battle flag which they set afire in street outside Brown's Chapel AME Church, 1965. "
Labadie Photograph Collection, University of Michigan. (1965). Civil Rights Movement [photograph negative]. Retrieved from here.
  • New York Public Library Digital Images: The NYPL Digital Collection is a rich source of digital images of civil rights leaders and ephemera (such as campaign fliers and buttons) related to the civil rights movement.
New York Public Library Digital Collections. (1958). Combination photograph of portraits of the Little Rock Nine [still image]. Retrieved from here.