Amistad Research Center

The Amistad Research Center is committed to collecting, preserving, and providing open access to original materials that reference the social and cultural importance of America's ethnic and racial history, the African Diaspora, human relations, and civil rights.

As a community-based archive and library, Amistad is open to anyone wishing to consult our collections. Because of your direction, support, and advocacy, the Amistad Research Center has been able to increase visibility and awareness, therefore garnering funding where it was most needed in the areas of:

• Digital Collections and Public Access. Amistad has recently undertaken projects to digitize unique and important film, video, and sound recordings in the areas of civil rights and social justice. These include 1960s documentary footage pertaining to civil rights activities in Mississippi, an oral history collection focused on Louisiana musicians, and 1970s campaign films produced for the first African American mayor of New Orleans. Digital exhibitions explore topics including the beginnings of public school integration in New Orleans, the Black Arts Movement, abolition and emancipation, and more.

• Education. Annually, the Amistad Research Center tracks hundreds of hours directly working with teachers and K-12 students, teaching students how to use primary resources with funding provided by the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation and Sherry and Alan Leventhal.

Testimonials

"I am currently a first-year student in the Department of History at Northwestern University. During the summer of 2017, I interned for the Amistad Research Center. My tasks included processing parts of the Negro Almanac and John T. Scott collections, as well as pulling and refiling books within the Center's library. This opportunity was instrumental in affirming my interest in archival management and informs why I give to Amistad. I see Amistad as a training ground for the next generation of archivists specializing in African American history. -- Marquis Taylor, B.A., Howard University.