Education Resources

Today, the library serves half a million county residents, at 12 regional libraries, two rural stations, three special collections, and a wide variety of digital resources.

Sonoma County Library System provides the community access to the rich resources of every library in the county, and beyond through inter-library lending programs. The cities and the county provide the buildings that house libraries in each community, and the library provides comprehensive services and outreach.

NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. In this book, Nikole tells the story of the first slaves in the British colony of Virginia. Their arrival led to the barbaric and unprecedented system of American chattel slavery that lasted for the next 250 years. Nikole has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, and her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times.

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson, tells the story of over six million African Americans from the rural South to urban areas in the North and West between 1910 and 1970, driven by the search for better economic opportunities and escape from racial oppression. Wilkerson combines impressive research with great narrative and literary power to tell the story of Black people moving from the South for a better life.

The Negro Trail Blazers of California by Delilah L. Beasley. This is a work that details the contributions of African American pioneers of California history. Delilah’s research involved examining records from the California Archives and the Bancroft Library, interviewing old pioneers and reviewing old newspapers. It serves as a valuable resource for understanding the history of African Americans in California and their significant roles in the state’s development.

A large number of primary source collection materials related to African American history are digitized and available online via the Library of Congress's website, including manuscripts, newspaper articles, images, and rare books. In addition, the Library also provides digital content on African American history through their exhibition program, "Today in History" essays, and online research guides.

BlackPast.org is dedicated to providing the inquisitive public with comprehensive, reliable, and accurate information concerning the history of African Americans in the United States and people of African ancestry in other regions of the world. It is the aim of the founders and sponsors to foster understanding through knowledge in order to generate constructive change in our society.

The Newspapers.com™ viewer is a powerful tool that lets you explore a newspaper page in detail, clip a page or article, and print, save, or share what you find. When you find something on Newspapers.com that you would like to have a copy of, you can print the image directly from the viewer or you can download the image and save a digital copy.

Standing for “Journal Storage,” is a digital library that helps users easily search for and find academic resources. The database comprises journal articles, books, images, and other primary sources. To date, the database contains millions of source materials across a wide variety of academic disciplines. 

Articles on JSTOR are peer-reviewed publications, making the archives a trusted source for academic research. Material from this database is considered scholarly content.