This database contains textual and photographic primary source information drawn from collections at the Ohio Historical Society. Manuscript data includes personal papers of prominent individuals, association records, a plantation account book, ex-slave narratives, and documents relating to the freeing of individual slaves. Printed works include pamphlets, speeches, and reports, as well as longer works such as the 1909 Handbook of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Over 15,000 articles about African Americans and issues affecting them have been selected from eleven Ohio newspapers. More than 300 photographs and other pictorial materials are also included.