University of North Carolina Press Law Titles on HeinOnline

Though most of us are accustomed to using HeinOnline for its law journal library, and occasionally its historical materials, Hein also provides access to a number of other useful secondary materials, including .pdf versions of almost four hundred University of North Carolina Press titles related to law.

The University of North Carolina’s press is one of the oldest university presses in the nation. Incorporated in 1922, UNC Press was the first university press in the South and the first university press to publish works specifically by and about African-Americans, starting the 1920s. It was also a leader in publishing works of women’s history, beginning in the 1970s. Today it continues to acquire titles on those subjects and many more, including recently developing a line of books on Native American and Indigenous studies. Additionally, UNC Press has published many works that engage with or touch on legal history, especially (but not limited to) legal issues that affect African-Americans, women, or the South.

Many of those titles are available to legal researchers through HeinOnline. Areas of interest include, of course, a large number of works on African-American history, particularly slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. Many of those works focus on the South, but others cover the U.S. more generally and some international efforts. HeinOnline also provides access to a number of works on legal and political aspects of women’s rights, the AIDS crisis, and sports.

As many of us have shifted to working from home, and our print collections are temporarily inaccessible, this resource is more valuable than ever. Law librarians assisting with research projects in any of these areas should take a moment to skim through titles or subject listings on HeinOnline. Titles are available in easily downloadable .pdfs and can be broken up by chapter.

Notable titles include classics of African-American and women’s history, including works by John Hope Franklin, Winthrop Jordan, Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, and Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. Barbara Ransby’s Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement is a classic text on a key figure of the Civil Rights Movement. Pete Daniel’s Dispossession is a fascinating study of Southern state federal agricultural agencies in the immediate aftermath of the Civil Right Movement. Also included in the collection is American Inquisition: The Hunt for Japanese-American Disloyalty in World War II by UNC Law’s own Eric Mueller.

UNC Press has made even more of its titles available through Project MUSE, Books at JSTOR, and ProQuest during the current pandemic, so if there is a title you cannot find through HeinOnline, those platforms may currently provide it.

A final tip: if anyone still wants a print copy for their personal collection, UNC Press often runs sales throughout the year, especially around the winter holidays. It’s worth checking their website to see what’s available.