Dickinson Law Library: Race and Diversity in America: Finding Federal Government Resources

Agency Websites

African American Research
The Archives (NARA) holds a wealth of material documenting the African American experience, and highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media.
Civil Rights - Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
The FBI is the primary federal agency responsible for investigating allegations regarding violations of federal civil rights statutes. These laws are designed to protect the civil rights of all persons—citizens and non-citizens alike—within U.S. territory.
Civil Rights Division - U.S. Department of Justice
The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national origin.
Office for Civil Rights - U.S. Department of Education
The Office for Civil Rights's mission is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence through vigorous enforcement of civil rights in our nation’s schools.
Office for Civil Rights - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
As a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services law enforcement agency, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces civil rights and conscience and religious freedom laws, and protects the privacy, security, and availability of individuals’ health information. Through these mechanisms, OCR helps to ensure equal access to health and human services, protects the exercise of religious beliefs and moral convictions by individuals and institutions participating in HHS programs, protects individuals’ health information, gives tools for provider awareness and full engagement of individuals in decisions related to their health care, and advances the health and well-being of all Americans.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 created the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Since then, Congress has reauthorized or extended the legislation creating the Commission several times; the last reauthorization was in 1994 by the Civil Rights Commission Amendments Act of 1994. The Commission is a bipartisan, independent agency of the United States federal government that is charged with the responsibility for investigating, reporting on, and making recommendations concerning civil rights issues in the United States.

Finding Federal Government Resources

United States Government - Administrative & Executive Resources
A guide to locating federal administrative and executive resources online.
United States Government Documents
A guide to locating U.S. government documents at the Dickinson Law Library and online.
Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official source for federal legislative information and includes information on the current legislative calendar, legislative activities, the legislative process and members of Congress. Congress.gov includes the full text of Congressional bills and amendments, the Congressional Record, committee reports from 1995 onward, and Public Laws from the 93rd Congress onward. It also offers the ability to search the status of current legislation, and includes a link to the U.S. Founding Documents website and the Century of Lawmaking website, which include links to the U.S. Code, Congressional documents and debates, and other historical information from 1774-1875. (Formerly Thomas.)
Data.gov
Data.gov is the federal government's open data site. Launched by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) in May 2009 with a modest 47 datasets, Data.gov has grown to over 200,000 datasets from hundreds of data sources including federal agencies, states, counties, and cities. Data.gov provides easy access to government datasets covering a wide range of topics—everything from weather, demographics, health, education, housing, and agriculture, and more.
e-CFR
This electronic version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) provides access to the latest version of the CFR. While it is updated daily, it is not considered to be an official version of the CFR. Check the top of each page for the current update status.
Govinfo
Legislative documents published by the Government Publishing Office (GPO) are available here. These include Congressional Bills from the 103rd Congress forward, Congressional Reports from the 104th Congress forward, and the History of Bills from 1983 forward. Govinfo also includes the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents from 1993 to date and the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States from 1992 to date. (Govinfo replaced FDSys in December 2018.)
National Archives & Records Administration (NARA)
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. Of all documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States Federal government, only 1%-3% are so important for legal or historical reasons that they are kept forever. NARA is officially responsible for maintaining and publishing the legally authentic and authoritative copies of acts of Congress, presidential directives, and federal regulations.
Regulations.gov
Provides access to federal regulatory content. Users can search all publicly available regulatory materials, (e.g., posted public comments, supporting analyses, FR notices, and rules); submit comments on a regulation; submit an applications or adjudication document; download agencies regulatory materials; sign up for email alerts about a specific regulations; and access regulations that are trending, newly posted or closing soon.
USA.gov
USA.gov is an official, secure website of the United States government. USA.gov searches only federal, state, and local government websites for the public. Its search box works like other search engines, but only returns results from government web pages, most ending in .gov or .mil.

Databases

Congressional Research Service Reports

Objective, non-partisan analysis of public policy issues written by the Congressional Research Service
For: Penn State faculty, staff, students, and other authorized users
ProQuest Congressional

Index and abstracts of congressional publications back to 1789, including full text of congressional hearings from 1824-present, full text Committee Prints from 1830-present, full text Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports from 1916-present, and legislative histories from 1969-present
For: Penn State faculty, staff, students, and other authorized users
Help: LibGuide
ProQuest Legislative Insight

A legislative history service offering full-text PDF versions of publications generated by the United States Congress during the legislative process from 1836 to the present.
For: Penn State faculty, staff, students, and other authorized users
Help: LibGuide
Tip: If you are looking for information about bills that were introduced by did not become law, try Proquest Congressional.