Guides: African American Studies: Getting Started

Background

The Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History covers all aspects of the African-American experience from 1619 to the present day. Using biographies, historical essays, and thematic pieces, many written by foremost scholars, it addresses a wide array of subjects in over 2,300 articles to define in one source the cultural roots, participation in American life, and current condition of the African-American community. The first edition is available in print in the library (Ref. E 185 .E54 1996) and the second edition is available online as part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

The African-American Years: Chronologies of American History and Experience discusses the history of African Americans from pre-colonial times to the present. Includes memoirs, letters, family histories, newspapers, oral histories, and city directories, providing historical evidence to help understand and interpret past events.

To locate books and videos, search for the subject African Americans in the library catalog; you can find additional titles under subject headings beginning with African American.

Online Reference Books

Black Women in America by Darlene Clark Hine (Editor)
ISBN: 9780195156775
Publication Date: 2005-05-19
Celebrates the remarkable achievements of black women throughout history and highlights their ongoing contributions in America today.* Contains 500 illustrations, many published here for the first times * Includes over 335 biographies, many newly prepared for this publication * Offers sidebars on interesting aspects of the history and culture of black women * Provides a bibliography for each entry, plus a major bibliographical essay * Features a chronology and a comprehensive index
African-American Almanac
ISBN: 9780787640200
Publication Date: 2002-12-01
The African American Almanac provides a range of historical and current information on African American history, society and culture
History in Dispute: Slavery in the Western Hemisphere, circa 1500-1888 by Mark G. Malvasi (Editor)
ISBN: 9781558624719
Publication Date: 2003-06-11
Addresses heavily debated questions by offering different critical perspectives on major historical events, drawn from all time periods and from all parts of the globe. This volume covers slavery in the Western Hemisphere, 1500-1888.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
Access to encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.

Library Databases

African American Newspapers (in Accessible Archives)
This enormous collection of African American newspapers contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s and is rich with first-hand reports of the major events and issues of the day. The collection also provides a great number of early biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements all of which embody the African-American experience.

American National Biography
Includes special collection on Black History
GenderWatch
Search for terms beginning with African American

Black Film Archive
Black Film Archive celebrates the rich, abundant history of Black cinema in an evolving archive dedicated to making historically and culturally significant films made from 1915 to 1979 about Black people accessible through a streaming guide with cultural context.

Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans 1639-1800
Useful for researching historical documents about the enslavement of people of African descent in the United States. Contains resources that date back to the 16th through 18th centuries, such as books, pamphlets, broadsides, and government documents.

Digital Collections on the Web

Below are some of the free digital resources to explore. There are hundreds more available. To search for open-access digital collections by subject, use OAIster

Who Speaks for the Negro?
An archival collection of interviews conducted for Robert Penn Warren's seminal book
Africana & Black History
Several thousand items ranging from historical documents and rare visual materials to contemporary photo-journalism, relating to the entirety of African American history from the 16th century to the 20th century.
Amistad Research Center Digital Archives (Tulane University)
The Amistad Research Center is the nation's oldest, largest and most comprehensive independent archive specializing in the history of African Americans and other Ethnic Minorities.
Document Archive of the Gilder Lehrman Collection
The Gilder Lehrman Collection is a unique archive of primary sources in American history. Groupings on the web site contain an introduction to content in a particular era.
Documenting the American South (University of North Carolina)
A digital publishing initiative that provides Internet access to texts, images, and audio files related to southern history, literature, and culture, currently DocSouth includes sixteen thematic collections of books, diaries, posters, artifacts, letters, oral history interviews, and songs.

American Memory Project
Currently the Project contains 17 African American History collections.

Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
Approximately 1600 select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history.
Civil Rights History Project from the Library of Congress
Consists primarily of recent, never-before-seen interviews with people who participated in the civil rights movement. More than 100 video interviews, along with essays and related materials, are accessible on the Library’s website. Actions and events discussed include the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963), the Albany Movement (1961), the Freedom Rides (1961), the Selma to Montgomery Rights March (1965), the Orangeburg Massacre (1968), sit-ins, voter-registration drives in the South, and the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955.

Literary Web Resources on Your Topic

Digital Schomburg African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century is a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century black women writers. A part of the Digital Schomburg of the New York Public Library, this collection provides access to the thought, perspectives and creative abilities of black women as captured in books and pamphlets published prior to 1920. A full text database of these 19th and early 20th- century titles, this digital library is key-word-searchable.
Poetry Foundation
The publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in culture. Includes poems, articles and biographical information on poets.

Useful Books

Creating Black Americans : African-American history and its meanings, 1619 to the present by Nell Irvin Painter
Call Number: E185 .P15 2006
ISBN: 0195137558
Painter, a Princeton professor of history, integrates art and history in this fascinating book, filled with powerful images of black art from photographs to paintings to quilts that tell the story of black America. The book begins with the history and imagery of slavery through the Civil War and emancipation, then traces the cultural influences of the civil rights movement, the black power era, and ends with the hip-hop era. Through each period, Painter offers historical context for the artistic expressions and examines how more contemporary sensibilities shaped remembrances of historical events.
Chocolate Cities: the Black map of American life by Marcus Anthony Hunter; Zandria Robinson
Call Number: E185 .H86 2018
ISBN: 9780520292826
Publication Date: 2018-01-16
From Central District Seattle to Harlem to Holly Springs, Black people have built a dynamic network of cities and towns where Black culture is maintained, created, and defended. But imagine--what if current maps of Black life are wrong ? Chocolate Cities offers a refreshing and persuasive rendering of the United States--a "Black map" that more accurately reflects the lived experiences and the future of Black life in America.
The Greenwood encyclopedia of African American literature by Hans A Ostrom; J David Macey
Call Number: Oversize PS153.N5 G73 2005
ISBN: 0313329729
Of the 1,029 alphabetically arranged entries in these volumes, roughly 820 cover African American writers of fiction and nonfiction, from the eighteenth century to the present. The remaining entries extend coverage beyond authors, examining topics closely related to African American literature, such as critics, journals, literary genres, and literary movements, as well as subjects within the broader landscape of African American culture, such as Cooking, Detroit, Hip-Hop, Nation of Islam, Slang, and Voodoo/Vodoun.
African American art and artists by Samella S Lewis
Call Number: Oversize N6538.N5 L38 2003
ISBN: 0520239296
Examines the lives and works of African American artists from the eighteenth century to the present, with biographical and critical text and illustrated examples of their work.
African American music : an introduction by Mellonee V Burnim; Portia K Maultsby
Call Number: Oversize ML3556 .A34 2006
ISBN: 0415941377
Designed for an introductory course in African American music, this title focuses on musical genres & styles, moving chronologically from folk traditions to modern forms. A final section discusses the aesthetics of African American culture & music. Includes a discography, a videography, and a helpful glossary
Dancing many drums : excavations in African American dance by Thomas DeFrantz
Call Number: GV1624.7.A34 D38 2002
ISBN: 0299173100
DeFrantz challenges the reader to "rethink" the African American presence in dance theory, subject matter, and methodology in academic dance history. Through text and photos, the essays document dance as an agent of social change, offering new perspectives in dance history and questioning the existing hierarchy. Discussions of dance in Christian conversion, political and social identity, dance in African opera, dance-instruction songs, among other topics, reveal previously unknown facts and present little-known African American artists. - Choice
African Americans and the presidency : the road to the White House by Bruce A Glasrud; Cary D Wintz
Call Number: E185.96 .A455 2010
ISBN: 0415803926
This book chronicles the gradual but inexorable efforts of more than 50 African Americans to obtain the US presidency. Among the essays are an examination of the initial efforts of Frederick Douglass and other black leaders in the 19th century to attain mainstream recognition and participation; the emergence of vocal (though mostly narrowly focused and unpopular) third parties in the 20th century that appealed to and nominated African American candidates; the impact of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s; and the more recent emergence of mainstream African American politicians and policy makers, such as Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Barack Obama, who have been able to attract substantial support from the two major parties.

DVDs

Eyes on the prize by Henry Hampton; Judith Vecchione; Steve Fayer; Orlando Bagwell; Callie Crossley
Call Number: VIDEO .E944 DVD v.1-7 [ED/DOC]
ISBN: 0793692628
Official PBS and Blackside release of "Eyes on the Prize America's Civil Right Movement", an award winning 14-hour documentary series on the civil rights movement that brilliantly illuminates the struggle for racial equality and social justice. Produced by Blackside, the series uses compelling human stories to engage viewers in the landmark events of 1954 to 1985.
Africans in America : America's journey through slavery by Orlando Bagwell; Angela Bassett; Charles Richard Johnson; WGBH Video (Firm)
Call Number: VIDEO .A415 DVD [ED/DOC]
ISBN: 157807553X
A four part series portraying the struggles of the African people in America. This series exposes the truth through surprising revelations, dramatic recreations, rare archival photography, riveting first-person accounts and defines the reality of slavery's past through insightful commentary.
Roots by William Blinn; David L Wolper; Stan Margulies; M Charles Cohen; Ernest Kinoy;
Call Number: VIDEO .R771 DVD [Drama]
ISBN: 1419850210
An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots", in which Haley traces his African American family's history from the mid-18th century to the Reconstruction era.
Voices of civil rights by History Channel (Television network); Arts and Entertainment Network.; New Video Group.
Call Number: VIDEO .V671 DVD [ED/DOC]
ISBN: 0767076680
Publication Date: 2006
From the fearless resolve of a single woman to the remarkable voice of thousands marching, this History Channel special offers an overview of one of America's great defining periods. A compilation of materials on the civil rights movement, from personal narratives of life in the period, to insights into the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, to the 1965 march on Montgomery, along with biographies of two of the leaders of the movement.
Eyes on the Prize : America's Civil Rights Years by Henry Hampton; Judith Vecchione; Orlando Bagwell; James A DeVinney; Callie Crossley
Call Number: VIDEO .E943 DVD [ED/DOC]
ISBN: 160883106X
Publication Date: 2010
The Civil Rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women whose extraordinary actions launched a movement that changed the fabric of American life, and embodied a struggle whose reverberations are felt today.