Research Guides: African and African American Studies: Explore Background Information

E-Reference Collections

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. For high school and college students, as well as general readers.
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History
A five-volume set and supplement covering 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.

Databases

Anatomy of Protest in America This link opens in a new window
Anatomy of Protest in America delivers a unique opportunity to investigate through newspaper articles and editorials and books the people, places, events, organizations, and ideas, so important to Americans that they took action, exercised their rights, and stood up to protest. From colonial exploitation and revolution to slavery and abolition, to political rights and suffrage, and economic and industrial disturbances, this series will guide the user through almost 225 years of American protest history in two convenient parts. As debates rage over the future of America and the country’s relationship to its past, there is no better time to examine the wealth of content in Anatomy of Protest in America.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Selected titles. Gale eBooks provides access to encyclopedias and other reference works covering education, law, world biography, business, economics, other cultures, public health, and more. Terms and Conditions
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
An abstracted index to materials on world history outside of North America from 1450 - present. Some full-text journal articles from the JSTOR archive are linked to citations back to 1954.
Humanities Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Journal citations and abstracts for archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, the performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history, and world literature.
Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
AASC contains over 7,500 articles from Oxford's reference program and includes 5 major encyclopedias; Africana; Encyclopedia of African American History,1619-1895 ; Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present; Black Women in America; and African American National Biography. This database also includes thematic timelines, primary source documents, and specially written commentaries on the personal and public histories of African Americans. See Terms and Conditions.
Race Relations in America This link opens in a new window
Sourced from the records of the Race Relations Department of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, housed at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans, this resource provides access to a wealth of documents highlighting different responses to the challenges of overcoming prejudice, segregation and racial tensions. These range from survey material, including interviews and statistics, to educational pamphlets, administrative correspondence, and photographs and speeches from the Annual Race Relations Institutes.
Sage Knowledge This link opens in a new window
SAGE Knowledge is a searchable collection of thousands of selected ebooks and over 60 encyclopedias and reference works covering many subjects, including business and management, criminal justice, education, family studies, politics, and many others, and provides unlimited, site-wide use. Terms and Conditions.

Newspapers

African American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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, including the Mexican War, Presidential and Congressional addresses, Congressional abstracts, business and commodity markets, the humanities, world travel, and religion. 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.
Baltimore Afro-American: Historical Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Includes complete issues of The Baltimore Afro-American, cover to cover from 1893 to 1988. Search by keyword, more than 20 article types, date ranges, specific dates, author, and more. View news articles, photos, advertisements, classified ads, obituaries, cartoons, and more for added context. Print and download articles and images in PDF format.