Subject Research Guides
African American Studies
Getting Started: Selected Reference Works
Begin your search with reference works to find background information, locate statistics and facts, and build a bibliography.
General Reference Works
Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience
DT14 .A37435 2005
This five volume set expands and updates 1999 edition. Entries cover political, social, and historical topics relating to Africa, African diaspora, and African Americans. Includes maps, tables, charts, illustrations, and some articles include bibliographical references.Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History
Ref E185 .E54 1996
This encyclopedia's 2200 articles include biographies of prominent African Americans and essays on historical periods, places, cultural achievements, professions, and sports. An excellent starting point for research, as each essay includes a bibliography.
Education
Encyclopedia of African American Education
Ref LC 2717 .E53 1996
Covers issues, policies, theories, laws, institutions, and individuals significant to the history and future of African American education in the United States.
Government, Politics & Law
Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the Present
Ref E185.61 .E54 1992
Over 800 brief entries on people, organizations, events, and court cases associated with African American Civil Rights.
Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics, Vol. 1 African Americans and Asian Americans
Ref E184 .A1E574 2000 v. 1
Provides articles about not only African Americans in politics, but also political events and movements. Appendices include a directory of African American political organizations, significant speeches and political documents, and a list of African Americans in Congress.
History
The African American Experience: An Historiographical and Bibliographical Guide
Ref E184.65 .A37 2001
An excellent starting point for research in African American history. Historiographical essays outline the development of subfields in African American history, including the history of African American women, families, education, migration, religion, music, politics, athletics, and business.
Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia
Ref E185.86 .B542 2005 (3 vols.)
This revised second edition includes biographical and topical entries dealing with African African Women. Many entries include extensive bibliographies.
The Harvard Guide to African American History
Ref E185 .H326 2001
An essential resource for students and scholars of African American history. The twelve essays on historical research aids are invaluable tools for locating primary sources in archival and manuscript collections, oral history collections, microform collections, newspapers, government documents, and art and photography collections. The 15,000 item bibliography, arranged by historical period and topic, may be searched electronically using the accompanying CD ROM.
Historical Statistics of Black America
Ref E185 .H543 1995
Includes statistics on African American agriculture, business, crime and legal justice, education, employment, families, health, housing, population, religion, slavery, and voting.
Literature and Folklore
African American Literary Criticism, 1773-2000
Ref PS153 .N5 A33 1999
Outlines major periods and themes of African American literary criticism through more than 100 representative essays and articles. Also provides a chronology of African American literary criticism.
American Folklore
Ref GR191 .A54 1996
Includes entries on African American folklore, Black English, Gospel Music, Minstrel Shows, Social Protest in Folklore, Spirituals, and other topics relating to African American folk traditions.
Literature By and About Blacks
Ref PS153 .N5 R52 2000
An annotated bibliography, arranged chronologically, covering fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and literary criticism.The Oxford Companion to African American Literature
Ref PS153 .N5O96 1997
Contains entries on African American authors, literary works, and themes or topics addressed in African American literature. A bibliography accompanies most entries.
Music
International Dictionary of Black Composers
Ref ML105 .I5 1999
Contains critical essays about Black composers worldwide and their works, as well as biographies, discographies, lists of works, and bibliographies.
People
African American Biographical Database
A full text collection of biographical sketches of African Americans written between 1790 and 1950.
Religion
Encyclopedia of African and African American Religion
Ref BL2462.5 .E53 2001
Covers religious movements and churches of Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean.
Finding Books
Two kinds of books - monographs and essay collections - compose the majority of Gould library's collection. Monographs offer extended analyses of a topic by one author, while essay collections bring together articles, often by different authors, on a given topic.
In BRIDGE, the shared library catalog for the libraries of Carleton and St. Olaf Libraries:
Begin with an advanced keyword search.
- Enter words that describe your topic (names, places, events, etc.).
- When you find a book on your topic, examine its subject headings for relevance to your topic.
- Click on a hyperlinked subject heading to perform subject heading search and retrieve related books.
Perform a subject heading search in Bridge only if you know a valid Library of Congress subject heading.
Search "African Americans" to browse a list of relevant subject headings, such as:
- African Americans -- Folklore
- African Americans -- History -- 1863-1877
- African Americans -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Social conditions
Note that many Library of Congress subject headings relevant to African American studies do not begin with "African Americans":
- American Drama -- African American Authors
- Blacks in motion pictures
- United States -- Race Relations
Browsing the stacks can help you evaluate the library's collection in a given field of study. The following call number ranges contain works relevant to African American studies:
| E184.5 - E185.98 | African Americans in United States history |
| E441 - E453 | Slavery in the United States; Anti-Slavery Movements |
| PS1 - PS3576 | American Literature |
Because of the interdisciplinary nature of African American studies, relevant works will be found in many other areas of the collection.
Search WorldCat, an online catalog for libraries throughout the world, to take your search beyond Northfield.
Finding Articles
Periodicals often provide excellent sources of information. Articles in scholarly periodicals (academic journals) present current research in a field, while articles in popular periodicals (magazines and newspapers) both shape and reflect public opinion.
Once you have located article citations in a database, index, or bibliography, perform a title search in BRIDGE using the exact title of the periodical. If Carleton and St. Olaf do not hold the journal, you may request the article through InterLibrary Loan.
Popular Articles
Ethnic NewsWatch (1980s-present)
A full-text database of newspapers and magazines from the ethnic and minority press in AmericaInternational Index to Black Periodicals (1910-present)
An interdisciplinary index to popular and scholarly periodicals in Black Studies; some articles available full text.The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986
Ref Folio E 185. K34 1992
174,000 entries arranged by subject with annotations.
Scholarly Articles
America: History and Life (1964-present)
Provides citations for scholarly articles on the history of the U.S. and Canada from ancient times to the present. Note that the subject heading for African Americans is "Blacks."International Index to Black Periodicals (1910-present)
An interdisciplinary index to popular and scholarly periodicals in Black Studies from 1910 to the present; some articles available full text.MLA International Bibliography (1963-present)
Provides citations to articles dealing with literature, folklore, language, and linguistics. Many relevant subject headings, or descriptors, begin with "African American." Click on index to view a complete list.PAIS International (1972-present)
Provides citations to articles dealing with political and social issues. Note that the descriptor for African Americans is "Blacks."Sociological Abstracts (1963-present)
Provides citations to articles dealing with social issues. Note that the descriptor for African Americans is "Black Americans."Web of Science
Search either the Social Science Citation Index (1969-present) or the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975-present) to locate journal articles that cite specific works.
Scholarly Journals to Browse
Articles relevant to African American Studies appear not only in these journals, but also in discipline-specific journals (e.g. American Historical Review, Publications of the Modern Language Association). Be sure to consult other subject pages for a more complete listing of relevant journals in disciplines related to your research.
African American Review
(1992-current)African Arts
(1967-current)American Literary History
(1989-current)American Quarterly
(1949-current)The Black Scholar
(1969-current)Callaloo
(1976-present)CLA Journal
(1976-2005)Comparative Literature Studies
(1970-current)Cultural Critique
(1985-current)Cultural Studies (Routledge)
(1998-2005)Diaspora
(2000-current, most recent six months not available)Journal of Black Studies
(1970-current)Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
(1993-current)Journal of Negro Education
(1932-current)Journal of Negro History
(1916-present)
Web Sites
The web sites recommended below complement other research resources.
To locate digitized primary sources relating to African American studies, consult the sites below:
Academic Info African American History Digital Library
A megasite providing links to digitized resources on African American history from the 18th century to the present.American Memory Project
A digital library created by the Library of Congress; browse the collections for digitized archival materials pertaining to African Americans; collections include African American pamphlets and sheet music.The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
The Schomburg Center, a national research library affiliated with New York Public Library, provides digital libraries, online exhibitions, and links to other Internet resources on Africa and the African Diaspora.
For information on current research in African American studies, visit the sites below:
Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture
A University of Chicago research program that "places the study of race in comparative frameworks that include both other racialized minorities within the United States as well as black (and/or indigenous) populations in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Asian Pacific, and Europe." Provides links to relevant Internet resources, working papers, and data sets.Chicago Reporter (1972-present)
An investigative monthly newspaper covering race and poverty in the Chicago area; full-text articles available from 1990-present, articles indexed from 1972-present.H-Afro-Am
A list-serv for scholars and advanced students of African American studies; browse the discussion logs to read recent discussions.Institute on Race & Poverty
Hosted by the University of Minnesota, this Web site is dedicated to sharing "the latest and most relevant information on issues confronting communities facing the combined challenges of race and poverty." Look here for articles and research addressing issues of race and poverty.
This Research Guide By:
Heather Tompkins- Reference and Instruction Librarian
- x7172
- htompkin@carleton.edu
- Library 467
