Academic articles contain original research on a narrow topic. They are usually peer-reviewed and are published in scholarly journals.
To find articles on your topic, use keywords to search in one of the databases listed below. For additional help, check out our tutorial on finding scholarly / peer-reviewed articles.
If the article you want isn't available in full text you can request it for free from Interlibrary Loan.
A large multi-subject database covering every topic with scholarly journals and popular magazines.
Access provided by KYVL.
Includes the Canadian Observer, Christian Recorder, Colored American, Douglass Monthly, Frederick Douglass Paper, Freedom's Journal, Freedmen's Record, National Era, Negro Business League Herald, North Star, Provincial Freeman, and the Weekly Advocate.
Background information gives you a general overview of a topic and is a great way to find keywords and learn basic concepts. You can use Wikipedia or one of the encyclopedias listed below.
Atlas of African-American History by
Building on the authoritative text of the first edition, ""Atlas of African-American History, Revised Edition"" chronicles the important cultural, historical, political, and social experiences of African Americans through the years. Completely updated and revised, this fascinating book features numerous full-color maps - 18 of which are new - that engage readers with easy-to-grasp facts, figures, and images of everyday life. Ten new black-and-white photographs, eight new full-color photographs, and four line illustrations enliven the text. Coverage includes: The dramatic 1839 journey of the Amistad, including its successful slave rebellion; The labor activism of Albert and Lucy Parsons, an interracial couple who led the eight-hour-day movement and the national railroad strike; The accomplishments of Matthew Henson, who, with Robert Peary, discovered the North Pole in 1909; The post - World War II influences that drove the economic rise of a new black middle class; analysis of how the cultural contributions of writers, actors, athletes, musicians, and other artists helped define American culture during the 1960s and 1970s; The rise of hip-hop and rap from a local South Bronx phenomenon into a powerful industry capable of launching other businesses. The coverage also includes: Demographic profiles of the health, education, employment, income, spending habits, homeownership, and other benchmarks of African Americans, as well as how these compare with those of other Americans; The powerful role of theater, comedy, TV, and film in presenting and shaping the image of African Americans from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s; and The persistent social, racial, and economic issues that still confront America, as highlighted by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895 by
It is impossible to understand America without understanding the history of African Americans. In nearly seven hundred entries, the Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895 documents the full range of the African American experience during that period-from the arrival of the firstslave ship to the death of Frederick Douglass-and shows how all aspects of American culture, history, and national identity have been profoundly influenced by the experience of African Americans.The Encyclopedia covers an extraordinary range of subjects. Major topics such as "Abolitionism," "Black Nationalism," the "Civil War," the "Dred Scott case," "Reconstruction," "Slave Rebellions and Insurrections," the "Underground Railroad," and "Voting Rights" are given the in-depth treatment onewould expect. But the encyclopedia also contains hundreds of fascinating entries on less obvious subjects, such as the "African Grove Theatre," "Black Seafarers," "Buffalo Soldiers," the "Catholic Church and African Americans," "Cemeteries and Burials," "Gender," "Midwifery," "New York African FreeSchools," "Oratory and Verbal Arts," "Religion and Slavery," the "Secret Six," and much more. In addition, the Encyclopedia offers brief biographies of important African Americans-as well as white Americans who have played a significant role in African American history-from Crispus Attucks, JohnBrown, and Henry Ward Beecher to Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, Sarah Grimke, Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, Phillis Wheatley, and many others.All of the Encyclopedia's alphabetically arranged entries are accessibly written and free of jargon and technical terms. To facilitate ease of use, many composite entries gather similar topics under one headword. The entry for Slave Narratives, for example, includes three subentries: The SlaveNarrative in America from the Colonial Period to the Civil War, Interpreting Slave Narratives, and African and British Slave Narratives. A headnote detailing the various subentries introduces each composite entry. Selective bibliographies and cross-references appear at the end of each article todirect readers to related articles within the Encyclopedia and to primary sources and scholarly works beyond it. A topical outline, chronology of major events, nearly 300 black and white illustrations, and comprehensive index further enhance the work's usefulness.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present by
Focusing on the making of African American society from the 1896 "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson up to the contemporary period, this encyclopedia traces the transition from the Reconstruction Era to the age of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Brownruling that overturned Plessy, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ascendant influence of African American culture on the American cultural landscape.Covering African American history in all areas of U.S. history and culture from 1896 to the present, the Encyclopedia contains approximately 1,200 fully cross-referenced entries that are all signed by leading scholars and experts, making this five-volume set the most reliable and extensive treatmentto be found on African American history in the twentieth century. The set also contains 500 images and roughly 640 biographies, as well as an entry on each of the fifty states. In addition to its comprehensive coverage of African Americans, the Encyclopedia also contains entries about key figureswho affected the lives of African Americans in particular and Americans in general. Unrivalled in breadth and scope, this is the preeminent source of information on this topic and is destined to become a trusted reference source for years to come.
The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature by
A breathtaking achievement, this Concise Companion is a suitable crown to the astonishing production in African American literature and criticism that has swept over American literary studies in the last two decades. It offers an enormous range of writers-from Sojourner Truth to FrederickDouglass, from Zora Neale Hurston to Ralph Ellison, and from Toni Morrison to August Wilson. It contains entries on major works (including synopses of novels), such as Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Richard Wright's Native Son, and Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.It also incorporates information on literary characters such as Bigger Thomas, Coffin Ed Johnson, Kunta Kinte, Sula Peace, as well as on character types such as Aunt Jemima, Brer Rabbit, John Henry, Stackolee, and the trickster. Icons of black culture are addressed, including vivid details about thelives of Muhammad Ali, John Coltrane, Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, John Brown, and Harriet Tubman.Here, too, are general articles on poetry, fiction, and drama; on autobiography, slave narratives, Sunday School literature, and oratory; as well as on a wide spectrum of related topics. Compact yet thorough, this handy volume gathers works from a vast array of sources--from the black periodicalpress to women's clubs--making it one of the most substantial guides available on the growing, exciting world of African American literature.
Encyclopedia of Black Studies by
The Encyclopedia of Black Studies is the leading reference source for dynamic and innovative research on the Black experience. The concept for the encyclopedia was developed from the successful Journal of Black Studies (SAGE) and contains a full analysis of the economic, political, sociological, historical, literary, and philosophical issues related to Americans of African descent. This single-volume reference is the vanguard of the recent explosive growth in quality scholarship in the field. More than a chronicle of black culture or black people, this encyclopedia deals with the emergence and maturity of an intellectual field over the past four decades. Beginning with the protests at San Francisco State College in 1967 that led to the first degree-granting department of Black Studies, the field's rapid growth over time necessitates an authoritative account of the discipline.
Africana by
Ninety years after W.E.B. Du Bois first articulated the need for "the equivalent of a black Encyclopedia Britannica," Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr., realized his vision by publishing Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience in 1999.This new, greatly expanded edition of the original work broadens the foundation provided by Africana. Including more than one million new words, Africana has been completely updated and revised. New entries on African kingdoms have been added, bibliographies now accompany most articles, and theencyclopedia's coverage of the African diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean has been expanded, transforming the set into the most authoritative research and scholarly reference set on the African experience ever created.More than 4,000 articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religion, ethnic groups, organizations and countries on both sides of the Atlantic. African American history and culture in the present-day United States receive astrong emphasis, but African American history and culture throughout the rest of the Americas and their origins in African itself have an equally strong presence. The articles that make up Africana cover subjects ranging from affirmative action to zydeco and span over four million years from theearlies-known hominids , to Sean "Diddy" Combs. With entries ranging from the African ethnic groups to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Africana, Second Edition, conveys the history and scope of cultural expression of people of African descent with unprecedented depth.
Scholarly books are much longer than articles, and they provide more depth and context. You can find physical books or e-books using the search box below. Try searching by subject, keyword, author, or title.
Books on African American Studies may be found throughout the collection. Try searching "African American" and an additional subject (such as history, literature, culture, etc.) in OneSearch.
