Librarians for Africana Studies:
Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, Research & Instruction, x3497
Graham Henderson, Collections, x3514
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Offcampus Access · Databases A-Z · Research Guides by Subject | by Course · Reference Books Online · Library Catalog
| Find articles & essays |
- Academic Search Complete
- The world's largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database. Dates of coverage vary by title.
America: History and Life- Contains U.S. and Canadian history articles, prehistory to present (1964 +).
American National Biography- Over 17,000 biographies of deceased notable American men and women (through 1995)
ArticleFirst- Articles &/or abstracts in all scholarly fields, as well as popular culture (1990 +).
Callaloo- The online version of this journal has back issues from 1995. This journal is described as "the permier journal of African-American and African arts and literature [which] publishes original works by and critical studies of black writers worldwide."
Ethnic NewsWatch- newspaper articles from ethnic, minority, and native presses (1991 +).
GenderWatch- contains full-text articles on women's social, religious, and political issues (1974 +).
Historical Abstracts- Articles on world history from 1450, excluding US & Canada, written since 1954.
JSTOR- A full-text collection of journal articles from the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. First issues are in the collection but not those from the latest five years.
LexisNexis Academic News- Another full-text source containing news, business, legal, medical, and current events articles (years can vary - 1980s +).
MLA International Bibliography- has articles &/or abstracts on literature, linguistics, film, and folklore (1963+).
National Journal- A weekly publication featuring articles on politics, policy, and government (1977+).
New York Times- (Proquest Historical Newspaper, 1851-2005) has exact replica of articles in PDF format, including graphics.
Periodicals Index Online- An index to articles published in over 4,500 periodicals, in as many as 40 languages, and covering topics in the humanities and social sciences.
Project Muse- A full-text source for academic journals in the humanities and social sciences. (Latest 5 years)
Quarterly Black Review of Books- The current issue only appears online with signed reviews of nonfiction, fiction, children's books and poetry; a featured interview; and `The QBR Guide to Black Classics". [No backfiles - Past issues can be found in Ethnic News Watch (look above for "live" link)].
Women's Studies International- Indexes journal articles and books on women's studies, feminism, and gender studies, 1972 to present
Other databases may be useful for you, depending on your specific topic and approach. AskUs and get some customized suggestions.
| Find background information |
Print titles
- Africa Bibliography
- An annual review that surveys African publications principally in the social sciences, humanities, & arts, with selected items included from the medical, biological, and physical sciences. The entire African continent & its associated islands are included. Clapp Ref qZ3501 .A3
Africa Contemporary Record: Annual Survey and Documents. Clapp Ref DT1 .L43. This reference tool contains scholarly essays on important historical periods in African history.- African-American Times: A Chronological Record. Clapp Red E185 .A257 1993.
- African Americans at War: An Encyclopedia. Clapp Ref U52 .S88 2004 1 & 2.
- African Folklore: An Encyclopedia. Clapp Ref GR350 .A33 2004.
- Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and American Experiences. Clapp Ref DT14 .A37435 1999.
- American Health Dilemma. Clapp Lib RA448.5.N4B97 2000. [This 2 volume set deals with a medical history of African Americans from the beginning to 1900 and thier health care in the U.S. from 1900-2000].
- Biographical History of Blacks in America Since 1528. Clapp Ref E185.96 T66.
- Biography from African American Lives. Clapp Ref E185.96 .A446 2004
- Black Americans: A Statistical Sourcebook. Clapp Ref E185.5 .B512 (We have yearly editions from 1994 to the present).
- Bibliographic Guide to Black Studies. Clapp Ref q Z1361 .N39 S373a. This bibliography has information on materials by & about African Americans, Africa, & peoples of African ancestry. It includes the catalog of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, one of the world's most important collections for the study of African descended Americans.
- Chronological History of the Negro in America by Peter M. Bergman. Clapp Ref E185 .B46 (1969).
- Current Bibliography on African Affairs is considered by many experts to be the best general index abstract to African periodicals. It covers not only periodicals, but related matter from books, dissertatons, official documents, and reports. Clapp Ref Z3501 .C8.
- Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara. Clapp Ref DT351 .E53 1997.
- Encyclopedia of African Literature. Clapp Ref PL8010 .E63 2003.
- Encyclopedia of African American Culture & History, Vols. 1-5. Clapp Ref E185 .E54 1996.
- Encyclopedia of African American Women Writers (2 vols). Clapp Ref PS153.N5 E49 2007.
- Encyclopedia of Black Studies. Clapp Ref E185 .E554 2005.
- Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa. Clapp Ref DT2 .E53 1997.
- Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Clapp Ref PS153.N5 A24 2003.
- Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History. Clapp Ref DT29 .E53 2003.
- Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Civil Rights: From Emancipation to the Twenty-First Century. Clapp Ref E185.61 .E54 2003 1 & 2.
- Guide to Africa: A Bibliography of Sources. Alfred Kagan & Yvette Scheven. Clapp Ref Z3501 .K15 1999.
- Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema. Clapp Ref PN1995.9.N4 B433 2007.
- Historical Statistics of Black America, 2 vols. Clapp Ref E185 H543 1995.
- International African Bibliography: Current Books, Articles, and Papers in African Studies
- Has coverage from materials published in Africa & abroad. There is ample cross-referencing to cope with the complexity of African names.Clapp Ref Z3503 .I5
- Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism
- A bi-annual journal which provides ... "a forum for scholarship & creative work by & about women of color in North American & international contexts." The current journal editions are in the Brackett Reading Room and older volumes are on the 3rd floor of Clapp. (Call # HQ1101 .M475).
- New York Public Library African American Desk Reference/Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Clapp Ref E185 .N57 1999.
- Notable Black American Men, Clapp Ref E185.86 .N68 1999
- Notable Black American Women, Bk. I, 1992, & Bk. II, 1996. Clapp Ref E185.96 .N68.
- Oxford Encyclopedia of Archeology in the Near East. Clapp Ref DS56 .O9 1997.
- Slave Ship: A Human History. Clapp Lib HT1322 .R42 2007.
- Timelines of African American History: 500 Years of Black Achievement. Clapp Ref E185 .C86 1994.
- Who's Who Among African Americans. Clapp Ref E185.96 .W52 (9th Edition to present)
- Who's Who Among Black Americans. Clapp Ref E185.96 .W52 (1st-8th Editions).
- Africa Guide
- A clearly organized commercial site devoted to the needs of individuals planning holidays to any of fifty-one African countries. The sections contain data on climate, currencies, visa requirements, transportation and accommodations, favorite destinations (including national parks and game reserves), sports, and annual festivals. There is also a Charities entry, Current News and Medical features, plus a Photo File.
AfricaBib.org- has been maintained by the University of Arkansas's African researcher & librarian, Davis Bullwinkle. Some augmented features to try --- African Women's Bibliographic Database, Bibliography of Africana Periodical Literature Database, and his new additions DISA: Digital Imaging Project of South Africa and African Studies Abstracts Online.
African American Mosaic: A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture.- This site provides valuable archival photographs and graphic images.
African American Women: On-line Archival Collections.- On-line archival collections featuring scanned pages and texts of writings of women drawn from the Special Collections Library of Duke University. At present the site includes the memoirs or letters of women slaves: the Lester Vilet letter, Elizabeth Johnson Harris's Life Story; and the letters between Hannah Valentine and Lethe Jackson.
Black Past: Remembered & Reclaimed- is a guide to six centuries of African American history, directed by Quintard Taylor, at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Boston Coalition of Black Women, Inc. A collection overview is provided on Northeastern University Libraries' page.
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938- contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. They were collected in the 1930s as part of the WPA's Writers' Project. The Library of Congress presents these documents as part of the record of the past --- a reflection of the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times.
Center for Electronic Resources in African Studies.- This is a virtual archive of text & multimedia sources designed by the U. of Iowa for their academic community. Most of the useful material is found in Resources, which consists of 14 sections that provide links to Web sites for Iowa-based projects or Iowa-produced lists of other Web sites. This hard-to-find information on conference proceedings will be useful to Africana scholars.
Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature- by William L. Andrews, Frances S. Foster, & Trudier Harris. There are 550 entries presenting authors' biographies, essays by critics on literary characters and historical figures, plus 150 plot summaries of major works.
Chronology of the History of Slavery and Racism includes statistics from 1619 through the 1990s. There are, also, links to primary sources and documents.
Dictionary of African Mythology- by Harold Scheub is an Oxford Reference Online title with 400 entries that capture the sweep and diversity of African mythology.
Documenting the American South: North American Slave Narratives, Beginnings to 1920- is a project of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is a collection of primary resources for the study of Southern histroy, literature, & culture.
e-Black Studies- is a Web-based portal that provides "information for students & scholars in all academic fields that focus primarily on Africa & the African Diaspora." Book 1: Introduction to Afro-American Studies: A Peoples' College Primer; Book 2: Cyberorganizing.
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: the Black Experience in the Americas- edited by Colin A. Palmer is a 2nd edition of the print title from Macmillan Reference USA.
Gilder Lehman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition- is a Yale university searchable site "dedicated to the investigation and dissemination of information concerning all aspects of the Atlantic slave system and its destruction." Source Documents contains "200 individual items, including speeches, letters, cartoons, and graphics, interviews, and articles." Bibliographies are included.
Guide to African Cinema by Sharon Russell. It is available in print, also. Clapp Ref PN1993.5 .A35 R87 1998.
Oxford African American Studies Center- More than 8,000 articles by top scholars in the field, drawn from Oxford University Press reference works, with primary source documents and maps.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture- is a non-commercial Web site that chronicles the contributions and experiences of African-Americans. Two particularly interesting sections are Harlem 1900-1940 and African-American Women Writers of the Nineteenth Century.
Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860 includes trials,cases, reports, arguments, decisions, jpurnals, etc.
| Find books |
Wellesley College Library catalog
WorldCat to find books, journals, video recordings not listed in the Wellesley Online Catalog.
| Key scholarly websites |
- Africa Action (formerly Africa Policy)
- A non-profit organization that works with Congress on Africa-related legislation.
Africa South of the Sahara- A selected list focusing on Southern Africa from the Hoover Institute and the African Studies Association.
- African American Odyssey
- Rare and unique titles from the Library of Congress's African-American collection.
African Biography on the Internet - Columbia University Libraries' site
African Studies Center/University of Pennsylvania- Provides lists of online resources related to African Studies. Here the user will find a variety of topical lists, including Maps and Satellites and Women's Issues
allAfrica.com- A news site provided by the Population Media Center. It lists top headlines & has pull-down boxes for regions/countries and topics. There is access to French articles, also.
Art and Archeology of Africa - A Columbia University Libraries' page
Black Population in the United States- U. S. Census site for most recent statistical information
Business & Economic Information on Africa - Columbia University Libraries
CLNet Diversity Page- A list of general-interest Internet resources that will be useful to minorities including African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Women, & Gay & Lesbian Studies. Sources linked to African American topics range from the "AfroAmerican Newspaper Home Page", "Faces of Science: African-Americans in the Sciences", & the "Universal Black Pages."
Columbia University's African Studies Internet Resources- This is another multi-subject site and can link the user to "African Related Organizations" and the Internet Living Swahili Dictionary Project
FBI: FOIA/Privacy Website- Provides previously inaccessible files on civil rights figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, & the Ku Klux Klan. It is searchable & indexed by name & subject.
Films and Videos on Africa - Columbia University Libraries - If you find a title of interest on this list, check in Wellesley's catalog to see if we own a copy. If we do not, order it via ILL.- Final Call The online edition of the official publication of the Nation of Islam, providing access to the current issue, as well as to background information on stories covered. The site includes coverage of both national and international news, columns, perspectives and features from the point of view of the Nation of Islam organization. The home page can also be accessed by going directly to http://www.noi.org.
Gateway to African American History- A University of Chicago site providing information on the rich and varied contributions of African Americans to our culture and history. There is also a page with shorter readings and audio titles geared for younger children.
Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights: Thurgood Marshall Law Library- The Marshall Law Library has been digitizing the historic documents of this important Commission, which since 1957, has attempted to examine issues dealing with race, ethnicity, religion, and, more recently, sexual orientation.
Human Rights & Governance in Africa - Columbia University Libraries
In the World of African Literatures: Africa and Women Authors dt?
- A resource for Francophone African women writers from south of the Sahara. Short biographies/bibliographies, family portraits, searches by country, overviews of critical essays, lists of works in French & those translated into English are some of the features of this site. It will be most useful to those with a reading knowledge of French, but the modified English version is more than adequate.
Librarians' (LII) Internet Index- The page lists URLs on a variety of topics dealing with African American resources. The sites were selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness.
Malcolm X Project at Columbia University- Provides a comprehensive biography of Malcolm X & multimedia research aids to accompany study of his autobiography
Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute- A Stanford University site which offers print and audio files of excerpts from King's speeches.
Music and Dance of Africa - Columbia University Libraries
NAACP Online- Provides information on the association's history and programs, press releases, position statements, membership information, locations of regional offices.
Paul Robeson [on the Web]- An excellent, thematically arranged site covering his life, including film, theater, and political activism. "For anyone interested in Robeson or wanting to know his humanitarian dimensions."
Quarterly Black Review [of Books]- The current issue (only - There are no backfiles) appears online with signed reviews of nonfiction, fiction, children's books and poetry, a featured interview, and QBR Guide to Black Classics.
U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division- This site offers a FAQ page, committee, & task reports. A good source when researching federal civil rights policy.
Zora Neale Hurston Plays at the Library of Congress- Presents 10 plays written by Hurston but unpublished & unproduced until they were rediscovered in the Copyright Deposit Drama Collection in 1997. They reflect her life experiences, travels & research, especially her study of folklore in the African-American South.
Professional development
- Black Collegian Online
- The current issue only of this career-opportunities publication. [Wellesley subscribes to the print edition: qLC2781 .B45].
Scholarly Associations on Africa and Other Directories - This and the United States NGOs below are two other Columbia University sites.
United States NGOs, Research & Policy Institutes- Another Columbia University site for information on these organizations dealing with African countries.
Wellesley College Library • WCIS • Jacqueline Fitzpatrick • last modified: May 27, 2009