LibGuides: Subject Guide: Africana Studies: Background

Reference Sources

Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
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Cross-searchable resources for research and teaching in Black Studies: Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, The HistoryMakers^® Videos and full transcripts for interviews with 100 contemporary African Americans, International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP), historical black newspapers, and the Black Literature Index.
Black Women in America This link opens in a new window
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Biographical and subject reference on African-American women in American history.
Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
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Includes Encyclopedia of African American History, Black Women in America, Africana, content from the African American National Biography project, Encyclopedia of African American Art & Architecture, Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature, articles from other reference works, bibliographies, timelines, maps, images, primary source documents, links to Internet resources.
Salem History Online This link opens in a new window
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Full text of Modern Scandals and The Decades (America in the Nineties, etc), and other online reference books

Defining Moments: The Harlem Renaissance
Call Number: Reference NS 512.3 .A35 H55
An introductory volume on this era, collecting a "narrative overview," followed by biographies of 10 of the prominent figures, and finally some primary sources from authors such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Dubois, and Dorothy West.
Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance by West
Call Number: Reference PS 153 .N5 A24 2003
Covers the makers of "music, sculpture, poems and novels" of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the places, organizations and people who influenced it. Signed articles with bibliographies.
Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance by Cary D. Wintz, Paul Finkelman
Call Number: Reference NX512.3 .A35 E53 2004
Publication Date: 2004
Longer profiles of people and works of the Harlem Renaissance. Signed articles with bibliographies.
Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature by Hans Ostrom and J. David Macey, Jr.
Call Number: Reference PS153 .N5 G73 2005
Publication Date: 2005
Covers African-American writers, literary movements, and important places in African-American literary history, such as Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance.
Harlem Renaissance: A Gale Critical Companion by Janet Witalec
Call Number: Reference PS 153 .N5 H245 2003
Publication Date: 2003
Entries on the general aspects of the Harlem Renaissance (vol. 1) and literary-critical entries on writers of the Harlem Renaissance, each including material by the author as well as critical essays from other sources.

Explore Census Data This link opens in a new window
Demographic and other statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. Free U.S. Government Website.
Data.gov This link opens in a new window
"Data.gov starts an exciting new chapter in its evolution to make government data more accessible and usable than ever before."
Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
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Social Explorer is an online research tool designed to provide quick and easy access to historical census data and demographic information. It creates maps and reports to help users visually analyze and understand demography and social change throughout history. Users can customize, save, share, print, and email maps and reports and export them to a variety of programs and statistical packages for further analysis and use in reports and presentations.
For further information and tutorials, visit the Social Explorer Guide.

Contemporary Authors This link opens in a new window
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Biographies and criticism of authors, playwrights, journalists, and scriptwriters published in English from 1900 to today.

African American Historical Serials Collection This link opens in a new window
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African American periodicals, annuals and reports published from 1829-1922 including materials from African American religious organizations and social service agencies.
Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective This link opens in a new window
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Contains the full text of selected articles from Northern and Southern American newspapers, Nov. 1860-April 1865.