African-American Studies Resources

This selection of specialized resources in African-American Studies is designed to help you navigate through the wealth of information in Fondren's collections. It is not a comprehensive list.

Indexes & Databases

Indexes can be used to locate articles by topic, title, or author. Other general indexes which may also include relevant information can be found on the Journal Indexes & Databases page.

online | print & CDROM

Online Indexes

African American Newspapers: The 19th Century | includes Full Text

This collection of African-American Newspapers contains a wealth of information about cultural life and history during the 1800s. It also contains large numbers of early biographies, vital statistics, essays and editorials, poetry and prose, and advertisements, all of which embody the African-American experience. This database will ultimately contain the complete text of the major African-American newspapers published in the United States during the 19th century.

America: History and Life

Covers the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. This extensive database indexes over 2,000 journals published worldwide. In addition to covering all key English-language historical journals, this database indexes selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities. (1964-)

Black Studies Database : Kaiser Index to Black Resources (1948-1986)

BSD includes more than 170,000 citations drawn from significant and influential journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, pamphlets and reports relevant to the Black experience from 1948-1986. This valuable resource covers events critical to the study of Black life and culture outside of Africa including notable figures in Black history, culture, and sports; the Civil Rights Movement, the growth of the NAACP and the National Urban League; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; jazz and soul music; and much more.

JSTOR | includes Full Text | Source List

JSTOR provides online, fulltext access to over 300 core scholarly journals from date of inception to a "moving wall" of 2-5 years from present. The archived collection includes journals in humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The content is searchable by author, title, fulltext with limits by discipline, year, and article type. (Note: pop-up blocking must be disabled.)

Sociological Abstracts | includes Full Text

Sociological Abstracts covers 3,000 journals (and some books) in sociology, social planning/policy, and related subjects. (Alternate interface languages include: French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean). (1963-)

Print & CDROM Indexes

Antislavery Newspapers and Periodicals

Call Number:  Z1249.S6 A57  STACKS

v.1. Annotated index of letters in the Philanthropist, Emancipator, Genius of universal emancipation, Abolition intelligencer, African observer, and the Liberator, 1817-1845; v.2. Annotated index of letters in the Liberator, Anti-slavery record, Human rights, and the Observer, 1835-1865; v.3. Annotated index of letters in the Friend of man, Pennsylvania freeman, Advocate of freedom, and American & foreign anti-slavery reporter, 1836-1854; v.4. Annotated index of letters in the National anti-slavery standard, 1840-1860; v.5. Annotated index of letters in the National anti-slavery standard, 1861-1871.

Black Studies Database (CDROM)

Holdings:  1948-1986

Call Number:  Z1361 .N39 B625  REFERENCE DESK

Index to Black Periodicals

Holdings:  1973-

Call Number:  AI3 .I56  REFERENCE

Index to Periodical Articles by and about Negroes

Holdings:  v. 1 (1950-69) - v.20 (1971-72)

Call Number:  AI3 .I55  REFERENCE

Text Collections

online | print & CDROM

Online Text Collections

African American Poetry: 1750-1900

Nearly 3,000 poems written by African-American poets in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

African-American Newspapers: The 19th Century

When complete, this archive will contain the full text of the major African-American newspapers published in the United States during the 19th century. Coverage includes: The Colored American (Weekly Advocate), The North Star, The National Era, Provincial Freeman, Frederick Douglass Paper, and The Christian Recorder. (database description)

African-American Odyssey

Part of the Library of Congress American Memory collections, African-American Odyssey includes digital collections such as the Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress, Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, African-American Pamphlets 1824-1909, and Slaves and the Courts 1740-1860.

American Civil War: Letters and Diaries

Contains approximately 500 authors and 32,000 pages of letters, diaries and memoirs. The letters and diaries are by the famous and the unknown, giving not only both the Northern and Southern perspectives, but those of foreign observers also. The materials originate from all regions of the country and are from people who played a variety of roles. When complete, the collection will include more than 100,000 pages of primary materials.

American Radicalism Collection

The American Radicalism Collection at the Michigan State University Libraries includes materials covering a wide range of viewpoints on political, social, and economic issues in America. The emphasis is on materials produced by radical groups - both left and right. Some examples are materials devoted to Timothy Leary, the Black Panther Party, Neo-Nazi Organizations, the Christian Right, and Steve Gaskin, founder of the commune the Farm. While the American Radicalism Collection is strongest in publications from the American Left in the twentieth century, as well as in resources for the study of American Labor History, there is considerable material from the right, most notably the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920's and 1930's.

America's Historical Newspapers

Search or browse early American newspapers including titles from all 50 present states. Includes: Early American Newspapers, Series 1 (1690 - 1876), Early American Newspapers, Series 2 (1758 - 1900), Early American Newspapers, Series 3 (1829 - 1922), Early American Newspapers, Series 4 (1756 - 1922) and Early American Newspapers, Series 5 (1777 - 1922).

Black Drama: 1850 to Present

Black Drama contains 207 plays by 64 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. When complete, the collection will include more than 1,200 plays, of which some 20% have never been published before. The database will also include many more resources and related material.

Digital Dissertations and Theses from ProQuest/UMI

A comprehensive source for doctoral dissertations from the United States and Canada. Includes citations for dissertations ranging from 1861 to those accepted last semester. A limited number of master's theses is also included. Titles represent authors from North America and Europe, with over a million titles in full text.

Documenting the American South

This freely-accessible collection from UNC at Chapel Hill currently includes six digitization projects: slave narratives, first-person narratives, Southern literature, Confederate imprints, materials related to the church in the black community, and North Caroliniana.

Early American Imprints: Series I, Evans (via publisher): 1639-1801 | Early American Imprints: Series I, Evans (via University of Michigan)

Based on the renowned American Bibliography by Charles Evans. The definitive resource for every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, from agriculture and auctions through foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, temperance, witchcraft, and just about any other topic imaginable. Upon completion, Evans Digital will consist of more than 36,000 works and 2,400,000 images.

Early American Imprints: Series II, Shaw-Shoemaker: 1801-1819

Covering every aspect of American life during the early decades of the United States, this rich primary source collection provides full-text access to the 36,000 American books, pamphlets and broadsides published in the first nineteen years of the nineteenth century.

Twentieth Century African American Poetry

A database of modern and contemporary African-American poetry from the early twentieth century to the present. Features 10,000 poems by around 70 of the most important African-American poets of the last century.

Print & CDROM Text Collections

African-American Experience (CDROM)

Call Number:  E185 .A2542  RESERVE

Fully indexed and searchable collection of primary source documents and pictures covering African-American history.

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (CDROM)

Call Number:  HT1322 .T74  ERC

Contains records of 27,233 trans-Atlantic slave ship voyages made between 1595 and 1866. Format allows users to track information by time period and geographic region, and includes interactive maps that allow viewers to chart the trans-Atlantic connections. The accompanying data contains materials about people on board, owners and captains, ships'characteristics, and the geographic trajectory of each voyage.

All microforms are located in Government Publications, in the basement of the Fondren Library.

Abolition & Emancipation

Call Number:  E 449.A14  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with reference from individual authors

Guide:  Detailed listing and brief biographies; Online guide at http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/abolition_emancipation_part_1/index.aspx

Guides for parts 1-6

American Civil Liberties Union Archives, 1950-1990

Call Number:  JC599 .U5 A45  microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Printed guide. Online guide at http://www.galegroup.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=745&titleCode=SR562&type=4&id=S3521P1P2

American Negro Historical Society Collection 1790-1905

Call Number:  Z 1361.N39A54  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Reel guide with short introduction; Online guide at http://www.gale.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=745&titleCode=SR340&type=4&id=S3362

Anti-Slavery Collection 18th-19th Centuries (Society of Friends)

Call Number:  HT 857 .A5 1978  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  none

Black Biographical Dictionaries 1790-1950

Call Number:  E 185.96.B52  microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series & individual titles

Guide:  Handlist of titles (alphabetical by editor), E185.96.B52

Black Workers in the Era of the Great Migration, 1916-1929

Call Number:  E185.63 .B63  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Printed guide

Claude A. Barnett papers

Call Number:  PN4882.5 .B37  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with contents notes

Guide:  Guide; Online guide at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Aaas/Barnett.asp

Pts. 1 & 2: Associated Negro Press papers, Pt. 3 Subject file on "black Americans"

Commission on Interracial Cooperation Papers, 1919-1944

Call Number:  HV6457 .A882  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Printed guide; Online information at http://www.proquest.com/products_umi/descriptions/Interracial-Cooperation-20.shtml

Fannie Lou Hamer, 1917-1977: papers, 1966-1978

Call Number:  E 185.97.H35A2  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Guide includes biographical notes & an index to correspondents. Online information at http://www.galegroup.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=745&titleCode=SR370&type=4&id=D3628

Goldsmiths'-Kress Colonies

Call Number:  JV420 .C64 1995  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title only

Guide:  Printed guide; Online information and guide at http://www.gale.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=745&titleCode=PSM1&type=2&id=N432

The Colonies subset of Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature. Contains material in Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish and Swedish.

Inward Slave Manifests, 1807-1860 (Port of New Orleans, LA)

Call Number:  HJ6637 .L5 U5  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Printed guide; Online information at http://www.galegroup.com/servlet/ItemDetailServlet?region=9&imprint=745&titleCode=SR352&type=4&id=S3348

New York Age

Call Number:  E 185.5 N52  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  None

Outward Slave Manifests, 1812-1860 (Port of New Orleans, LA)

Call Number:  HJ6637 .L5 U52  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Papers of the American Slave Trade

Call Number:  E445 .R4 P37  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with contents notes

Guide:  Guide to series A and B; Online guides at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Aaas/PapersAmericanSlaveTrade.asp

Papers of the NAACP

Call Number:  E185.61 .P37  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series & individual titles

Guide:  Guides for all received parts; Online guide at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Aaas/PapersNAACP.asp

See library catalog for current holdings

Papers of W.E.B. DuBois

Call Number:  Z 6616.D8A2  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  author,title,subjects

Guide:  Printed guide gives detailed descriptions of reels' contents..

Race, Slavery, and Free Blacks Series I: Petitions to Southern Legislatures

Call Number:  E441 .R27  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with contents notes

Guide:  Guide, series 1; Online guide at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/guides/Aaas/SlaveryPetitions.pdf

pt. 1: petitions to southern legislatures, 1777-1867

Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution Through the Civil War A-D, F-J (incomplete)

Call Number:  F 213.R42  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with contents

Guide:  Reel guides for A-D, F-J (lacking some parts); Online information at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Ash/AnteBellumSouthernPlantations.asp

Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration

Call Number:  F 215.R42  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with contents

Guide:  Guide for series A & B pts. 1-3 only

Records of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, 1895-1992; part 1

Call Number:  HS 2259.N37R42 1992  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  author and title entries

Guide:  Printed guide includes historical background, a scope and content note, detailed reel contents, chronology, and a subject index. Online information and guides at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Aaas/NatlAsnColouredWomen.asp

Registers & Letters Received by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, & Abandoned Lands 1865-72

Call Number:  E 185.2.A4  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title

Guide:  Introductory information and contents on reel 1.

State Slavery Statutes

Call Number:  KF 4545.S5 A127  microfiche

Library Catalog Access:  series title only

Guide:  Comprehensive contents arranged by state and subject, name, and geographic indexes.(565 pp.)

Wilberforce--slavery, religion and politics

Call Number:  DA522 .W6 A2  microfilm

Library Catalog Access:  series title with contents notes

Guide:  Printed guide to Ser. 2 only; Online information and guides at http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/search/search.aspx?mainsearch=wilberforce&kw=WILBERFORCE+SLAVERY%2c+RELIGION+POLITICS%3a+Series+One

Reference Works

African-American Newspapers and Periodicals: a national bibliography. James P. Danky. Harvard: 1998.

Call Number:  PN4882.5 .A37   REFERENCE

Black Literature Criticism. James P. Draper. Gale: 1992.

Call Number:  PS153.N5 B556   REFERENCE

Black Soldiers - Black Sailors - Black Ink: research guide on African-Americans in U.S. military history, 1526-1900. Thomas Truxtun Moebs. Moebs: 1994.

Call Number:  E185.63 .M64   REFERENCE

Includes list of officers, chronology of service, Medal of Honor winners, regimental service records, Revolutionary War enlisted men, Annapolis and West Point appointees, Civil War general orders from Washington, bibliography extensively cross-referenced by subject, Confederate writings on military use of African-Americans, writings of civilian and military African-American authors, 12,000 African-American servicemen.

Black Women in America: an historical encyclopedia. Darlene Clark Hine. Carlson: 1993.

Call Number:  E185.86 .B542   REFERENCE

Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature

This abridged and updated edition of the acclaimed Oxford Companion to African American Literature presents more than 400 biographies of authors, critics, literary characters, and historical figures, and 150 plot summaries of major works.

Contemporary Black Biography. Gale.

Holdings:  v.1, 1992-

Call Number:  E185.96 .C66    REFERENCE

Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery. Randall M. Miller and John David Smith. Greenwood: 1988.

Call Number:  E441 .D53   REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of African American Religions. Larry G. Murphy, J. Gordon Melton, Gary L. Ward. Garland: 1993.

Call Number:  BR563.N4 E53   REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions. Stephen D. Glazier. Routledge: 2001.

Call Number:  BL2462.5 .E53   REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of African-American Civil Rights. Charles D. Lowery and John F. Marszalek. Greenwood: 1992.

Call Number:  E185.61 .E54   REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Jack Salzman, David Lionel Smith, Cornel West. Macmillan: 1996.

Call Number:  E185 .E54   REFERENCE

Encyclopedia of African-American Religions. Garland: 1993.

Call Number:  BR563.N4 E53 1993   REFERENCE

Historical Statistics of Black America. Jessie Carney Smith and Carrell Peterson Horton. Gale: 1995.

Call Number:  E185 .H543   REFERENCE