Research Guides: African-American History: Home

Search Terms

Think about what search terms you are going to use.

You can search generally for African American, or Black as keywords
Example search: African American identity OR Black identity
- You can narrow your search by adding more specific or regional terms
  - e.g. African American Churches or Black Churches
  - e.g Somali-American or Somali AND immigration AND America
Remember: Terms change over time, so you may need to adjust search terms when using primary resource databases.

Reference Resources

African American Biographical Database
The largest electronic collection of biographical information on African Americans, 1790-1950
Oxford Bibliographies: African American Studies
Regularly updated and expanded with new content, the module will provide bibliographic articles that identify, organize, cite, and annotate scholarship on key areas of African American Studies—culture, politics, law, history, society, religion, and economics.

Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History by Jack Salzman (Editor); David L. Smith (Editor); Cornel West (Editor)
Call Number: E185 .E54 1996
Publication Date: 1995
An authoritative, five volume work dealing with all aspects of the African-American experience from 1619 to the present day.
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas by Colin Palmer (Editor)
Publication Date: 2006
Identifies and addresses broad themes critical to understanding the texture of the cultures, achievements, and challenges across North America, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Need More Help?

Rafia Mirza

Contact:

rmirza@smu.edu
214-768-1838

Subjects: Classical Studies, History, International Studies, Philosophy, World Languages and Literatures

Related Guide

This guide highlights resources focusing specifically on African American History. However, when researching African American History, general American History resources will also be of use.

History by Region: United States