Research Guides: History: Africa: Overview

Background & Reference

Oxford Bibliographies: African Studies This link opens in a new window
Overviews & annotated bibliographies on subjects such as African society, politics, or literature

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History
Peer-reviewed articles covering all aspects of African history, culture, and more. Includes bibliographies.
The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800
Examines African inventions and civilizations from 16,000 BCE to 1800 CE from the northern tip of Tunisia to the Cape of Good Hope in the south.
New Encyclopedia of Africa
Covers the entire continent and addresses the history of African cultures from ancient civilizations to the emergence of 53 independent countries.
Dictionary of African Biography
Covering the lives and legacies of notable African men and women from all eras and walks of life.

Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
World history from 1450-
Library Catalog - Advanced This link opens in a new window
A subset of Library Search that finds only materials owned by SMU Libraries, such as books, journals, movies, etc.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Fulltext of the entire back issues of scholarly journals

African Newspapers, Series 1 and 2, 1800-1925 This link opens in a new window
Chronicles African people, issues, & events through primary source documents
African Newspapers: British Library Collection This link opens in a new window
Newspapers throughout Africa published before 1901, with a range of topics.
Africa and the New Imperialism: European Borders on the African Continent, 1870-1914 This link opens in a new window
Africa’s encounters with European imperialist regimes
World Heritage Sites: Africa This link opens in a new window
High-quality visual, contextual, & spatial documentation of African heritage sites
African Diaspora, 1860-present This link opens in a new window
A global (non-U.S.) Black studies collection focusing on people of African descent, featuring primary sources
Confidential Print: Africa, 1834-1966 This link opens in a new window
Documents from the British government on the modern colonization of Africa
World Protest and Reform Movements: Global Perspectives, 1945-1996 This link opens in a new window

African Language Materials Archive
A multi-partner project focusing on the promotion and documentation of literature and literacy in the languages of Africa.
African Media Program
Offers an online, comprehensive database of films, videos, and other audio-visual materials concerning Africa, as well as education services about African media.
Afrobarometer
An African-led series of national public attitude surveys on democracy and governance in Africa.
Foreign Relations of the US, 1964-1968, Volume XXIV, Africa
Full text primary documents (letters, telegrams, memoranda, etc.) regarding U.S. relations with Africa. Additional volumes pertaining to other years are available.
Manuscripts and Archives Digital Images Database, Yale University
In the search images search box (on top right hand corner) enter search terms, such as "South Africa".
African Online Digital Library (AODL)
An open access digital library of African cultural heritage materials created by Michigan State University in collaboration with museums, archives, scholars, and communities around the world.
CAMP (Cooperative Africana Materials Project)
To search this database from the Center for Research Libraries, enter a keyword in the the "Any Field" box of the Advanced Keyword Search page, and then select one of the following locations from the "Location" drop-down menu (to browse the collection, input an asterisk in the search box):
- Camp Monographs
- Camp Newspapers
- Camp Serials

Africa Media Online
A good first stop for any project with more than 120,000 African pictures available online. The emphasis of the company is to enable Africans to tell Africa's story in the global arena. Remember to provide full captions and link back to their website.
NOTE: You will need to register and create an account to access materials.

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Digital library of images related to art, architecture, humanities, & social sciences

Baileys African History Archive (BAHA)
Holds 40 years of material from all the editions of Drum Magazine and its various sister publications: Golden City Post, Trust, True Love and City Press. Contains a wealth of information from politics to culture and complexities of the vast Anglophone African nations. Provide full captions and link back to this website; if the photographer is identified as Jurgen Schadeberg, then credit him, not BAHA.
Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives
A research and reference center devoted to the collection, preservation and dissemination of visual materials that encourage and support the study of the arts, cultures and history of Africa. Created by the National Museum of African Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
Jurgen Schadeberg
Jurgen Schadeberg worked for Drum magazine, a pivotal South African magazine, in the 1950s. His photographs for the publication span the history of South Africa during Apartheid and include photos of many historical figures like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Yusuf Dadoo, and many others. Remember to provide full captions and a link back to the website.