LibGuides: African American History: Background

Encyclopedias & Reference

Below is just a sampling of the background sources CMU has available on African American History. To find more, use the Advanced Search in the CMU Library Catalog search for encyclopedias and "african americans" in subject.

Databases for background information

Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with precise search and browse capabilities. Features over 7,500 articles from Oxford's reference works, approximately 100 primary sources with specially written commentaries, over 1,000 images, over 100 maps, over 200 charts and tables, timelines to guide researchers through the history of African Americans and over 6,000 biographies.
Includes Africana, Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895, Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present, Black Women in America, Second Edition, African American National Biography
Dictionary of African Biography, and The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought.
Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Gateway to Black Studies including scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, reference books, and much more. It includes The Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, Index to Black Periodicals Full Text, Black Literature Index, etc.

eBooks

Available through the CMU Libraries Catalog. Off-campus access with AndrewID

Handbook of Black Studies by Molefi Kete Asante; Maulana Karenga
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 0761928405
Publication Date: 2005-11-10
This handbook is arranged around three main areas: historical and cultural foundations; philosophical and conceptual basis and critical and analytical concepts. It brings together the main academic experts in the field to discuss and analyze the latest conceptual and theoretical developments in the field.
Encyclopedia of Black Studies by Molefi Kete Asante (Editor); Mambo Ama Mazama (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9781452265445
Publication Date: 2004-12-09
This volume, containing over 240 signed articles, is an analysis of sociological, historical, literary and philosophical issues related to Americans of African descent. A reader's guide facilitates browsing by topic and easy access to information.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present by Paul Finkelman (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 9780195167795
Publication Date: 2009-02-02
Covering African American history in all areas of U.S. history and culture from 1896 to the present, the Encyclopedia contains approximately 1,200 fully cross-referenced entries that are all signed by leading scholars and experts, making this five-volume set the most reliable and extensive treatment to be found on African American history in the twentieth century.
Black Power Encyclopedia by Akinyele Umoja (Editor); Karin L. Stanford (Editor); Jasmin A. Young (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1440840067
Publication Date: 2018-07-11
Cross-disciplinary and broad in its approach, this work explores the emergence and evolution of the Black Power Movement in the United States some 50 years ago. The entries examine the key players, organizations and institutions, trends, and events of the period, enabling readers to better understand the ways in which African Americans broke through racial barriers, developed a positive identity, and began to feel united through racial pride and the formation of important social change organizations. The encyclopedia also covers the important impact of the more militant segments of the movement, such as Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers.
The World of Jim Crow America by Steven A. Reich (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 1440850801
Publication Date: 2019-06-24
This encyclopedia covers the social, political, and material culture of America during the Jim Crow Era. What was daily life really like for ordinary African American people in Jim Crow America, the hundred-year period of enforced legal segregation that began immediately after the Civil War and continued until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965? What did they eat, wear, believe, and think? How did they raise their children? How did they interact with government? What did they value? What did they do for fun? This Daily Life encyclopedia explores the lives of average people through the examination of social, cultural, and material history.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895 by Paul Finkelman (Editor)
Call Number: ebook
ISBN: 0195167775
Publication Date: 2006-04-06
This Encyclopedia documents the full range of the African American experience during that period - from the arrival of the first slave ship to the death of Frederick Douglass - and shows how all aspects of American culture, history, and national identity have been profoundly influenced by the experience of African Americans.

African American History

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Encyclopedias & Reference

Databases for background information

eBooks