Books and Encyclopedias
A great way to get start on an assignment is to gather background information by encyclopedia entries and books on your topic. Here are some resources to help you generate ideas and obtain fundamental information on the subjects within African-American Studies.
Online Books and Encyclopedias for African-American Studies
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50 Events That Shaped African American History: an Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic [2 Volumes] by
ISBN: 9781440837876Publication Date: 2019-09-19This two-volume work celebrates 50 notable achievements of African Americans, highlighting black contributions to U.S. history and examining the ways black accomplishments shaped American culture. * Chronicles almost 400 years of African American history beginning with the arrival of 20 Africans into Jamestown, VA, and ending with the 2014 Ferguson Protests * Provides readers with an understanding of key events that represent the African American experience * Brings the featured events to life using first-person accounts, essays, primary sources, photographs, and timelines * Demonstrates the broad influence and impact of African Americans on history, the arts, laws, sports, literature, film, television, and social movements -
Complete Encyclopedia of African American History, The by
ISBN: 1578595835Publication Date: 2015-06-01Celebrate the Achievements . . . The Complete Encyclopedia of African American History chronicles 400 years of African American history. This comprehensive resource explores the past, the progress, and the present of African Americans in four volumes, each building, complementing, and expanding on the previous volume. * Volume 1: 400 Years of Achievement presents four centuries of noteworthy accomplishments through a fascinating mix of biographies--including more than 750 influential figures--little-known or misunderstood historical facts, and enlightening essays on significant legislation and movements. * Volume 2: Notable Firsts is an exhilarating listing of the accomplishments of black Americans in the arts, business, education, the military, medicine and science, and sports. * Volume 3: Heroes and Heroines is an eclectic mix of profiles of 150 well-known and lesser-known individuals who have made a lasting and profound impact on our culture. * Volume 4: Civil Rights Feats and Facts details the important people, places, and events of the black struggle for freedom. The Complete Encyclopedia of African American History showcases a legacy of pride, struggle, and triumph through consequential events and people, covering milestones and challenges met while highlighting the considerable contributions African Americans have made to the fabric of American society and culture. It provides insights on--and inspiration from--the influence and impact of African Americans on the United States in a broad range of endeavors from politics, education, religion, business, science, medicine, the military, sports, literature, music, dance, theater, art, film, television, and more. -
Encyclopedia of African-American culture and history: the Black experience in the Americas
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ISBN: 0028663918Publication Date: 2006A five-volume set and supplement covering all aspects of the African-American experience from 1619 to the present day. Using biographies, historical essays, and thematic pieces, many written by foremost scholars, it addresses a wide array of subjects in over 2,300 articles to define in one source the cultural roots, participation in American life, and current condition of the African-American community. -
Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
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Call Number: Full text onlineISBN: 1138036374Publication Date: 2017From the music of Louis Armstrong to the portraits by Beauford Delaney, the writings of Langston Hughes to the debut of the musical Show Boat, the Harlem Renaissance is one of the most significant developments in African-American history in the twentieth century. The Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance, in two-volumes and over 635 entries, is the first comprehensive compilation of information on all aspects of this creative, dynamic period. [Also available in print at King 2nd Floor NX512.3. A35 E53 2004] -
Encyclopedia of African-American writing: five centuries of contribution : trials & triumphs of writers, poets, publications and organizations
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ISBN: 168217719XPublication Date: 2019A timely survey of an important sector of American letters, African American Writers examines a multitude of black cultural leaders from the 18th century to the present. Updated through the present time, this new second edition covers the role and influence of African American cultural leaders from all walks of life.
Print Books and Encyclopedias for African-American Studies
We highly recommend that you browse several important locations within King Library:
- The Africana section within the Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American Studies Center (AAACNA) collection on the 5th floor of King;
- The African-American section of the main collection, available starting at LC Call Number E184 on the 6th floor of King.
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100 Greatest African Americans by
Call Number: SJSU Library Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American Studies Center Reference 5th Floor E185.96 .A83 2002ISBN: 1573929638Publication Date: 2003Since 1619, when Africans first came ashore in the swampy Chesapeake region of Virginia, there have been many individuals whose achievements or strength of character in the face of monumental hardships have called attention to the genius of the African American people. This book attempts to distill from many wonderful possibilities the 100 most outstanding examples of greatness. Pioneering scholar of African American Studies Molefi Kete Asante has used four criteria in his selection: the individual's significance in the general progress of African Americans toward full equality in the American social and political system; self-sacrifice and the demonstration of risk for the collective good; unusual will and determination in the face of the greatest danger or against the most stubborn odds; and personal achievement that reveals the best qualities of the African American people. In adopting these criteria Professor Asante has sought to steer away from the usual standards of popular culture, which often elevates the most popular, the wealthiest, or the most photogenic to the cult of celebrity. The individuals in this book - examples of lasting greatness as opposed to the ephemeral glare of celebrity fame - come from four centuries of African American history. Each entry includes brief biographical information, relevant dates, an assessment of the individual's place in African American history with particular reference to a historical timeline, and a discussion of his or her unique impact on American society. Numerous pictures and illustrations will accompany the articles. This superb reference work will complement any library and be of special interest to students and scholars of American and African American history. -
Africana by
Call Number: SJSU Library Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American Studies Center Reference 5th Floor DT14 .A37435 2005ISBN: 9780195170559Publication Date: 2005Ninety years after W.E.B. Du Bois first articulated the need for "the equivalent of a black Encyclopedia Britannica," Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr., realized his vision by publishing Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience in 1999. This new, greatly expanded edition of the original work broadens the foundation provided by Africana. Including more than one million new words, Africana has been completely updated and revised. New entries on African kingdoms have been added, bibliographies now accompany most articles, and the encyclopedia's coverage of the African diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean has been expanded, transforming the set into the most authoritative research and scholarly reference set on the African experience ever created. More than 4,000 articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religion, ethnic groups, organizations and countries on both sides of the Atlantic. African American history and culture in the present-day United States receive a strong emphasis, but African American history and culture throughout the rest of the Americas and their origins in African itself have an equally strong presence. The articles that make up Africana cover subjects ranging from affirmative action to zydeco and span over four million years from the earlies-known hominids , to Sean "Diddy" Combs. With entries ranging from the African ethnic groups to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Africana, Second Edition, conveys the history and scope of cultural expression of people of African descent with unprecedented depth. -
African American National Biography by
Call Number: SJSU Library Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American Studies Center Reference 5th Floor E185.96 .A4466 2008ISBN: 9780195160192Publication Date: 2008The African American National Biography presents history through a mosaic of the lives of thousands of individuals, illuminating the abiding influence of persons of African descent on the life of this nation from the arrival of Esteban in Spanish Florida in 1529 through to notable black citizens of the present day. Available initially as a handsome eight-volume set containing over 4,000 entries written and signed by distinguished scholars, the AANB continues to grow along with the field of African American biographical research, and continuous updates to the online edition will bring the total number of lives profiled to more than 5,000. This is a remarkable achievement, an eightfold increase over the number of biographies contained in 2004's award-winning and substantial African American Lives. In addition to Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois and Martin Luther King Jr., the AANB includes a wide range of African Americans from all time periods and all walks of life, both famous and nearly-forgotten. In the words of AANB editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "These stories, long buried in the dusty archives of history, will never be lost again. And that is what scholarship in the field of African American Studies should be all about." -
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present by
Call Number: SJSU Library Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American Studies Center Reference 5th Floor E185 .E5453 2009ISBN: 9780195167795Publication Date: 2009Focusing on the making of African American society from the 1896 "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson up to the contemporary period, this encyclopedia traces the transition from the Reconstruction Era to the age of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Brown ruling that overturned Plessy, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ascendant influence of African American culture on the American cultural landscape. 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. The set also contains 500 images and roughly 640 biographies, as well as an entry on each of the fifty states. In addition to its comprehensive coverage of African Americans, the Encyclopedia also contains entries about key figures who affected the lives of African Americans in particular and Americans in general. Unrivalled in breadth and scope, this is the preeminent source of information on this topic and is destined to become a trusted reference source for years to come. -
The Great Black Migration by
Call Number: SJSU Library Africana, Asian American, Chicano, & Native American Studies Center Reference 5th Floor E185.6 .E54 2014ISBN: 9781610696654Publication Date: 2014Treating broad themes as well as specific topics, this guide to the Great Black Migration will introduce students to a touchstone critical to shaping the history of African Americans in the United States. * Provides students with essential information about key people, places, organizations, and events that defined the movement of Southern African Americans to the urban North and West * Covers the first major migration between the advent of World War I and the Great Depression and the second, smaller wave from 1940 to 1970 * Devotes considerable space to the social, cultural, and political world of black migrant communities of the urban North and West * Includes primary sources to promote critical thinking and interpretive reading underscored in the Common Core Standards * Features contributions from a wide range of disciplines, including art and music history, demography, economics, journalism, history, literary criticism, political science, and sociology