Library Research Guides: AFR 390: A History of Slavery and Racism in the North: Start Here

Welcome!

This guide provides some useful starting places and strategies for doing research for this course. I'm happy to help! Reach out to me about any aspect of your research, from developing a research question to finding, evaluating, and citing sources.

Karen Storz, Research & Instruction Librarian

Get Started with SuperSearch

Trying some initial searches in SuperSearch can be a great way to begin to explore a topic from many angles across a variety of disciplines and types of sources. Start with a simple search and scan the results, paying attention to aspects of the topic that jump out at you or resonate with you.

Because SuperSearch contains so much content from so many different kinds of sources, the results can sometimes be overwhelming and hard to focus. At the same time, SuperSearch is also not comprehensive and can miss key sources. To search with more focus, precision, and depth, try some of the databases and other resources recommended below and on the other pages of this guide.

Explore a Topic in Encyclopedias & Other Reference Sources

Specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other reference works can be good starting places for getting an overview of a topic, definitions of key terms, and suggestions for further reading.

Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Thousands of articles by scholars in the field, with primary source documents, maps, and images.
Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
Oxford Bibliographies are research guides in a variety of subject areas. Combining features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this resource directs researchers to top scholarship across a wide variety of topics.
Oxford Bibliographies: African American Studies This link opens in a new window
Research guides on a variety of topics within African American Studies. Combining features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this resource directs researchers to top scholarship within specialized topics.
Biography (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window
Over 650,000 biographical entries covering international figures from all time periods and areas of study; search by name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender.

Enslaved Women in America: An Encyclopedia by Deleso A. Alford (Editor); Daina Ramey Berry (Editor)
Publication Date: 2012
Through essays, photos, and primary source documents, enslaved women are depicted as central, rather than marginal, figures in history. Contains 100 entries written by a range of experts and covering all aspects of daily life.
Encyclopedia of Free Blacks and People of Color in the Americas (e-book)
Publication Date: 2012
Nearly 400 articles on major events, issues, and concepts relevant to the free black community in the United States from the colonial period to the Civil War and in the rest of the Western Hemisphere from the late 1400s to the late 1800s.
The Civil War Era and Reconstruction: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural and Economic History by Mary Ellen Snodgrass
Publication Date: 2011
Covers the period 1861-1877 in both the North and the South. Provides an in-depth view of the non-military history of the Civil War and Reconstruction, taking a broad, multidisciplinary approach.
The Atlantic World, 1450-2000 (e-book) by Toyin Falola (Editor); Kevin D. Roberts (Editor)
Publication Date: 2008
Provides an overview of the Atlantic world since the 15th century, including contact with Europeans in Africa and the Americas, the slave trade, gender and race in the early Atlantic world, independence movements in Africa, Caribbean nationalism, and more.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present
Publication Date: 2009
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.
Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History (e-book)
Publication Date: 2006
Over 2,300 articles provide authoritative information about Black history, figures, and accomplishments throughout the Americas.

[Back to Top]

The Great Black Migration: A Historical Encyclopedia of the American Mosaic by Steven A. Reich
Publication Date: 2014
Entries cover such topics as the destinations that attracted black migrants, the impact of the Great Migration on black religion, the relationship between migration and black politics, and the patterns of discrimination and racial violence migrants encountered.

AFR 390: A History of Slavery and Racism in the North

Related Guides

Your Research Librarian

Welcome!

Get Started with SuperSearch

Explore a Topic in Encyclopedias & Other Reference Sources