Penn State University Libraries - African American History

The African American Experience : an Historiagraphical and Bibliographical Guide(find in the CAT),  UP Copy: Call # E184.65.A37 2001, Arts & Humanities Ready Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

The African-American mosaic: a Library of Congress resource guide for the study of Black history and culture (find in the CAT), UP Call number: LC 1.6/4:AF 8, 2nd Floor Paterno Library stacks, U.S. documents collection

Afro-American Reference: an Annotated Bibliography of Selected Resources (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # Z1361.N39D37 1985, Arts & Humanities Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

The Harvard Guide to African-American History (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E185.H326 2001, Arts & Humanities Ready Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

Voices of the Spirit : Sources for Interpreting the African-American Experience
(find in the CAT),  UP Copy: Call # Z1361.N39G56 1995, Arts & Humanities Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

More Bibliographies

To locate a bibliography on your topic try a keyword search in The CAT using your subject term and the word bibliography. This works best if you use more general topics, e.g. civil rights and bibliography, race relations and bibliography, etc...

Oxford African-American Studies Center 
Provides essays from highly regard reference works produced by Oxford University Press

Africana: the Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # DT14.A37435 2005, Arts and Humanities Ready Reference

The African-American Almanac (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E185 .N385, Latest edition, Arts & Humanities Ready Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee. Earlier editions, Pattee Stacks Level 1

The African American years

Black Firsts : 4,000 Ground-breaking and Pioneering Historical Events (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E185.B574 2003, Social Sciences Reference, 2nd Floor Paterno

Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery  (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E441.D53 1997, Arts & Humanities Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History

Historical Statistics of Black America  (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E185.H543 1995, Arts & Humanities Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

Historical Statistics of the United States Millennium Edition

The Timetables of African-American History: a Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in African-American History (find in the CAT), UP Copy: Call # E185.H295 1995, Arts & Humanities Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

The library has acquired a number of collections containing texts of works documenting the African American experience. Some of these collections are not fully described in The CAT and require the use of printed guides to determine what is available. Unless otherwise noted all are in the News and Microforms Library, Ground Floor West Pattee.

African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907

American Colonization Society. Records, 1792-1964 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # FILM A66, Guide: E448.A44

Black Abolitionists Archive

Black Abolitionist Papers 1830-1865.
Letters, speeches, editorials, articles, sermons, and essays from the abolitionist movement in the U.S. England, Scotland, Ireland and Canada, Over 15,000 items written by nearly 300 Black men and women are available for searching.

Black Power Movement (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # E185.615.B533 2002

Black Workers in the Era of the Great Migration, 1916-1929 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # FILM A227, Guide: E185.8.S35 1985

Civil Rights During the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # FILM A216, Guide: KF4749.C68

CORE. The Papers of the Congress of Racial Equality, 1941-1967 (find in the CAT)
UP Copy: Call # FILM A120, Guide: Z1361.N39M46 1980

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 (find in the CAT)
Contains the texts of works published on all topics in the United States from 1639-1800. Full-text online via Digital Evans

History Vault
Includes records from the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Revolutionary Action Movement and government reports documenting the quest for equality.

Papers of the NAACP (many parts and supplements)
Call # varies. Guides: E185.5.N276A2
Portions are available from the History Vault

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. (2 collections)
Call # FILM A52 & A253, Guide: BX7642.P4P2 1976.

Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations. (Series)
Call # FILM A259, A264, A284, A285, Guides: HD1471.U52A13.
Portions are available from the History Vault

Slave Narratives Beginnings to 1920. Related site: American Slave Narratives: an Online Anthology

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Trans-national Archive
A massive digital collection of 18th and 19th century documents; Pamphlets, Books, Correspondence, Newspapers, Legal Documents, Manuscripts, and other materials. Includes over 1 million pages of unpublished archival material produced by pro and anti-slavery organizations and individuals.

Slavery Pamphlets
Call # Micro 3, Guide: Z1249.S6A5. Individual title in the collection are listed in The CAT.

Slavery Petitions (University of North Carolina, Greensboro)

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture (University of Virginia)

United States. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands
all # FILM D273 to D281. Guides: Z1361.N39U55

Locating Information About Individuals

Individual Biographies

The easiest way to locate a biography is to do a Browse Subject search in The CAT. Enter the name of the individual as the subject. For autobiographies do an Author search.

Many people are not famous enough to have entire books devoted to them (or you may not need that much information!). In these cases try a biographical dictionary or encyclopedia. Typically they provide a brief essay summarizing the individual's life and accomplishments. The ones below will get you started.

American National Biography Online
Offers portraits of more than 17,000 men and women -- from all eras and walks of life -- whose lives have shaped the nation.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Indexes over 13 million entries in biographical encyclopedias and dictionaries.

Blacks in Selected Newspapers, Censuses and Other Sources: an Index to Names and Subjects, (find in the CAT), Call # Z1361.N39A28 Q, Arts & Humanities, Pattee, Stacks 2 - Reference Collection

Contemporary Black Biography (1992-date) (find in the CAT)
Call # E185.96.C66, Arts & Humanities Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

Faces of Science: African-Americans in the Sciences
Profiles of African-Americans who have contributed to the advancement of science and technology

Notable Black American Women (find in the CAT)
Call # E185.96.N68 2003, Arts & Humanities Reference, 2nd Floor Pattee

Who's Who Among African-Americans (find in the CAT)
Call # E185.96 .W56, Social Sciences Reference, 2nd Floor Paterno

Personal Papers and Other Primary Source Materials

The library has acquired paper and microfilm source materials by and about prominent African-Americans. A partial list can also be found on Microfinder under the heading "African-Americans" Another approach is to search in The CAT. Use the person's name combined with one of the following terms: "Letters, Papers, Sources, Correspondence, Diary/Diaries, Archives".

Many primary sources have not been published and can only be accessed at the library or archive holding the original documents. To identify libraries that may have items of interest consult the following:

ArchivesUSA

A subject guide to materials in archives across the country. More detailed finding aids are in the National Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS) (find in the CAT), Call # MICRO 4 NIDS, News and Microforms Library, Ground Floor West Pattee

Archival Sources

Descriptions and guides for collections held in large research libraries

You can find documents for some individuals online. For example:

• Frederick Douglass Papers (Library of Congress)
• Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers Project (UCLA)
• Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project (Stanford University)
• Booker T. Washington Papers Online (History Cooperative and University of Illinois)