Research Guides: African American Studies Research Guide: Reference Works

What are Reference Works?

Reference works:

Provide an overview of your topic
Are often written by scholars or experts in the field
Provide key people, places, events, and terms that you can use to refine your searches
Often offer suggestions for further reading

To find reference materials for your research topic try a search in library search combining keywords.

For example: african americans history bibliography

Need help finding a topic? The Oxford Bibliography for African American Studies is a great place to browse research subfields in the discipline.

Although it's somewhat dated, if you're interested in historical topics, another great source is the Harvard Guide to African American History.

Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Access wide-ranging materials that focus on the lives and events that have shaped African American and African history and culture. Comprised of five major encyclopedias and additional reference sources from Oxford University Press.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., editor-in-chief.
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Provides biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Covers novelists, essayists, poets, journalists, and more.
African American Biographical Database This link opens in a new window
Contains biographical information on African Americans from 1790 to 1950. Includes full-text sketches with biographical detail and narratives chronicling the lives of Black Americans.
Credo Reference Unlimited This link opens in a new window
Contains bilingual dictionaries and reference works in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Contains online reference works -- see title list for individual works included.

Cambridge Companions related to African American Studies:

Oxford Handbooks related to African American Studies:

Blackwell Companions related to African American Studies:

Companion to African-American Studies
American Legal History
Includes essays on the legal history of "African Americans and Slavery," "African Americans in Freedom, Reconstruction and the Origins of Jim Crow," "African Americans and the Law since the Civil Rights Movement."

Other Useful Titles: