LibGuides: African and African American Studies: Get Started

Online Reference Sources

Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture
This four-volume encyclopedia contains information on African American popular culture. Includes a chronology placing pivotal events—such as the beginning of black baseball, the modern Civil Rights Movement, and the Harlem Renaissance—in historical context. Depicts key places, events, and people through photographs as well as words• Provides a list of black radio programs and movies
African Folklore: An Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of African American Music
"Providing a lyrical history of our nation, this groundbreaking encyclopedia, the first of its kind, showcases all facets of African American music including folk, religious, concert and popular styles. Over 500 in-depth entries by more than 100 scholars on a vast range of topics such as genres, styles, individuals, groups, and collectives as well as historical topics such as music of the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, and numerous others."
Encyclopedia of Black Studies
"Contains a full analysis of the economic, political, sociological, historical, literary, and philosophical issues related to Americans of African descent. This single-volume reference is the vanguard of the recent explosive growth in quality scholarship in the field. More than a chronicle of black culture or black people, this encyclopedia deals with the emergence and maturity of an intellectual field over the past four decades. Beginning with the protests at San Francisco State College in 1967 that led to the first degree-granting department of Black Studies, the field's rapid growth over time necessitates an authoritative account of the discipline."
Country Studies, from the Library of Congress
"The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world."

Print Reference Sources

Encyclopedia of African American history, 1896 to the present : from the age of segregation to the twenty-first century
Call Number: [Ref] E185 .E5453 2009
"Covering African American history in all areas of U.S. history and culture..., 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. " -- Publisher's description

These are on the main floor of the library.

African American religious cultures
Call Number: [Ref] BL2500 .A37 2009
ISBN: 1576074706
"Scholars... provide short entries and more substantial essays about the myriad religious cultures among Africans and people of African descent throughout the Western Hemisphere. Among topics of the entries are African Americans in various Christian denominations, Catimbó, maroons, the Nation of Islam, the Orisha religion in Trinidad, Rastafari, Santería, Shrine of the Black Madonna, Umbanda, and Wicca. The essays consider broader areas of African American religion such as literature and religion, preaching and sermonic traditions, healing and health, popular culture, the urban context, education, the psychology of religious behavior, and worship." - Reference & Research Book News
Africana : the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience
Call Number: [Ref] DT14 .A37435 2005
Covers a vast geographic area and encompasses the complex histories of Africans in Africa and the Americas.
Encyclopedia of the modern Middle East & North Africa
Call Number: [Ref] DS43 .E531 2004
Coverage includes culture and society, religion and ethnicity, history and politics, war and treaties, geography, and economics, generally from 1800 to the present. The work emphasizes countries or issues specifically relevant to Western readers, such as Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, and the Palestine Problems, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

BBC - Africa

Quick Facts & News

BBC Country Profiles
CIA World Factbook
"The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities." -- From the site