Reference Online
1. Biographies & Databases: Searchable databases
(good for when you know a name) and small collections (good for when you
need to learn names.) Includes a tutorial for finding biographies
and images on the web.
2. Documents & Images: Online collections of
digitized photos, slave narratives, manuscripts, pamphlets,
sheet music, newspapers, etc.
3. Timelines and Calendars: African American
chronologies, and "what happened on this day in 1954?"
4. Texts and Speeches: Includes texts of
speeches and audio files, and a tutorial for finding them
on the web.
5. African American Museums
Biographies & Databases
Tutorial: Finding African American
Biographies, Images and Artwork on the Web:
Google
Into the Search Box enter: +biography +"person's name" (the
quotes are important here)
Example: +biography +"Maya Angelou"
Google
Image Search
Enter the name "in quotes", for example, "Aaron Douglas"
On January 24, 2002, the search returned 12 thumbnail images: 11 paintings
by Douglas, and one portrait of him. Click on the thumbnail to view the
full-size image, or to view the source page in full image. (Alta Vista
is an automated Search Engine, so it might return some unrelated material
even if you use quotes. Be prepared to sift.)
Artcyclopedia
A comprehensive index of every artist represented in online museum
sites. A search by artist name yields a page with a one-sentence description
(ethnicity, genre and birth-death dates) and links to images of their art
and articles online. It is also cross-indexed: Aaron Douglas links to other
Harlem Renaissance artists. Unlike Alta Vista, this directory is compiled
by humans. You will not find as many images with your search, but you won't
receive unrelated material.
|
African American Biographical Database
"From the famous to the everyday person, AABD includes profiles
and full-text sketches providing both biographical detail and illuminating
narratives chronicling the lives of Black Americans."
Available only to subscribers. (Wisconsin residents can access
this database from home through Badgerlink.
Check with your librarian to see if you have similar access.)
Biography.com
Lengthy illustrated biographies of sixty historical and contemporary
African Americans. Some entries include lesson plans and classroom ideas,
plus links to videos produced for the Biography Channel.
Black
History Month Biographies (Gale Group)
Sixty lengthy biographies of important African Americans, primarily
20th Century but several 19th Century as well. Includes sources and
additional information.
Du Bois Central
Special collections, essays, photos and all manner of resources on the life and legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois.
The Encyclopaedia
Britannica Guide to Black History
"The Encyclopædia Britannica Guide to Black History features
600 informative articles and is beautifully illustrated with historical
film clips and audio recordings, as well as hundreds of photographs and
other images. The Related Internet Links and Bibliography sections provide
excellent source material and areas for further study, as does the Study
Guide for Students, which is organized around six classroom activities,
each with their own teacher recommendations, technical tips, and scholastic
bibliographies."
Facts
on the Black Population in the United States: U.S. Census Bureau
Social and economic charactorisitics, based upon the 2000 Census.
Unknown No Longer - A Database of Virginia Slave Names
This free database is the latest step by the Virginia Historical Society to increase access to its varied collections relating to Virginians of African descent.
- Small Collections:
A good starting point if you don't have a specific name to research.
African American Pioneers
Thirty-seven brief (one-paragraph) biographies, some with pictures,
mostly historical figures.
African
American Profiles
Twenty-five brief biographies, some with pictures, historic figures.
Biographies:
African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
Digital Schomburg Collection
Biographies of 37 writers. This site also contains texts.
The Faces
of Science: African Americans
Nearly 100 historical and contemporary figures. Indexed alphabetically
by name, by field and by profession. Includes a profile of black women scientists,
and a section on First
Science Ph.D.s awarded to African Americans. Includes references for
the sources. Despite the title not all entries include a "face",
but many do.
Prominent African Americans
This site provides pictures and one-sentence descriptions of nearly
60 figures, mostly contemporary or political (eg. members
of Congress.) Clicking on the person's name links you to more information
at a different site.
Altman, Susan. Encyclopedia of African American Heritage, 1st
Edition. New York: Facts on File, 2001. Middle School and up. Read
more at Amazon.com
An affordable book packed with accessible information. It is also available
online at Netlibrary.com (Check with
your librarian to see if you have access.)
Back to Top of Reference Online
Documents & Images
American Memory Collection,
Library of Congress
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html
"American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials
relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers
more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections."
Learning Page
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/index.html
Lesson plans and resources that help you teach (or learn) using the primary
sources and digitized documents.
Collection Finder
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amtitle.html
There are currently six collections specifically devoted to African Americans. Keyword search of all collections will yield individual items in other collections. New! Slaves and the Courts.
Born in
Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/
A joint presentation of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions
of the Library of Congress. More than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery
comprising over 9,500 page images with searcheable text, bibliographic
records and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. The photographs
of former slaves are linked to their narratives. Extensive introductory
essay includes information about the interviewers, the people interviewed,
and the processes of collection and compilation, and fascinating stories.
The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) originally made no plans for collecting
slave autobiographies and reminiscences. Interviews with former slaves
were undertaken spontaneously after the inception of the FWP and were included
among the activities of several Southern Writers' Projects for almost a
year before these isolated efforts were transformed into a concerted regional
project, coordinated by the national headquarters of the FWP in Washington,
D.C. On April 1, 1937, the collection of slave narratives formally began
with the dispatch of instructions to all Southern and border states directing
their Writers' Project workers to the task of interviewing former slaves.
Today, the Slave Narrative Collection provides a unique and virtually unsurpassed
collective portrait of a historical population.
African American
Mosaic http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html
This exhibit marks the publication of The African-American Mosaic: A
Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture.
It's designed to provide a sampling of the vast wealth of resources about
African American history to be found in the LOC's collections. The online
exhibit covers Colonization, Abolition, Migrations, and the WPA.
Freedom's
Journal http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/libraryarchives/aanp/freedom/
Published weekly in New York City from 1827 to 1829, Freedom's Journal
was the first African-American owned and operated newspaper published
in the United States. All 103 issues of the Freedom's Journal have been
digitized and are available in Adobe Acrobat format.
Black Archives of Mid America
http://www.blackarchives.org/
With currently more than 600 photographs, letters, and documents, "this
project will eventually digitize the largest depository of artifacts documenting
the African American experience in the four-state area of Missouri, Kansas,
Iowa, and Oklahoma."
Images of African
American from the 19th Century http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/images_aa19/
Visit The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center online for a selection
of visual resources.
New! SlaveryImages.org The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
"The 1,280 images in this collection have been selected from a wide range of sources, most of them dating from the period of slavery. This collection is envisioned as a tool and a resource that can be used by teachers, researchers, students, and the general public - in brief, anyone interested in the experiences of Africans who were enslaved and transported to the Americas and the lives of their descendants in the slave societies of the New World."
Back to Top of Reference Online
Timelines and Calendars
African American Registry http://www.aaregistry.com/
"A gathering of year-round daily narratives. Presented are individual
accounts that have shaped American society through the arts, business,
education, entertainment, literature, military, politics, religion, sports
and more." Database can be searched by date, category or keyword.
Black
History Month Timeline (Gale Group)
http://www.galegroup.com/free_resources/bhm/timeline.htm
One-sentence descriptions of events in African American History from
1619 to present.
African American
World Timeline: PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/timeline.html
This informative timeline links you to articles, video programs, sound
clips and other information from various PBS and NPR programs.
Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture
http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Schomburg/text/timeline-all.html
Begins 1000 B.C. Brief notations, to accompany the online exhibit, African Presence in the
Americas, 1492-1992.
Black Facts Online http://www.blackfacts.com
This database compiles "interesting and inspiring" facts about
people and events, searchable by keyword or by date. You can, for example,
type in your birthday and find out what happened in history on that
day. This is a community effort, and they are always seeking research
assistance...which might make this a good project for advanced students.
Back to Top of Reference Online
Texts and Speeches Online
Tutorial: Finding texts or speeches online
Using a search engine like Google, enter
the full title of the speech or a passage "in quotes". (I use
Google because it ranks the sites according
to how many other high quality sites link to them.) If you don't know a
title or passage, try this: +"Malcolm X" +speech
|
Literature and Life: The Givens Collection, PBS Online
Explore the rich variety of African-American literature in these five chapters, beginning with the poetry and slave narratives of the late 18th century and culminating in the work of vital contemporary artists. Includes texts, online study guide and other resources.
Writing
Black: Texts & Resources on the Web http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/as/Literature/amlit-black.html
Thirty-five historical and contemporary authors represented, with links
to texts and interviews online
Selected Women Writers
of the Harlem Renaissance
http://www.nku.edu/~diesmanj/guides/
A resource guide to selected women writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
An online discussion group about the Harlem Renaissance.
African
American World: PBS http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/index.html
This site links you to the best of African American related programming
on PBS and NPR. Hear interviews with Quincy Jones, Jesse Jackson and others.
African
American Women Writers of the 19th Century
http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/writers_aa19/toc.html
Digital Schomburg Collection
"[...] a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century
black women writers. A part of the Digital Schomburg, this collection
provides access to the thought, perspectives and creative abilities of
black women as captured in books and pamphlets published prior to 1920.
A full text database of these 19th and early 20th- century titles, this
digital library is key-word-searchable. Each individual title as well as
the entire database can be searched to determine what these women had to
say about "family", "religion", "slavery"
or any other subject of interest to the researcher or casual reader."
- Speeches Online: Requires
Real Audio or Wav
The History Channel Speeches Archive
I can't create direct links. Use the SEARCH to find these speeches, among many others:
Hank Aaron, baseball player, Addresses Congress
Orval E. Faubus, governor of Arkansas, On his use of the National
Guard to prevent integration
Anita Hill, law professor, Accuses Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment
Harold L. Ickes, U.S. secretary of the interior; Marian Anderson,
American opera singer, Anderson performs at the Lincoln Memorial
Jesse Jackson, presidential candidate, Addresses the Democratic
National Convention
Barbara Jordan, U.S. representative of Texas, Delivers keynote address
to Democratic National Convention
Martin Luther King, Jr., African-American civil rights leader ,
Addresses the March on Washington
Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court nominee, Defends himself against
charges of sexual harassment
Malcolm X, African-American nationalist, Discusses challenges to
African-American society
Andrew Young, U.S. politician and civil rights leader, Speaks during
confirmation hearings to U.N. post
Back to Top of Reference Online
African American Museums
Association of African American
Museums
Includes a searchable database of member museums, virtual tours, events
calendar and more.
AfroAmericanTravel.com
Annotated, frequently updated guide with links to over 550 museums, cultural centers, downloadable self-guided tours and brochures for over 300 North American cities.
Back to Top of Reference Online
http://creativefolk.com/toolkit/reference.html
