Information Sources in African American Literature
Use tomCat (the U of M Library catalog).
- For subject searches, use Library of Congress Subject Headings such as american literature -- african-american authors or african-american authors. (LC Subject Headings volumes are available in Reference.)
- To find books about individual authors, search by subject; e.g. baldwin, james.
- To find a book-length bibliography, look for the word "bibliography" in the subject heading; e.g.morrison, toni -- bibliograpy or african americans in literature -- bibliography. Using the word "bibliography" in a keyword search will retrieve all books with bibliographies in them.
- Also try searching by keywords such as king malcolm x or black characters literature.
(leave out words like in, of, on, and the; AND is assumed between words) .
- Find video tapes by using videorecording as a keyword; e.g., harlem renaissance videorecording
- Copy the call number from the catalog record to find the book. (See How to Find Books.)
Use an electronic database.
These are recommended. Other periodical databases are listed on Periodical Index Databases by Academic Area. See also How to Find Periodical Articles
- Book Review Digest (1983 - ) [web access*]
-
Expanded Academic Index (magazines, journals, NYTimes/some full text,1980 - ) [web access*]
- Humanities Abstracts (journals, 1984-).[web access*]
Indexes periodicals in archaeology, art, classics, film, folklore, journalism, linguistics, music, the performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history, and world literature. Includes abstracts since 1994.
- JSTOR (full text archive) [web access*]
Indexes and stores back issues of 47 critical literature journals, including American Literature and African American Review.
- Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe [web access*]
Provides full text of many magazines and newspapers, including The Commercial Appeal since 1990.
- MLA International Bibliography (periodicals and books chapters, 1963 - ) [web access*]
Indexes 4,000 periodicals covering literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore.
- UnCover [web access*]
Uncover is now part of Ingenta. When you get to Ingenta, click on Uncover Plus to browse the publication list or search tables of contents to over 17,000 periodicals; period of coverage varies. Provides document delivery service.
*WEB ACCESS: Restricted to faculty, staff and students at the University of Memphis. If you are off campus you will be asked to authenticate with your UUID and ph password.
Use a printed index, abstract or bibliography :
NOTE: Many of these also list books and book chapters as well as periodicals.
- American and British Poetry: A Guide to the Criticism, 1925-78; 1979-90 (2 volumes) [Reference Desk]
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1976-) [Reference Index Table 3]
- Biography Index (1946-) [Reference Index Table 8]
- Biography and Genealogy Master Index (3 sets of cumulative vols.) [Ref Index Table 8]
- Black American Writers, 1773-1949 [Ref Z1361.N39M35]
- Guide to American Poetry Explication [Reference Desk]
- Humanities Index (1974 - 1996) [Reference Index Table 2]
- Modern Language Association Bibliography (MLA) (1921- 1994) [Reference Index Table 2]
Bio-Critical Reference Works:
Tip: Gale Literary Index is a comprehensive web index to most of the bio-critical reference sources listed below. This web index points you to the relevant print volumes and allows you to search by title of work, author's name, birth date, death date or nationality. You can also use the Literature Resource Center to search and obtain full text articles from these and other critical resources. Please note: The web versions of these sources do not cover all the material in the print volumes.
- Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB) [Ref PS21.D54x] multiple volumes.
A good place to begin for an overall perspective. Contains substantive articles about each author and his or her work, photographs, and a bibliography for further reading. Each volume specializes in a genre and time period. Use cumulative author index at end of last volume.
- Contempory Literary Criticism (CLC) [Ref PN771.C59] multiple volumes.
Use for authors who are living or who have died since 1959. Cumulative author, title, and topic index is at the end of the last volume in the set. A separate cumulative title index is shelved nearby. Contains excerpts from articles and books and full citations for further reading. Volumes 95+ also available on the web.
- Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism (TCLC) [Ref PN771.G27].
Authors who died between 1900 and 1959. Same format as CLC.
- Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism (NCLC) [Ref PN761.N5].
Authors who died between 1800 and 1899. Same format as CLC.
- Black Literature Criticism (BLC) (3 volumes) [Reference Desk: Ref PS153.N5B556].
Black writers of the past two hundred years. Same format as CLC.
Poetry Criticism (PC) [Ref PN1010.P499] Poets. Same format as CLC.
Other Reference Works:
- African American Almanac [Ref E185.R815 1997]
- African-American Writers [Ref PS153.N5 1990]. Complements American Writers.
- African-American Writers: A Dictionary [Ref PS153.N5 A3444 2000]
- African Writers (2 vols) [Ref PL8010.A453 1997]
- American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography {Web database: access restricted]
- American Writers [Ref PS129.A55] 4 volumes, 3 supplements. Bio-critical essays.
- Black American Women Novelists [Ref PS153.N5W38x]
- Black-Jewish Relations in African American and Jewish American Fiction : An Annotated Bibliography
[Ref Z1229.N39 M492002] 
- The Companion to African Literature [Ref PR9340.C65 2000]
- Contemporary Authors [Ref Z1224.C6] Separate author index on shelf nearby.
- Critical Survey of Drama [Ref PR623.C75].
- Critical Survey of Poetry [Ref PR502.C85]
- Encyclopedia of African-American Culture & History. 5 vols. [Ref E185.E54 1996]
- Encyclopedia of African-American Education [Ref LC2717.E53 1996]
- The Essential Black Literature Guide [Ref PN841.V35x 1996]
- Fifty Southern Writers Before 1900: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook [Ref PS261.F543].
- Fifty Southern Writers After 1900: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook {Ref PS261.F54]
- A Handbook to Literature [Reference Desk]
- Living Black American Authors: A Biographical Directory [Ref PS153.N585]
- Masterpieces of African-Amnerican Literature [Ref PS 153.N5M264 1992]
- Masterplots II: African American Literature Series [Ref PS153.N5M2645 1994]
- Modern Black Writers. 2nd ed. [Ref PN841.M58 2000]
- The Oxford Companion to African American Literature [Ref PS153.N5O96 1997]
- Selected Black American Authors: An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography [Ref PS153.N5P3]
- Words to Make My Dream Children Live: A Book of African American Quotations [Ref PN6081.3.W67 1995]
Most public terminals in the McWherter Library provide access to Netscape. You may want to explore web sites using various search engines or, if you have them, specific URLs. [See Robert Harris's Internet Search Tips and Strategies ] The web sites listed below are examples of the various types of information available via Internet.
Related Research Guides:
Black History and Culture | American Literature
