LibGuides: HIS 317/AFR 315: Intro to African American Women's History / LeFlouria: Find Background Information

Getting Started: Reference and Background Information

If you use Wikipedia as a first step in your research, you are already using background information to get started with research. Background information helps you:

pre-research your topic
learn more about theories and concepts
define terms
find key terms you can use to search for additional sources

Handbook of Texas
Find nearly 27,000 encyclopedic entries on the influential people, eras, and events of Texas history. Also see the special sections on African American Texas and Tejano History.

African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Most current file. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. A comprehensive collection of scholarship focused on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture, coupled with sophisticated technology permitting precise search and browse capabilities. Features over 7,500 articles from Oxford's authoritative reference works, approximately 100 primary sources with specially written commentaries, over 1,000 images, over 100 maps, over 200 charts and tables, timelines to guide researchers through the history of African Americans and over 6,000 biographies.
Some of the titles included in this access are:
- African American Artists before the Twentieth Century
- African American National Biography
- Africana
- Black Women in America, Second Edition
- Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895
- Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Most current edition. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. Fully searchable across all files.

For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide

Black Texas Women: A Sourcebook (Primary Sources, Biographies, Timeline) by Ruthe Winegarten; Janet G. Humphrey (Contribution by); Frieda Werden (Contribution by)
Publication Date: 1996
Enslaved Women in America: An Encyclopedia by Daina Ramey Berry (Editor in Chief)
Publication Date: 2012
This singular reference provides an authoritative account of the daily lives of enslaved women in the United States, from colonial times to emancipation following the Civil War. Through essays, photos, and primary source documents, the female experience is explored, and women are depicted as central, rather than marginal, figures in history.

More Reference Resources

The Routledge Companion to Black Women's Cultural Histories by Janell Hobson (Editor)
Publication Date: 2021
The Routledge Companion to Black Women's Cultural Histories is an impressive and comprehensive reference work for contemporary scholarship on the cultural histories of Black women across the diaspora spanning different eras from ancient times into the twenty-first century.

BlackPast.org
These materials include an online encyclopedia of over 4,000 entries, the complete transcript of more than 300 speeches by African Americans, other people of African ancestry, and those concerned about race, given between 1789 and 2016, over 140 full text primary documents, bibliographies, timelines

Cast a Wide Net

Not finding any reference sources in the databases? Use the library search tool to cast a wider net and search across disciplines. Refine your results to show just background information sources by selecting "Reference Entries" under Resource Type.