African American History - From Slavery to Freedom

African American History - From Slavery to Freedom

Each year the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) selects a theme for the focus of African American History Month which is celebrated nationally during the month of February. This year the theme is From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americans. The transition from slavery to freedom represents one of the major themes in the history of the African Diaspora in the Americas. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History dedicates its 2007 national theme to the struggles of peoples of African descent to achieve freedom and equality in the Americas during the age of emancipation.

This page is designed to help you find resources available for research on African American History and specifically on the theme for 2007. You will find resources for gathering background information, including selected reference works, databases, and more.

The following link will take you to the U. S. Presidential proclamation announcing the 2007 African American History Month celebration.

National African American History Month 2007: A Proclamation by the President of the United States

Getting Background Information

Your search for information can include books, magazines, journals, newspapers, and authoritative Internet Resources. Reference books are a good starting point for gathering background information.

Selected Reference Books:

African American Archive REF E184.6 .A33 2001	Encyclopedia of African American society REF E185 .E546 2005
African American encyclopedia REF E185 .A253 2001	Encyclopedia of Black studies REF E185 .E554 2005
African American history REF E185 .A25355 2006	Encyclopedia of civil rights in America REF E185.61 .E544 1998
African American history in the press, 1851-1899 REF E185.2 .A25 1996	Freedom days: 365 inspired moments in civil rights history REF E185.61 .A232 1998
African American lives REF E185.96 .A446 2004	Historical and cultural atlas of African Americans REF E185 .A8 1991
Black heroes of the 20th century REF E185.96 .B5337 1997	Historical dictionary of the civil rights movement REF E185.61 .L84 1997
Black women in America REF E185.86 .B542 2005	Lift every voice: African American oratory, 1787-1900 REF E185.18 .L54 1998
Civil rights chronicle REF E185.61 .C5918 2003	Notable Black American men REF E185.86 .N68 1999
Civil Rights Movement REF E185.61 .C615 1996	Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. REF E185.97.K5 A2 1992
Contemporary Black biography REF E185.96 .C66	Pictorial history of African Americans REF E185 .H83 1995

Use the Library Catalog to find books available in this library. You may find books that provide a broad overview, and others that give more in-depth information. By doing a subject search you will retrieve listings of books that include information on the. You can also search names of individuals involved in the movement as a subject search to find biographical books about these individuals and their involvement in African American History. A few subject headings to try are listed below:

AFRICAN AMERICANS	RECONSTRUCTION U.S. HISTORY 1865-1877
AFRICAN AMERICANS CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY	SLAVE INSURRECTIONS UNITED STATES
AFRICAN AMERICANS CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY 19TH CENTURY	SLAVE NARRATIVES
AFRICAN AMERICANS CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY 20TH CENTURY	SLAVE TRADE
AFRICAN AMERICANS CIVIL RIGHTS HISTORY DICTIONARIES	SLAVE TRADE AFRICA
AFRICAN AMERICANS COLONIZATION AFRICA	SLAVE TRADE AFRICA HISTORY
AFRICAN AMERICANS HISTORY	SLAVERY
AFRICAN AMERICANS LIBERIA HISTORY 19TH CENTURY	SLAVERY AMERICA
AFRICAN AMERICANS SEGREGATION	SLAVERY UNITED STATES
ANTISLAVERY MOVEMENTS	SLAVES EMANCIPATION
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENTS UNITED STATES HISTORY	SLAVES UNITED STATES
EMANCIPATION UNITED STATES HISTORY SOURCES SLAVES	SLAVES UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHY
RACE DISCRIMINATION	SLAVES WRITINGS AMERICAN
RACISM UNITED STATES	UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

NetLibrary is a provider of many of the Cerritos College Library's collection of electronic books. Their featured book for the month is A Companion to African-American Studies. To access this title, go to the Databases & E-Resources page, click on the eBooks link to enter NetLibrary. To access NetLibrary when off campus, you must setup a personal account in their database while on campus.

In celebration of African American History Month, NetLibrary has partnered with Blackwell Publishing to offer A Companion to African-American Studies as the February eBook of the Month. A groundbreaking re-appraisal of the history and future of African-American studies, the Companion includes original essays by expert scholars in the field and covers each topic with authority and clarity.

Edited by Lewis R. Gordon and Jane Anna Gordon, A Companion to African-American Studies is a definitive intervention at a critical time in the history of race relations and in the academic field of race and ethnic studies. Bringing together a dazzling array of established and emergent voices, the Companion opens with a series of reflections from those who waged pitched battles to establish African-American Studies as a bona fide academic discipline and captures the dynamic interaction of African-American Studies with other fields of inquiry.

Online Magazines, Journals, Newspapers and More

Journals and magazines usually provide the most current information on a topic. Journal articles are more scholarly or professional, while magazine articles tend to be shorter and more general. Newspaper articles, while not scholarly or professional, can give you the most current news and additional facts. To find articles on your topic, use one of the online databases listed below. They are available at http://www.cerritos.edu/library/http://www.cerritos.edu/library/e-resources.html. See the Databases and E-Resources handout for a complete description of our online resources.

Encyclopedia of World Biography (GaleNet e-book)

Internet Sites

Selected Internet sites are included below. This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but demonstrates the breadth and variety of information available for research.

African American: A Journey from Slavery to Freedom

http://www.liu.edu/cwis/CWP/library/aaslavry.htm

African American Warriors

http://www.aawar.net/

African-American History and Culture Items List

http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/mcchtml/afrbib.html

African-American Mosaic (Library of Congress)

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html

Americans Celebrate African American History (USINFO site)

http://usinfo.state.gov/scv/history_geography_and_population/population

_and_diversity/african_americans/African_American_History_Month.html

Beyond Face Value: Depictions of Slavery in Confederate Currency