Reference Sources

Reference materials are a great way to start your research. Most of these sources are located in the Reference Department's collection on the Main floor of the Du Bois Library (one flight down from the entry level).

• Africana: the Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience UM/Ref DT 14 .A37435 1999
• Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940 UM/Ref. PN451 .D5 v. 51
• Black American Poets and Dramatists of the Harlem Renaissance UM/Ref. PS153.N5 B5335 1995
• Black American Prose Writers of the Harlem Renaissance UM/Ref. PS366.A35 B58 1994
• Black American Writers: Bibliographical Essays UM/Ref. PS153.N5 B55
• Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History Ref. E185 .E54 1996 (5 volumes)
• Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance UM/Ref. NX512.3.A35 E53 2004 Table of Contents is online.
• The Harlem Renaissance: a Gale Critical Companion UM/Ref. PS153.N5 H245 2003 (3 vols.)
• The Harlem Renaissance: an Annotated Reference Guide for Student Research UM/Ref. Z5956.A47 R64 1998 Also availableonline.
• The Harlem Renaissance: an Historical Dictionary for the Era UM/Art NX511.N4 H37 1984
• Harlem Renaissance and Beyond: Literary Biographies of 100 Black Women Writers, 1900-1945 UM/Ref. PS153.N5 R65 1990
• Who's Who in African-American History Ref. E185.96 .W46 1994
  
• See also Afro American Studies Reference Materials and English Reference Materials for even more reference sources.

Finding Books

• UMass Library Catalog Searches at http://www.library.umass.edu/cgi-bin/aka/babel.cgi?dokma=http://umlibr.library.umass.edu/ . Use the broad categories below to browse for sub-topics or to limit (by date, words in subject or words in title) for more focussed results.
  • Use a Subject search to find books about and author or person (last name first). For example:
    • Cullen, Countee
    • Dunbar, Paul Laurence
    • Ellington, Duke
    • Fauset, Jessie Redmon
    • Henderson, Fletcher
    • Hughes, Langston
    • Hurston, Zora Neale
    • Larsen, Nella
    • Locke, Alain Leroy
    • McKay, Claude
    • Toomer, Jean
  • Use an Author search to find books written or sound recordings by an author or performer. For example:
    • Cullen, Countee
    • Dunbar, Paul Laurence
    • Ellington, Duke
    • Fauset, Jessie Redmon
    • Henderson, Fletcher
    • Hughes, Langston
    • Hurston, Zora Neale
    • Larsen, Nella
    • Locke, Alain Leroy
    • McKay, Claude
    • Toomer, Jean
  • Other sample searches:
  • Harlem (New York, N.Y.)
  • Harlem Renaissance
• Net Library - online books. Sample titles:
  • The Harlem Renaissance: An Annotated Reference Guide for Student Research
• WorldCat and Other Library Catalogs for searching other catalogs

Audio/Visual

Videos

• Against the Odds: the Artists of the Harlem Renaissance UM/Media V 1520
• From these roots: a review of the Harlem renaissance [Amherst College] AC/Media VHS NX511.N4 F7 Videocass
• I Remember Harlem. Four part video series. UM/Media V 1090, 1091, 1092, 1093

CDs and Other Recordings

• The library has many blues and jazz CDs and other format recordings. You may search by the title of the album or by the performer (using an author search). When in doubt, try a keyword search.
• Many blues recordings are linked from the Research guide for The Blues.

Journals (for browsing)

• African American Review (Both in the Library and online.)
• Black Issues Book Review (Both in the Library and online.)
• The Black Scholar (Both in the Library and online.)
• Callaloo - A Journal of African American and African Arts and Letters (Both in the Library and online.)
• The Crisis 1910-1996 Call # Per E185.5.C92 (some missing issues; 1996-2003 changed name to The New Crisis; 2003-present changed back to The Crisis; recent years are online)
• The Griot Call # Per E185.5.G75
• Journal of Black Studies (Both in the Library and online.)
• Journal of Negro History (Both in the Library and online.)
• The Langston Hughes Review: Official Publication of the Langston Hughes Society Call# Per PS3515.U274Z673
• MELUS; Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States (Both in the Library and online.)
• Messenger Call# Per E185.5.M4
• Opportunity; Journal of Negro Life Call# Per E185.5.O6
• See also Journals and Periodicals for Afro American Studies webpage

Databases (journal indexing and online journals for searching)

• Academic Search Premier - (includes full-text journal articles) Good for scholarly journal articles.
• African American Biographical Database
• African American Song - Audio database which documents African American music, including jazz, blues, gospel, ragtime, folk songs, and narratives. Browse by category of music, region, genre, instrument, artist, ensemble, and time period. A playlist option is available.
• America: History and Life
• Arts and Humanities Citation Index (in ISI Web of Science)
• Black Thought and Culture Contains 619 sources with 246 authors which includes the nonfiction published works of leading African Americans. Includes many writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
• Biography Resource Center
• Book Review Digest
• Ethnic Newswatch - Full-text articles from the newspapers, magazines and journals of ethnic communities in the United States.
• Expanded Academic Index ASAP (includes full text). Good for academic book reviews.
• International Index to Black Periodicals Indexing and abstracting of 150 African, American and Caribbean periodicals, with full text of forty core journals.
• JSTOR (full text) Good for scholarly journal articles.
• MLA Bibliography - For literature research.
• Project MUSE (full text)
  
• Sociological Abstracts
• Web of Science - Allows multidisciplinary searches combining arts, humanities, social science and science. Good for seeing who cited whom. Good for academic book reviews. (Go to "Full Search", then "General Search", then "Set Search Limits" to "Book Reviews".)

Internet Resources

• Harlem: 1900-1940
  http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Harlem/
  Includes a photo exhibition, timeline, resources, and a searchable database of names associated with the Harlem Renaissance.
• Harlem History
  http://www.columbia.edu/cu/iraas/harlem/
  Presents archival resources and scholarship from Columbia University about the history of Harlem. Includes video and musical material.
• Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro
  http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/harlem/
  A Hypermedia Edition of the March 1925 Survey Graphic Harlem Number.
• The Harlem Renaissance
  http://www.tesd.k12.pa.us/stoga/dept/Barry/Barry4/lit/Harlem/hr_lit.html
  Includes general info, poetry of the Harlem Renaissance, prose of the Harlem Renaissance and links.
• PAL: Perspectives in American Literature - A Research and Reference Guide - An Ongoing Project © Paul P. Reuben Chapter 9: Harlem Renaissance - A Brief Introduction
  http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html
  Includes important features, personalities, an assessment, a chronology of important events, novels of the Harlem Renaissance, research and study topics.
• See also Afro American Studies Internet Links and English Internet Links pages.

Reserves

Click here for Reserve Books and Paper Copies of Articles and eReserve articles for Afro American Studies 652/234 (when available).

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Prepared for Afro American Studies 652/234 Spring 2005 Professor Steve Tracy. Spring 2006 Professor A Yemisi Jimoh
Library guide by Isabel Espinal, Afro American Studies Librarian
Last updated: May 9, 2006