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Searching
Accessing resources using the Internet greatly expands the opportunities available for student research. Managing these resources in a way which leads to productive research is challenging. Students must focus their search with identifying keywords which are successful search terms.
Remind students that keyword searches should use words that would be found
in speeches and written documents. This often includes legal terms and professional
names, for example, suffrage is used more often than voting.
For a listing of useful search words relating to African-American history, see
a Synonym List. Search
Tips will help students understand how to choose search terms and how InQuery,
the Library's search mechanism, works.
For an explanation of on line search techniques for the American Memory collections,
see Finding Items in American Memory
under Getting Started on the Learning Page.
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Getting Started with Research
Beginning research is often the most difficult part of any assignment. An excellent place for each of the three student groups to begin is the Library of Congress on line exhibit, The African American Mosaic. This exhibit, a sampler of materials and themes inportant to the topic, provides an overview of the African American experience in the United States. An annotated listing of print and on line resources allows students to follow links to jump-start their research.
Each student group has a session Resource Guide consisting of on line and print materials.
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Resources
American Memory Collections:
African American Odyssey contains a wide array of important and rare books, government documents, manuscripts, maps, musical scores, plays, films, and recordings. See the Special Presentation, African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship for information on equal rights from the early national period to the twentieth century.
African American Perspectives: Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907 presents a panoramic and eclectic review of African American history and culture, from the early nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries. Among the authors represented are Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Benjamin W. Arnett, Alexander Crummel, and Emanuel Love.
The Special Presentation, Progress of a People, is the basis for this lesson.
NOTE: This collection provides valuable research opportunities to each of the
three groups. See the Learning Page's Collection Connection for African
American Perspectives for a collection contents overview.
America From the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information, 1935-1945
A significant number of the color photographs concern the mobilization effort for World War II and portray aircraft manufacturing, military training, and the nation's railroads.
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940 are oral histories. The histories describe the informant's family education, income, occupation, political views, religion and mores, medical needs, diet and miscellaneous observations.
NOTE: This collection will provide valuable research opportunities to each
of the three groups. This primary source collection is an excellent place for
students to search after using the African American Mosaic. The writing style
used by the authors makes the collection accessible to students. See the Learning
Page's Collection Connection for
American Life Histories for a collection contents overview.
The American
Variety Stage: Vaudeville and Popular Entertainment, 1870-1920 is a multimedia anthology selected from various Library of Congress holdings. This collection illustrates
the vibrant and diverse forms of popular entertainment, especially vaudeville, that thrived from 1870-1920.
NOTE: Use this collection for images to illustrate the 1953 Convention. See
the Learning Page's Collection Connection
for American Variety Stage for a collection contents overview.
Creative Americans: Portraits by Carl Van Vechten, 1932-1964 consists of 1,395 photographs taken by American photographer Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) between 1932 and 1964. The bulk of the collection consists of portrait photographs of celebrities, including many figures from the Harlem Renaissance.
NOTE: This collection is particularly useful for working on "Contributions to the Nation." Students should search by keyword using the names of important figures.
Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s tells the story of Jackie Robinson and baseball in general. The Special Presentation, Baseball, the Color Line, and Jackie Robinson, 1860s-1960s, is a timeline that tells the story of the segregation and later integration of the sport.
Other Web Sites:
The Harlem Renaissance,
at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has a good overview of the time
and links to specific writers.
Other Resources:
"Afro-Americans and the Evolution of a Living Constitution", Update
on Law Related Education. American Bar Association, Fall 1988.
National Archives. "Civil Rights Mini-Unit," In Teaching with Documents, Using Primary Sources from the National Archives, p. 38. Washington, DC:
National Archives, 1989.
Public Broadcasting System. Eyes On The Prize, I & II. Alexandria, Virginia: Public Broadcasting System Video Series.
Republic Pictures. Separate But Equal. Republic Pictures Home Video.
This two-tape video explaings the story behind the Brown V. Board of Education decision.
Student Resources by Session Topic
Segregation and Violence
Hale, Grace. Making Whiteness: The Culture of Segregation in the South, 1890-1940 .
New York:
Pantheon Books, 1998.
Kennedy Stetson. Jim Crow Guide: The Way It Was. Boca Raton, Gainesville,
FL: Florida Atlantic
University Press, 1990.
Litwack, Leon F. Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow.
New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1998
Massey, Douglas S. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of thenUnderclass. Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1993
Solving the Race Problem
"Afro-Americans and the Evolution of a Living Constitution." Update
on Law Related Education. American Bar Association, Fall 1988
Finch, Minne. The NAACP: Its Fight for Justice, Metuchen. NJ: The Scarecrow
Press, 1981.
Smallwood, Arwin D. The Atlas of African American History and Poltics: From
Slave Trade to Modern
Times. Boston: McGraw Hill, 1998
Stein, Judith. The World of Marcus Garvey: Race and Class in Modern Society.
New Orlean, Louisiana
State University Press, 1986.
Contributions to the Nation
Bearden, Romare. A History of African American Artists: From 1792 to the
Present. New York:
Pantheon Books, 1993.
Cooper, Michael L. Playing America's Game: The Story of Negro League
Baseball. New York:
Lodester Books, 1993.
Estell, Kenneth. The African American Almanac Sixth Edition. Washington DC:
Gale Research Center,
1994
Falkner, David. Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson, from
Baseball to Birmingham. New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.
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