Research Guides: *English: African-American Literary and Cultural Studies

Key Resources

Black Drama This link opens in a new window
Black Drama contains approximately 1,462 plays by 233 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.
Abbreviation: bd2
Vendor: Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company
Coverage: 1846-2009
Subjects: African-American Studies, Literature, Theatre
Type: E-Book Collections, Historical / Primary Sources, Images
Humanities Source This link opens in a new window
Humanities Source is a valuable collection for students, researchers and educators interested in all aspects of the humanities. It includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction, book reviews, and reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, operas, plays, and much more.
Abbreviation: ehs
Vendor: EBSCO
Subjects: African-American Studies, Classics, History, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy & Ethics, Religion, Rhetoric & Composition, Women's and Gender Studies
Type: Indexes / Catalogs
Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Includes Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and Contemporary Literary Criticism Select Provides access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from every age and literary discipline.
Abbreviation: galelit
Vendor: Gale
Coverage: 1400-Current
Subjects: Literature, Theatre
Type: Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
The MLA International Bibliography provides a subject index for books and articles published on modern languages, literatures, folklore, and linguistics. Works of interest to scholars are included whether they are written for a scholarly or a more general audience, provided that the content or its treatment places them within the scope of the bibliography. Masters' theses, guides that are essentially plot summaries, and other apprentice or simplified works are excluded.
Abbreviation: mla
Vendor: EBSCO
Coverage: 1921-Current
Subjects: African-American Studies, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Middle Eastern Studies, Rhetoric & Composition, Russian & Eastern European Studies, Women's and Gender Studies
Type: Indexes / Catalogs

Voice of the Shuttle
Voice of the Shuttle (VoS) became publicly accessible on March 21, 1995, when the Humanitas server on which it resided opened to global Web access. From its origin to October, 1999, VoS stayed at the same address on the Humanitas server. It grew in that period to over 70 pages of links to humanities and humanities-related resources on the Internet. Its mission has been to provide a structured and briefly annotated guide to online resources that at once respects the established humanities disciplines in their professional organization and points toward the transformation of those disciplines as they interact with the sciences and social sciences and with new digital media.

Documenting the American South This link opens in a new window
A collection of sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. Sponsored by the University Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Abbreviation: docsouth
Vendor: University of North Carolina
Subjects: African-American Studies, History, Literature
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Open Access
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR is a digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines. The collections include top peer-reviewed scholarly journals as well as respected literary journals, academic monographs, research reports from trusted institutes, and diverse primary sources. FSU has access to JSTOR’s Archive, Primary Sources, and Global Plants collections.
Tutorials:
JSTOR on YouTube
How to search (04:20)
Primary Source Collection: 19th-Century British Pamphlets (00:51)

Abbreviation: jstor
Vendor: JSTOR
Coverage: 1665-present
Subjects: Arts Administration, Art History, *General / Multi-Subject
Type: E-Book Collections, E-Journal Collections
Oxford Bibliographies This link opens in a new window
Developed cooperatively with scholars and librarians worldwide, Oxford Bibliographies offers exclusive, authoritative research guides. Oxford Bibliographies combines features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, giving researchers scholarship across a wide variety of subjects.
Subjects:
African Studies
African American Studies
American Literature
Anthropology
Art History
Atlantic History
Biblical Studies
British and Irish Literature
Buddhism
Childhood Studies
Chinese Studies
Cinema and Media Studies
Classics
Communication
Criminology
Ecology
Education
Hinduism
International Law
International Relations
Islamic Studies
Jewish Studies
Latin American Studies
Linguistics
Literary and Critical Theory
Medieval Studies
Military History
Music
Philosophy
Political Science
Psychology
Public Health
Renaissance and Reformation
Social Work
Sociology
Victorian Literature

Abbreviation: oxbib
Vendor: Oxford University Press
Subjects: Religion, Urban and Regional Planning, *General / Multi-Subject, Bibliography
Type: Encyclopedias & Dictionaries, Research Starter

African American Review
Publishes essays on African American literature, art and culture. Contains interviews, fiction and poems. Peer-reviewed journal.
The Black Scholar
Presents African-American essays on a broad range of issues of concern to scholars in sociology, history, literature, political, science, health, art, women's studies and ethnic studies.
Callaloo
Articles and thematic issues devoted to creative works by and critical studies of Black writers in the Americans and Africa. Studies of life and culture in the Black world and visual art.
The Journal of African American History
Articles, documents, and notes and comments on all aspects of negro history published by the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc.
Journal of African American Studies
Serves as a multidisciplinary forum for social scientists engaged in the analysis of the struggles and triumphs of Black males. Challenges stereotypes and identifies strategies and policies that can counter the problem Black men face.
Journal of American Studies
Original articles by scholars of any nationality on American literature, history, institutions, politics, economic, geography and related subjects, notes and comments, essays, review essays, book reviews and theses on American topics in progress.
Journal of Black Studies
Articles containing full analytical discussion of economic, political, sociological, historical, literary and philosophical issues related to persons of African descent.
The Langston Hughes Review
The Langston Hughes Review publishes articles, reviews, creative writing, and visual art on Langston Hughes and topics related to his life and writings.
MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S.
Essays and interviews of interest to those concerned with the multi-ethnic scope of America's literature and thematic issues for members of The Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States.

African American Newspapers, 1827–1998 This link opens in a new window
Provides online access to 280 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection, which includes papers from more than 35 states, features many rare and historically significant 19th-century titles.
Abbreviation: afamnp
Vendor: NewsBank
Coverage: 1827-1998
Subjects: African-American Studies, Communication, History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Newspapers and Newswires
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690–1922 This link opens in a new window
Searchable digital facsimiles of thousands of newspaper titles from all 50 states. With eyewitness reporting, editorials, letters, advertisements, obituaries and much more, this collection chronicles the evolution of American culture and daily life from the colonial era to the early twentieth century, with especially good coverage of the nineteenth century. Note: FSU has access to African American Newspapers, Series 1; Caribbean Newspapers, Series 1; Early American Newspapers, Series 1: From Colonies to Nation; Series 2: The New Republic; Series 3: From Farm to City; Series 4: The Rise of Industry; Series 5: An Emerging World Power; Series 12: The Specialized Press.
Abbreviation: eana
Vendor: NewsBank
Coverage: 1690-1922
Subjects: Communication, History
Type: Historical / Primary Sources, Newspapers and Newswires
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Ethnic NewsWatch™ includes current journals, magazines, and newspapers from ethnic and independent presses.
- African American/Caribbean/African
- Arab/Middle Eastern
- Asian/Pacific Islander
- European/Eastern European
- Hispanic
- Jewish
- Native Peoples
Abbreviation: ethnicnews2
Vendor: ProQuest
Coverage: 1973-Current
Subjects: African-American Studies, Asian Studies, Communication, History, International Affairs, Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Political Science, Russian & Eastern European Studies
Type: E-Journal Collections, Newspapers and Newswires
Florida Memory This link opens in a new window
Online portal to historical collections at the Florida state library. Features include the Florida Photographic Collection, Online Classroom, Highlights of Florida History, Collections, and Timeline. Includes Video, Audio, and online Exhibits.
Abbreviation: flmem
Vendor: Florida Department of State, Division of Library and Information Services.
Coverage: 1589-Current
Subjects: History, Literature
Type: Government Publications, Historical / Primary Sources, Images, Open Access, Streaming Audio, Streaming Video

Digital Public Library of America
DPLA connects people to the riches held within America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of the materials found through DPLA—photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and so much more—are free and immediately available in digital format.

History Commons This link opens in a new window
Formerly Accessible Archives, History Commons provides diverse primary sources from the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, reflecting broad views across American history and culture, including African American life, Women’s Suffrage, American County Histories, Colonial America, the Civil War, America in World War I, and much more. The databases allow access to the rich store of materials—eyewitness accounts of historical events, vivid descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, and commerce as seen through advertisements—from over 200 years of leading books, newspapers, and periodicals then current.
Abbreviation: aacarc
Vendor: Coherent Digital
Subjects: African-American Studies, History, Women's and Gender Studies
Type: Newspapers and Newswires