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Afro American Studies

A general guide to library research in Afro American Studies.

Library Guide for Researching

THE AFRICAN DIASPORA AND THE WAR ON DRUGS

(Afro American Studies 293B)

Professor Toussaint Losier, Librarians Isabel Espinal & Maria Rios

Readings

Databases

Secondary Sources

For scholarly, peer-reviewed research articles and more

America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
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Journal articles, dissertations, and book reviews, many in full text, relating to United States and Canadian history and prehistory, 1954-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
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Combines key indices (Schomburg, IIBP, etc) to scholarship and primary sources in Afro-American studies.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Use to access many UMass online journal subscriptions.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

You can access Google Scholar with UMLinks buttons from outside the UMass Amherst IP range ("off campus") by two methods:

1. Access Google Scholar through the Library web site by using this link.
2. Go to generic Google Scholar.
a. Click on "Settings."
b. Click on Library links.
c. Type in "University of Massachusetts" or "UMass Amherst" (or a few other variations).
d. Check "University of Massachusetts Amherst - UMass Check for Full Text" and Save.
e. You will be asked to authenticate somewhere along the way to full text.
Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) This link opens in a new window
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Articles from scholarly journals on Latin America & the Caribbean, the US-Mexico border area, and U.S. Latinos, 1970-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Historical Abstracts Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Journal articles, many in full text, and citations to books and dissertations on world history from 1450, published 1954-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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References to scholarly journal articles, dissertations, and conference papers on sociology and related disciplines, 1960-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Primary Sources, News Sources, Reports

ProQuest Historical Black Newspapers
Combined search of: Historical Atlanta Daily World, Historical Baltimore Afro-American, Historical Chicago Defender‎, Historical Cleveland Call & Post, Historical New York Amsterdam, Historical Norfolk Journal and Guide, Historical Philadelphia Tribune, Historical Pittsburgh Courier

Historical Newspaper: Atlanta Daily World This link opens in a new window
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Full-text of black newspaper, with coverage from 1931-2010.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Historical Newspaper: Chicago Defender This link opens in a new window
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Full-text of black weekly newspaper, with coverage from 1909-2010.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Historical Newspaper: Baltimore Afro-American This link opens in a new window
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Full-text of black newspaper, with coverage from 1893-2010.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Historical Newspaper: Pittsburgh Courier This link opens in a new window
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One of the leading newspapers of the African American community in the U.S., with coverage from 1911-2010.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Informe This link opens in a new window
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Articles from 140 Spanish-language magazines and journals, 1987-present.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.
Latin American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
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Thirty five searchable newspapers from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, and elsewhere, 1805-1922.
Available on campus to all, or off-campus to UMass Amherst students, staff and faculty with an UMass Amherst IT NetID (user name) and password.

Citation Management

Use a citation manager, such as Zotero to keep track of your research.

Put all your references in one place, create quick and easy bibliographies, build your knowledgebase for the rest of your career. For help, check out the online guides and webinars or Ask a Librarian.

Finding Books

To find books at UMass, you have two options.

1. Start with the Discovery Search, the general search box on the library home page, www.library.umass.edu.

Advantages:

This search gives you access to books and articles and more.

2. Or, use the Five Colleges Library Catalog.

Advantages:

This catalog lets you search in some very specifc ways, for example, by Library of Congress Subject Heading. Be as specific as possible in your searching. Start with a subject search (use keyword if subject yields no results). Search by author, title, subject, keyword, call number, journal title, etc. For materials on a specific subject, enter your term(s) into the Subject or Keyword search boxes.

Sample searches:

African American Women -- History

To find books outside the five colleges, try

WorldCat - The combined catalogs of most U.S. libraries. Material not owned by UMass Amherst can usually be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.