Research Guides @ Fordham: African &amp; African American Studies: Articles & Databases

African & African American Studies Databases

Black Freedom Struggle in the United States: Challenges and Triumphs in the Pursuit of Equality
Select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. Supports a wide range of students and researchers exploring the ongoing racial injustice in the U.S.
Black Life in America - 1704 to Today
From Readex/Newsbank. Comprehensive coverage of the African American experience, as it was written. Covers not just people and events, but also achievements and impacts. Updated daily, this resource offers deep coverage on a variety of perspectives from over 12,000 local, regional, national, and international news sources. Access to content by eras, topics, people and events. Includes Series I, II, and III.
Digital Library of the Caribbean
Collection of cultural, historical, legal, governmental, and research materials relating to the Caribbean. Includes newspapers, official documents, maps, artifacts and more. Register for free MydLOC account for advanced features.
Ethnic NewsWatch
Full text of ethnic, minority, and native presses with diverse perspectives from 1959-present (varies by publication). Ethnicities include: African American/Caribbean/African; Arab/Middle Eastern; Asian/Pacific Islander; European/Eastern European; Hispanic; Jewish; Native People; and Multi-Ethnic People.
Exploring Race in Society
Essays, articles, reports and other reliable sources provide an in-depth look at the history of race and provide critical context and solutions-oriented points of view for learning more about topics associated with race, ethnicity, diversity and inclusiveness. From EBSCO.
The Fashion and Race Database
Online platform filled with tools that expand the narrative of fashion history and challenge mis-representation within the fashion system. First session you will be prompted to create a personal account. Use Fordham email as username and a password of your choice in order to use FRD. If you close the browser and start a new session, you will always need to log in with FRD un/pw. For remote access, you will need to log in with Fordham credentials and then FRD un/pw. For any FRD login issues, contact FRD Help Desk
Historical Newspapers: Black Newspapers
Thirteen premier historical titles dating back to 1893. Day-to-day news coverage of leading issues and events throughout U.S. history as well as local and regional politics, society, arts, culture, business, and sports. New content-St. Louis American 1949-2010.
Immigrations, Migrations and Refugees: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996
From Readex. Translated and English-language radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals, government documents and books providing global insight on immigration in the mid-to-late 20th century.
In Motion: the African-American Migration Experience
Presents a new interpretation of African-American history, one that focuses on the self-motivated activities of peoples of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds. Database of full texts, maps, images, and lesson plans sponsored by the Schomburg Collection of the New York Public Library.
JSTOR Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa
Thousands of interviews, periodicals, posters, photographs, and more document the liberation of Southern Africa and the dismantling of the Apartheid regime, with a focus on colonial rule, the dispersion of exiles, and international intervention.
JSTOR World Heritage Sites: Africa
Comprehensive African studies site. Contains unusual photographs, 3D models, GIS data, site plans, aerial and satellite photography, excavation reports, manuscripts, traveler's accounts, historical and antiquarian maps, books, articles, and other scholarly research of African heritage.
Oxford African American Studies Center - Access Ends 6/30/25
Full text of OUP reference books on African Americans. Includes the entire contents of the Dictionary of African Biography and The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought. Limited to 5 Simultaneous Users.
History Vault: NAACP Papers, The NAACP's Major Campaigns-Legal Department Files (Platform Ends 1/8/2025)
See History Vault (ProQuest Platform)
History Vault: NAACP Papers, Special Subjects (Platform Ends 1/8/2025)
See History Vault (ProQuest Platform)
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law
From HeinOnline, covers slavery in the U.S. and the English-speaking world. Includes content from the Buffalo Erie County Public Library. Includes every state and federal statute, legal commentary, pamphlets and books from the 19th century, and other hard to find materials such as essays and articles in obscure journals. Provides word searchable access to all Congressional debates from the Continental Congress to 1880. Must Register for an Account.

African Index Medicus
In order to give access to health information published in or related to Africa and to encourage local publishing, the World Health Organization ( WHO ), in collaboration with the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA), has produced an international index to African health literature and information sources. This index is called African Index Medicus (AIM).
African Journals Online (AJOL)
AJOL hosts 526 journals, including 269 open access journals. For access to content that is not open access, check the library catalog for holdings. Submit an Interlibrary Loan for items not available either via open access or the library.

General Sources with Significant African American Studies Content

Accessible Archives (SEE History Commons 8/30/24)
America: History & Life
Index to history of U.S. and Canada comprising nearly 2,000 journals since 1910.
American Periodicals (ProQuest)
Full text of over 1,500 journals published between 1740 and 1940.
AnthroSource
Online portal serving the research, teaching and practicing needs of anthropologists. A service of the American Anthropological Association.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers
Provides access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages. Produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
Gale Ebooks Race and Social Injustice Collection
A collection of twenty-niine eBooks to encourage learning and research in systemic racism, social injustice, and anti-racism. Encompasses subject areas in race and ethnic relations, anthropology, politics, journalism, ethnic and women’s studies, Black studies and policing.
Students can save and download audio files onto their mobile device with Readspeaker text-to-speech technology. To download, click into one of the chapters and use icons located at the top right.
Gale Research Complete (GRC Cross-Search Interface)
Multi-disciplinary databases of primary sources, periodical and academic journal content, eBooks, literary criticism and full-text literary works.
Click on “Select specific collections” under search box to see all collections.
Historical Abstracts
Abstracts for hundreds of journals covering the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding U.S. and Canada).
Human Rights Studies Online
Comprehensive, comparative documentation, analysis, and interpretation of major human rights violations and atrocity crimes worldwide. Growing collection of primary and secondary materials across multiple media formats and content types for each selected event, including Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur, and more covering the 20th and early 21st centuries.
JSTOR & ARTSTOR (WITH AI RESEARCH TOOL - BETA)
NEW AI RESEARCH TOOL (BETA) Hundreds of academic journals in full text from v.1: n.1. Primary source materials include 19th Century British Pamphlets, Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa, and World Heritage Sites: Africa. Artstor database of visual media is now accessible from the JSTOR platform. NOTE: Basic and advanced searching defaults to "read and download" content we subscribe to. Browsing defaults to "all content." Look for the Access Level limiter on the lower left side to change settings. Access excludes ebooks, Thematic Collections and Global Plants (part of Primary Sources). To use the new AI Research Tool, first select a subscribed journal article, Open Access book chapter, or research report.
NOTE: Basic and advanced searching defaults to "read and download" content we subscribe to. Browsing defaults to "all content." Look for the Access Level limiter on the lower left side to change settings. Access excludes ebooks, Thematic Collections and Global Plants (part of Primary Sources).Fordham does not subscribe to the Constellate text/data analytics service. Users can download full datasets with up to 25,000 items. CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION.
JSTOR Subscribed Collections with Access:
Arts & Sciences I through XV, Ireland, Life Sciences, Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa, World Heritage Sites: Africa, Business IV, Hebrew Journals, Lives of Literature, Public Health, Security Studies, Sustainability, Global Plants,19th Century British Pamphlets.
ARTSTOR notes:
To go directly to Collections, use the Browse function dropdown (upper right corner) or filtering on the left side after doing a search.
Opposing Viewpoints (Gale in Context)
Online resource for helping students explore today's hottest social issues from all perspectives. * Note: Only 85-90% of each reference title is included in the database. Some material is omitted because of online rights issues.
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Combining the best features of an annotated bibliography and a high-level encyclopedia, this resource directs researchers to the best available scholarship across a wide variety of subjects. Bibliographies in 16 subjects: African Studies, Art History, Biblical Studies, Buddhism, Cinema & Media Studies, Classics, Communication, Islamic Studies, Latin American Studies, Literary & Critical Theory, Medieval Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, Renaissance & Reformation, Social Work and Sociology. Citations are linked to full text when available.
Project MUSE - Premium Collection
Full text of hundreds of scholarly journals, including African & African American history and literature,
US Newsstream (Formerly National Newspapers Premier)
Most recent U.S. news content, as well as archives back into the 1980s from newspapers, newswires, blogs, and news sites in active full-text format. Includes access to the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and a large collection of local and regional newspapers on the ProQuest platform. INCLUDES FORMER BLACK NEWSPAPERS.
World Protest and Reform Movements: Global Perspectives, 1945-1996
From Readex. Translated and English-language radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals, government documents, and books providing global reaction to major protest and reform movements.

Selected African American Studies Electronic Journals

Below are selected electronic journals in the field. The library may own one journal in multiple formats (electronic, print, and microform). For a more comprehensive list of our journal holdings, please consult the library catalog.

African American review
AAR promotes diverse perspectives on African American literature, art, and culture.
Black Scholar
A peer review journal, Black Scholar presents African-American essays on a broad range of issues in sociology, history, literature, political science, health, art, women's studies and ethnic studies.
Journal of African American studies
Journal of African American Studies examines topics concerning social transformations that impact the life chances of continental Africans and the African diaspora. It publishes original research on issues of professional and disciplinary concern for the social progress of people of African descent.
Journal of Black Studies
The scholarship inside Journal of Black Studies covers a wide range of subject areas, including: Society * Social Issues * Afrocentricity * Economics * Culture * Media * Literature * Language * Heritage * Biology
Black Renaissance / Renaissance Noire
Published by The Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) & Center for Black Visual Culture (CBVC) at New York University, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire publishes essays, poetry, fiction, photography, art, and reviews that address the full range of contemporary black concerns. It invites black genius to apply itself to the realities of the twenty-first century with uncompromised thought, generous and readable analysis, and commentary.
Western Journal of Black Studies
The Western Journal of Black Studies (WJBS) publishes scholarly articles from a wide range of disciplines that focus mainly on the experience of African Americans in the United States of America and that report original investigations and contribute new knowledge and understanding to the field of Black/African American Studies
Langston Hughes Review
Scholarly articles that focus on the writings of Langston Hughes, the first African American to make his living solely by his pen, writing fifty books, including poetry, drama, autobiography, history, fiction, prose comedy, juvenile literature, librettos, and black gospel song-plays.

Additional General Sources

American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection: Series 1-5 (EBSCO)
Search together all series of the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) Historical Periodicals Collection on EBSCO. Offers a comprehensive documentary history of the American experience spanning four centuries with multiple perspectives on the thought, culture, and society of North America.

Independent Voices
Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. These periodicals were produced by feminists, dissident GIs, campus radicals, Native Americans, anti-war activists, Black Power advocates, Hispanics, LGBT activists, the extreme right-wing press and alternative literary magazines during the latter half of the 20th century.

International Mission Board
More than 175 years of Southern Baptist history in a growing archive that reveals mission activity across the globe. Includes periodicals, biographies, log books, photographs and more. Also includes the African-American Heritage Collection.
New York State Historic Newspapers
The NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history. Created and administered by the Northern New York Library Network in partnership with the Empire State Library Network.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) searches can be limited to primary source sets.

Digital Public Library of America
A growing open portal of various digitized collections that draw on the nation’s living heritage from libraries, universities, archives, and museums. Includes items from the Government Printing Office's Catalog of Publications and the Medical Heritage Library research collection.

African & African American Studies: Articles & Databases

African & African American Studies Databases

General Sources with Significant African American Studies Content

Selected African American Studies Electronic Journals

Additional General Sources

Reference & Instruction Department