Online Biographical Sources
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Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new windowThe Oxford African American Studies Center provides full-text access to several publications, including the African American National Biography. Over 4000 biographical articles are available to search, or browse alphabetically.
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Biography in Context This link opens in a new window"The Biography Resource Center is a comprehensive database of biographical information on over 320,000 people from throughout history, ..." It combines biographical essays from over 800 volumes from sources such as Contemporary Authors, Encyclopedia of World Biography, and Contemporary Black Biography, along with articles from more than 265 publications such as African American Review and Black Enterprise.
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The New York Times (1851 - 2009)This full-text database of The New York Times (1851 - 2009) consists of scanned images of the actual paper. In addition to searches for articles, users can also search for advertisements, editorial cartoons, obituaries (a good source of biographical information), and letters.
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Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowNexis Uni (which replaced Lexis Nexis at the end of 2018) features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources, including access to the New York Times from 1980 to present day's issue.
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Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete OnlineThis is the online version of the extensive series, the Dictionary of Literary Biography, (the main series, the Documentary Series and the Yearbook Series). The DLB provides biographies of important writers, and aims to include "the larger perspective of literary history..." The volumes are organized by topic, period, or genre. Users may search or browse through the complete online set. Some of the volumes relevant to African American Studies, (also owned in print) are listed below:
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Afro-American Fiction Writers after 1955REF. PS153.N5 A34 1984; Volume 33.
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Afro-American Writers, 1940-1955REF. PS153.N5 A386 1988; Volume 76.
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Afro-American Writers after 1955 : Dramatists and Prose WritersREF. PS153.N5 A39 1985; Volume 38.
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Afro-American Writers before the Harlem RenaissanceREF. PS153.N5 A393 1986; Volume 50.
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Afro-American Writers from the Harlem Renaissance to 1940REF. PS153.N5 A396 1987; Volume 51.
Print Biographical Sources
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African American WritersCall Number: REF. PS153.N5 A344 2001A two volume set which provides a biographical overview and a survey and discussion of the writer's main works.
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Afro-American Artists; a Bio-Bibliographical DirectoryCall Number: REF. N6538.N5 C42 1973This volume compiles data on African American artists and craftsmen culled from exhibition catalogues, reviews, periodicals, and books to span the period of the 18th century slave craftsmen to the time of the volume's publication in 1973.
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Afro-American Poetry and Drama, 1760-1975 : a Guide to Information SourcesCall Number: REF. PS153.N5 A37A bibliography of poets and published black playrights, born or with a primary residence in the United States.
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A Bibliographical Guide to African-American Women WritersCall Number: REF. PS153.N5 B48 1993Coverage spans from the first African American woman poet, Lucy Terry (1746) to 1991. Authors are listed alphabetically, with a bibliography of primary and secondary sources.
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Black Literature CriticismCall Number: REF. PS153.N5 B556 1992This three volume set compiles "excerpts from criticism of the most significant works of Black authors over the past 200 years."
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Black Writers in New EnglandCall Number: REF. PS153.N5 C57 1985"A bibliography, with biographical notes, of books by and about Afro-American writers associated with New England in the collection of Afro-American literature, Suffolk University, Museum of Afro-American History, Boston African American National Historic Site." Compiled by Edward Clark, Professor Emeritus of English, Suffolk University, and founder of Suffolk's Collection of African American Literature.
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Broadside Authors and Artists; an Illustrated Biographical DirectoryCall Number: REF. PS153.N5 B34Brief biographical data and bibliography of works by authors published by the Broadside Press of Detroit, Michigan.
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Index to Black American Writers in Collective BiographiesCall Number: REF. PS153.N5 C35 1983The goal of this volume was to analyze and index the contents of over 250 collective biographies, dating from 1837-1982, in order to provide "references to biographical information on 1900 black American writers," who are not to be found in standard biographical sources. The scope includes not only creative writers, but also biographers, autobiographers, historians, journalists, literary critics, book illustrators, scholars, and bibliographers.
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St. James Guide to Black ArtistsCall Number: REF. N40.S78 1997A biographical dictionary of artists of African descent. Each entry includes biographical and career information as well as a brief illustrated discussion of the artists work. The primary focus is on artists of the twentieth century, however some nineteenth century artists are included. African Americans make up the majority of the selected artists, with artists from Africa, the Caribbean and other areas of the African diaspora making up the remainder.
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Voices of Multicultural America : Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans, 1790-1995Call Number: REF. PS663.M55 V64 1996This volume includes biographical information, the full-text of speeches, and background information on the events and people contributing to the circumstances of each speech. The book is arranged alphabetically by speaker, with an ethnicity index, a speech category index, and a keyword index.
