Every February, we get the chance to come together as a community and celebrate the achievements of African Americans throughout the history of the United States. Whether it’s hearing the biographies of often-overlooked scholars and artists and scientists, or digging deep into the life of one particularly inspirational person, this is a great time to explore the nuances of the black experience in America. Some of our databases, like Biography in Context, have sections dedicated to African American biography.

Others are dedicated entirely to African American studies. Take Black Thought and Culture, a database which brings together over 100,000 pages of interviews, essays, pamphlets, letters, and speeches, and journal articles from 1700 to the present. It includes a wealth of primary information – the words and stories of black Americans, unfiltered by any other voice. Another is African American History Online, which features a broad range of multimedia including videos and pictures. Like Black Thought and Culture, it includes plenty of primary source material like letters and speeches, but it also includes secondary material like biographies and reference works to make the topics easier to understand. You can search it like a normal database, or browse by topic or time period (it splits the American experience into eight historical periods specially relevant to African American history).

And we have books highlighting every area of African American achievement. Is science your thing? Try Sisters in Science: Conversations with Black Women Scientists About Race, Gender, and Their Passion for Science by Diann Jordan. How about literature? Try What Was African American Literature by Kenneth Warren or African-American Poets by Harold Bloom. Musicians? African American Music: An Introduction by Portia Maultsby. Do athletes inspire you? There’s Out of the Shadows: A Biographical History of African American Athletes by David Wiggins. Enjoy celebrity watching? Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture by Jessie Smith might be for you. Businessmen? The Entrepreneurial Spirit of African American Inventors by Patricia Sluby or Encyclopedia of African American Business History by Juliet Walker. Soldiers? The African American Experience during World War II by Neil Wynn. Students? African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision by Tamara Brown. And there are plenty of general titles, too, such as Voices of the African American Experience by Lionel Bascom and Landmarks of African American History by James Horton.

Let the library connect you with great information about African American history! And if you need any help, ask us at iueref@iue.edu!