Books
Authors, Titles, & Topics
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Books by or about African Americans
Select Titles in the Library Catalog
For even more possibilities, please explore these sections
African American Authors
or
Books by Topic.
For further assistance in locating these or other titles, please call our Reference Department at (845) 341-5461
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African American Authors
Reading Lists & Popular Authors in the Library Catalog
Book Lists & Reading Recommendations
- African American Book Lists
- Multiple lists of authors, books, and reading recommendations from Goodreads readers. See also their African American Authors list.
- Black History: Featured Poets and Poems
- "To celebrate Black History Month in February -- and the rich tradition of African American poetry all year long-read essays on literary milestones, important books on the subject, poems about the African American experience by both poets from the past and contemporary poets who continue to pioneer new ground, and more." From the Academy of American Poets.
- The Coretta Scott King Book Awards
- "The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values. The award commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood."
- See also:
- Urban Fiction
Popular African American Authors
in the Library Catalog
Books by Topic
Select Topics in the Library Catalog
For even more possibilities, please explore these sections
African American Authors
or
Books by Title.
For further assistance in locating these or other topics, please call our Reference Department at (845) 341-5461
or use our free
Ask a Librarian service to ask us a question.
Videos
DVDs in the Library Catalog
For further assistance in locating these or other videos, please call our Reference Department at (845) 341-5461
or use our free
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Databases
& Online Reference Works
* These reference sources and services are available at Middletown Thrall Library.
African-American Culture & History
General Research
Websites
Information on the Web
Select a section:
General Resources & Overviews of African American History
- African American Almanac
- Part of the Thrall's Virtual Reference Library. Available to members of Middletown Thrall Library.
- African American History Month
- An extensive guide including educational resources in the following categories: "Teaching Black History Month," "Biographies," "Glossary," "Photographs," "Timelines," "Primary Documents," "Quotes," "Civil Rights Movement E-Course." Additional sections further down the main menu include: "Culture and Conflicts," "Local Events and History," and "Profiles and Personalities." From ThoughtCo.com.
- African American History Month.gov
- Texts, videos, historical information and more provided by The Library of Congress, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
- African-American Mosaic
- "A Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History & Culture"
- African-American Odyssey
- From the Library of Congress. Includes images and text. Topics include "African-American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship," "The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress," "Jackie Robinson and Other Baseball Highlights, 1860s-1960s," "Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938," and "Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860."
- AFRO-American Newspaper Archive
- "The AFRO-American Newspapers, one of the nation's oldest news organizations dedicated to covering the African American community, has created a comprehensive collection of over a million articles that captures the African American experience in business, civil rights, education, health, law, and sports beginning in the late 19th century. Google partnered with the AFRO and helped to digitize the newspaper's historic archives and make them searchable on-line and available to anyone, anywhere in the world."
- Biography.com: Celebrate Black History Month
- Biographies of African-Americans, a timeline, activities, videos, and more.
- Black Culture Connection
- From PBS. Described as a "resource and guide to films, stories and voices across public television centered around Black history & culture."
- Black History: Online Resources
- Includes: The American Image: Portrait of Black Chicago, Black Family Research: Using Records of the Post Civil War Federal Agencies at the National Archives, The Freedmen's Bureau Preservation Project, and more. From the The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
- Black Oral History
- "interviews conducted by Quintard Taylor and his associates, Charles Ramsay and John Dawkins. They interviewed African American pioneers and their descendents throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana, from 1972-1974." The Real Audio Player (or compatible media player) required to hear the interviews. From Washington State University.
- BlackPast.org
- A collection and directory of sources for six centuries of African American History. Includes an online encyclopedia of people, places, churches, associations and events. From a professor of American History at University of Washington. This a wonderful place to start research or to spend some time browsing.
- Culture and Change: Black History in America
- From Scholastic. Activities and educational resources for young people, parents, and teachers.
- EDSITEment: African American History and Culture in the United States
- From the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
- Encyclopedia Britannica Guide to Black History
- Archived website (via Archive.org). View a timeline, explore eras in Black History, access hundreds of full text articles arranged by subject, audio/video clips, and a bibliography. Additional links and a study guide are available at the bottom of their page.
- Government Documents: Tuskegee Airmen
- Resource guide from University of South Alabama.
- History Channel: Black History Month
- Articles, pictures, speeches, and more.
- In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience
- From New York Public Library. Described as followed by NYPL: "In Motion: The African-American Migration Experience presents more than 16,500 pages of texts, 8,300 illustrations, and more than 60 maps. The Web site is organized around thirteen defining migrations that have formed and transformed African America and the nation. Each migration is presented through five units: 1. A narrative; 2. About 100 illustrations, each with caption, and bibliographical, indexing, and ordering information; 3. From twenty to forty research resources consisting of essays, books, book chapters, articles, and manuscripts; 4. Maps; 5. Lesson plans for teachers."
- Infoplease Presents: Black History Month
- Access information in the following categories: History and Timelines, Contemporary Issues, Special Features (Quotations, Inventors, Harlem Renaissance and more), Holidays, Education, Awards and Firsts, Quizzes & Crosswords
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- "The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history, and culture." From the Smithsonian Institution.
- Poems to Celebrate Black History Month
- "Poems that explore the African-American experience." From The Poetry Foundation.
- Smithsonian: African-American History
- Blog posts, historic accounts, and other information shared by the Smithsonian.
- U.S. Census: Black History Month
- 2018 census statistics for African-Americans (voting, income, population, and more). From Census.gov.
Civil Rights Movement & Leaders
- Beyond Dr. King: More Stories of African-American Achievement
- Archived website (via Archive.org). "Profiles of less-prominent African American heroes." From the U.S. Department of State: "Help us write this book. We'll post the first chapters here at regular intervals and we ask readers to suggest future chapters we will include in the Living Book."
- Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
- "Focused on Black Freedom, featuring select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. Our intention is to support a wide range of students (see examples for using in teaching and learning), as well independent researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S. – and the fights against it. By centering on the experiences and perspectives of African Americans, we hope this collection imbues the study of Black history with a deeper understanding of the humanity of people who have pursued the quest for freedom, and the significance of movements like Black Lives Matter. " From ProQuest.
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom - Timelines
- Key historic times leading up to the Civil Rights Act. From the Library of Congress and in support of their 2015 exhibit.
- Free at Last: The U.S. Civil Rights Movement
- Archived website (via Archive.org). "This book recounts how African-American slaves and their descendants struggled to win - both in law and in practice - the civil rights enjoyed by other Americans. It is a story of dignified persistence and struggle, a story that produced great heroes and heroines, and one that ultimately succeeded by forcing Americans to confront squarely the shameful gap between their universal principles of equality and justice and the inequality, injustice, and oppression faced by millions of their fellow citizens." Adobe PDF format. From the U.S. Department of State.
- Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
- Overview from Factmonster.com
- King Institute Encyclopedia
- "Search here for information on over 1000 civil rights movement figures, events and organizations; a chronology of the movement, and full-text documents published online." From The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute.
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University
- Read and hear various writings and speeches. Audio feeds require Quicktime or the Real audio player (or compatible media player).
- Notable Civil Rights Leaders
- Brief biographies. From Factmonster.com.
- Rosa Parks: How I Fought for Civil Rights
- A brief biography from Scholastic.com.
- We Shall Overcome
- Historical places of the Civil Rights Movement. Click the "List of Sites" to learn more about different historic locations. From the National Parks Service (NPS.gov)
OpenCourseWare (OCW)
Free Online Lessons + Learning Materials from Univerities
- African American History: From Emancipation to the Present
- "The purpose of this course is to examine the African American experience in the United States from 1863 to the present. Prominent themes include the end of the Civil War and the beginning of Reconstruction; African Americans' urbanization experiences; the development of the modern civil rights movement and its aftermath; and the thought and leadership of Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X." From Yale University.
- African-American History: Modern Freedom Struggle
- "This course introduces the viewer to African-American history, with particular emphasis on the political thought and protest movements of the period after 1930, focusing on selected individuals who have shaped and been shaped by modern African-American struggles for freedom and justice." From Stanford University.
- African American Studies
- "This course is an interdisciplinary introduction to important historical, cultural, literary, and political issues concerning African Americans. Through critical readings of literary, artistic, and filmic texts, this course provides an overview of African American experiences from the 17th through mid-20th centuries. Emphasis will be placed on developing an understanding of the historical and cultural experiences of African Americans from the beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade through the Civil Rights Movement. To focus our journey, the course begins with a discussion of the discourse of African American Studies as an academic discipline. Students will proceed to examine the process of forced emigration from Africa, chattel slavery in the British Colonies, the formation of African American identity in the 18th and 19th centuries, and struggles for social transformation and resistance by African Americans in the United States." From University of California, Irvine.
- Black Matters: Introduction to Black Studies
- "Interdisciplinary survey of people of African descent that draws on the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. This course connects the experiences of African-Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns." From Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Photographs & Documents
- African-American Soldiers in the Civil War
- "The American Civil War was one of the first conflicts captured by photographers. In celebration of Black History Month, TIME looks at images of African-American soldiers and their families who played myriad roles in the country's bloodiest conflict."
- Africana & Black History
- "Several thousand items ranging from historical documents and rare visual materials to contemporary photo-journalism, relating to the entirety of African American history from the 16th century to the present." From New York Public Library (NYPL).
- Black Freedom Struggle in the United States
- "Focused on Black Freedom, featuring select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. Our intention is to support a wide range of students (see examples for using in teaching and learning), as well independent researchers and anyone interested in learning more about the foundation of ongoing racial injustice in the U.S. – and the fights against it. By centering on the experiences and perspectives of African Americans, we hope this collection imbues the study of Black history with a deeper understanding of the humanity of people who have pursued the quest for freedom, and the significance of movements like Black Lives Matter. " From ProQuest.
- Black History and Culture
- "Explore African-American history and culture. Discover thousands of artworks, artifacts and stories from cultural organizations across the United States." From Google.
- The Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, 1863
- Online edition and text of this historic document. Provided by the National Archives and Record Administration (NARA).
- From Slavery to Freedom: The African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1822-1909
- "396 pamphlets from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, published from 1822 through 1909, by African-American authors and others who wrote about slavery, African colonization, Emancipation, Reconstruction, and related topics." From the Library of Congress' American Memory Exhibit.
- Historic Images of African-American Life During the Depression
- "Photographs from the Farm Security Administration which collected and kept a record of American life between 1935-1944." From TIME.
- Images of 20th Century African American Activists: A Select List
- From the Library of Congress.
- Library of Congress Collections: African Americans in History
- Online exhibits, documents, photographs, and more.
- Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs
- "The William A. Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs provides almost 350 images showing African Americans and related military and social history. The Civil War era is the primary time period covered, with scattered examples through 1945."
- Rosa Parks Papers
- "The papers of Rosa Parks (1913-2005) span the years 1866-2006, with the bulk of the material dating from 1955 to 2000. The collection contains approximately 7,500 items in the Manuscript Division, as well as 2,500 photographs in the Prints and Photographs Division. The collection documents many aspects of Parks's private life and public activism on behalf of civil rights for African Americans." From the Library of Congress.
- Umbra: Search African American History
- "Umbra: Search African American History is a free digital platform that brings together content documenting African American history and culture in order to enable the creation of new works-research projects, scholarship, curricula, art of all kinds-that illuminate parts of our history that have not been enough broadly accessible. Umbra is developed by the Givens Collection of African American Literature at the University of Minnesota Libraries in partnership with Penumbra Theatre Company."
For Teachers
- Black History Month Lessons & Resources
- "To help you integrate Black History Month into your classroom, we offer a selection of lesson plans that cover a variety subjects and that can be adapted to fit multiple grade levels." From the National Education Association (NEA).
- Black History Month Teaching Resources, Grades 7-12
- "Celebrate Black History Month in your classroom this February with 17 lesson plans and resources that cover topics ranging from important civil rights anniversaries to discussions about race in current events. These resources provide authentic student-driven learning experiences that will help all kids understand and honor Black History Month." From PBS NewsHour.
- Black History Teaching Resources
- From Smithsonian Education.
- Civil Rights
- "Explore the fight for voting rights as well as the racial history of the United States in sports and schools. Study maps, baseball cards and political cartoons as well as pamphlets, legal documents, poetry, music, and the personal correspondence and oral histories of the famous and the ordinary." From the Library of Congress. See also their From Slavery to Civil Rights website.
- Educator Resources
- Scroll down their page for the Learning Links section, which includes these downloadable PDF documents for teachers: "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Albany, GA," "For Jobs and Freedom: March on Washington,DC," "How Long? Not Long: Selma, AL," "I AM A MAN: Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike" "I Too Am America: Combatting Jim Crow," "Is This America?: Mississippi Freedom Summer Project," "Say It Loud: Black Pride," "Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board," "Slavery and the Culture of Resistance," "Standing Up by Sitting Down and Strategies for Change," "The Children Shall Lead Them: Birmingham, AL," "The Year They Walked: Montgomery Bus Boycott," "A Triumph for Democracy: 1965 Voting Rights Act," "We Are Prepared to Died: Freedom Riders," "We Who Believe In Freedom," and "What Do We Want?: Black Power." From the National Civil Rights Museum.
- Teaching and Learning About Martin Luther King Jr. With The New York Times
- From The New York Times Learning Network.
- Celebrating Black History With The New York Times
- See also: OpenCourseWare (OCW)
For Young Researchers
- African-American History Timeline
- Key facts and dates. From Factmonster.com.
- Black Scientists & Inventors
- Names, dates, and inventions. From Factmonster.com
- Famous Firsts by African Americans
- Names, dates, and achievements. From Factmonster.com.
- Notable African-Americans
- Brief biographies of scholars, atheletes, entertainers, and more. From Factmonster.com
- Reading Rockets: Black History Month
- - Topics include: Writers, Illustrators, Storytellers, Children's Books, Activities, People and Eevents, Guides to Black History, Television Programs.
- Scholastic: Black History in America
- Information, videos, and activities for students, parents, and teachers.
