Use subject encyclopedias to understand the background of your topic, or for context about unfamiliar names or events you encounter while using primary sources. Subject encyclopedias will often cite key scholarly works as well.
Print copies of subject encyclopedias are usually in the circulating collection (Location "Main"), not in Special Collections.
African American National Biography. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham, eds. NY: Oxford University Press, 2008. Also online.
Africana: The Enclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Kwane Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., eds. NY: Oxford University Press, 2005.
American Slave Revolts and Conspiracies: A Reference Guide. Kerry S. Walters. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2015.
Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas. Colin A. Palmer, ed. Detroit: Macmillan, 2006.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895. Paul Finkelman, ed. NY: Oxford University Press, 2006.
Encyclopedia of African American Writing: Five Centuries of Contributions. Shari Dorantes Hatch, ed. Amenia, NY: Grey House, 2009.
Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion. Junius P. Rodriguez, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007.
Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora. Carole Boyce Davies, ed. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008.
Encyclopedia of the Middle Passage. Toyin Falola and Amanda Warnock. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2007.
Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore. Anand Prahlad, ed. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
World of a Slave: Encyclopedia of the Material Life of Slaves in the United States. Martha B. Katz-Hyman and Kym S. Rice, eds. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2011.
African American National Biography. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks-Higginbotham, eds. NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. Also in print.
Encyclopedia of African American History. Leslie M. Alexander and Walter C. Rucker, eds. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2010.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895. Paul Finkelman, ed. NY: Oxford University Press, 2006.
SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America. Mwalimu J. Shujaa, ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2015.
The subject headings for a subject encyclopedia will always include the word encyclopedias (plural) to indicate the format of the work. For example:
In this example the word "encyclopedia" (singular) was also in the title. But by searching this way, you also retrieve works like The Handbook of African American Literature and The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature, which do not have "encyclopedia" in the title.
Construct your keyword search like this: