HIST 3131 - African American History II: Find Books

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According to the Library of Congress subject headings, the standard search term for African American or Black American is African American. Works may also be listed under African Americans (plural) when the subject deals with African Americans as a group. The term African American is used primarily as an adjective modifying another group designation. In other words, African Americans -- Civil rights deals with the civil rights of African Americans, while African American Civil rights workers refer to civil rights workers who are African American.

When searching for groups who temporarily reside in the United States (such as resident aliens, students from abroad, etc.), use Blacks -- United States. For searches involving blacks who do not reside in the United States, use Blacks -- [country, city, etc.] "Blacks -- Brazil"

A variety of standard options exist for narrowing searches. These may be appended to the end of a subject heading. For example, works about African American persons may be searched by the subject heading African Americans Biography. Commonly subdivisions include:

A few more possibilities:

• African Americans -- Suffrage
• American drama -- African American authors
• Black English
• Black power -- United States
• Civil rights workers -- United States
• Harlem Renaissance
• Selma-Montgomery Rights March, 1965
• Slaves' writings, American

Sample Headings specific to African American women:

• African American women abolitionists
• African American women clergy
• African American women social reformers

[Adapted from the African American Studies LibGuide at Michigan State University]

Think of the best keywords to enter and be ready to change them as you pursue your topic. Try using a subject encyclopedia or dictionary for specialized terminology. Get ideas for new keywords by carefully examining the subject fields in your first results.

Try these search features:

• Use quotes to search for phrases (example: "industrial revolution”)
   
• Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to broaden or narrow your search
   
• Use truncation (example: archiv* will find archive, archives, archival, archivist)
   
• Sort results by date or relevance
   
• Browse subject headings