SJSU Research Guides: African-American Studies: Databases & Articles

Major Databases for African American Studies

King Library has over 400 databases to search. The databases below are particularly relevant to African-American Studies projects. To locate peer-reviewed articles, after you have searched in OneSearch or one of our databases, look for the filter for peer-reviewed or refereed articles.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary full text, peer reviewed academic journals that support scholarly research in key areas of academic study.
academic search premier
Accessible Archives This link opens in a new window
Primary source materials reflecting broad views across American history and culture including eyewitness accounts of historical events, descriptions of daily life, editorial observations, commerce as seen through advertisements, and genealogical records. Subscribed modules include 18th & 19th century publications, African-American newspapers, the Civil War, World War I, Native Americans, and women's suffrage. Note: Select "Modules" to view subscribed content. Click on "view" or “Accessible Archives image” or "Complete Collection of Historical American Newspapers, Books and Journals." The page will show "included resources" and these are clickable to search directly in a specific collection.
African American Experience This link opens in a new window
African American history and culture reference from authorities in the field, and giving African Americans a voice to share their experiences.
America: History and Life with Fulltext This link opens in a new window
Reference tool for U.S. and Canadian history and culture. With full-text coverage of hundreds of journals and books, and selective indexing for journals from 1863 to present.
Black Thought and Culture This link opens in a new window
700+ published essays, letters, song lyrics, interviews, and speeches written by African American social, cultural and political notables from the 17th century to the present documenting the African American experience in the United States.
Civil Rights Digital Library This link opens in a new window
Delivers educational content on the Civil Rights Movement and promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. Access a digital video archive of historical news film, a civil rights portal to related digital collections on a national scale, and a learning objects component delivering secondary Web-based resources - such as contextual stories, encyclopedia articles, lesson plans, and activities.
Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
This collection includes newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press, and offers diverse viewpoints and perspectives.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Full-text scholarly articles in literature and criticism, history, visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, social science, mathematics.
Social Sciences Full Text This link opens in a new window
A broad array of basic social sciences journals, including interdisciplinary fields. Covers a wide array of areas, including addiction studies, ethics, public welfare, urban studies, and much more.

Additional Databases

African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window
270+ newspapers covering life in the Antebellum South -- abolitionism; the growth of the Black church; the Emancipation Proclamation; the Jim Crow Era; the rise of the N.A.A.C.P.; the Harlem Renaissance; the Civil Rights movement; political and economic empowerment and more.
Black Drama, 1850 - present This link opens in a new window
Black Drama contains approximately 1200 plays by 200 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays.
Black Women Writers This link opens in a new window
100,000 pages of literature and essays written by black women from Africa and the African Diaspora. Time coverage is 18th Century through present.
JSTOR Journals and Books This link opens in a new window
The journals archive consists of older (at least 2-5 years) issues of core scholarly journals across a wide range of subjects including the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The eBook collections are DRM-free and allow for unlimited concurrent use and unlimited chapter downloads and printing.
Sage Journals Online This link opens in a new window
Includes 850+ journals spanning the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science, Technology, and Medicine, and more than 300 are published on behalf of learned societies and institutions.
Web of Science (and ESI & JCR) This link opens in a new window
Web of Science is a citation database that covers three major tools: Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. The complete database covers thousands of scholarly journals from 1975 to the present across a broad range of disciplines. Included in the subscription: Journal Citation Reports and Essential Science Indicators (ESI). Use the ESI Help Guide and JCR Help Guide to learn more. Also included is the Grants Index which is found under the Web of Science core collection drop down menu.