PSCI 303: Getting Background Information

Many of the resources listed below are located in Sawyer Reference Dept

Biographies

Biography Resource Center (1960-Present) - A database of biographical information. Covers all periods of history around the world. Indexes biographical reference sources as well as articles from periodicals.

African American Lives
Sawyer REF E 185.96 .A446 2004

Black Women in America (three volumes)
Sawyer REF E185.86 .B542 2005
The third volume lists all the articles which relate to politics, laws and government 

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of African American history, 1896 to the present : from the age of segregation to the twenty-first century
Sawyer REF E 185 .E5453 2009

Organizing Black America: an encyclopedia of African American associations
Sawyer REF E185.5 .O74 2001

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas (2006, 2nd ed.) - Electronic version of a six-volume encyclopedia covering all aspects of the African-American experience from 1619 to the present day in the U.S. and throughout the Western hemisphere. Articles are signed by experts in the field and are accompanied by a selected bibliography. The appendix contains statistical data and a selection of primary source documents.

Almanacs

African American Almanac (2008, 10th ed.) - Includes chronology of important events in African American history and African American firsts, excerpts of primary source documents, biographical profiles, essays, photographs, illustrations, maps and statistical charts. Arranged by broad subject areas; a bibliography for each area appears separately.

Bibliography

Bibliography of African American leadership: an annotated guide
Sawyer REF  E185.61 .W265 2000

"Presents the scholarship on African American leadership as part of the larger dynamic of leadership studies".

Congress

Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007
Sawyer E 185.96 .B526 2008
comprehensive history of the more than 120 African Americans who have served in the United States Congress - also available online

Congressional Quarterly Almanac (1945-present)
Sawyer REF JK1 .C6
Provides background information on acts, amendments, committee activities, debates, hearings, investigations, lobbies, party politics, and a record of votes. Issued annually.

Guide to Congress
Sawyer REF JK1021 .C565 2008
Updated regularly, Guide to Congress provides an historical overview of how Congress works - who has power and how they got it. It has good historical and current coverage of African-Americans in Congress.