Africana Studies (African American & African)

For additional assistance, contact Joseph Diaz

People & Organizations

Associations, Biographical Dictionaries, Directories and Organizations

African American Biographical Database - 1790-1950
Contains biographies of thousands of African Americans, many not found in other reference sources, and assembled from biographical dictionaries and other sources. Contains extended narratives of African American activists, former slaves, performing artists, educators, writers, and more--the famous and the everyday person. Biographical portraits, obituary files, slave narrative collections, and Internet sites will be added as the database expands.

African American Organizations
Provides links to over 60 African-American organizations.

African Americans Information Directory - E185.5 .B513 Main Ref.
A comprehensive guide to resources that facilitate cultural, economic, technical and information exchange between African-Americans.

American National Biography Online
The American National Biography offers full text portraits of more than 17,500 men and women from all eras and walks of life whose lives have shaped the nation. Includes about 7000 biographies not found in the earlier Dictionary of American Biography. Searchable by name, gender, occupation, birth date, birthplace, death date, contributor's name and/or words/phrases in the full text. Updated quarterly. CT213 .A68 1999 Main Ref American National Biography.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index
An international index to sources for biogrpahical information on thousands of individuals from hundreds of sources from all time periods. You will need to search the UA Library Catalog to find the call number for each information source listed. B.C. to date.

Biography Reference Bank
Biography Reference Bank contains narrative profiles of over a half million people. Included are the original profiles of Wilson Biographies Plus Illustrated (covering many print volumes of biographical reference books published by H. W. Wilson and others, including all volumes of Current Biography), combined with thorough periodicals coverage of Biography Index and full text articles, page images, and abstracts from the complete range of Wilson databases. The biographies are searchable by name, profession, title, place of origin, gender, race/ethnicity, date of birth, date of death, and keyword. 1940s-present.

Biography Resource Center + Marquis Who's Who
The Biography Resource Center is a comprehensive database of biographical information on more than 1,000,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It contains approximately 250,000 biographies from respected Gale Group sources with nearly one million biographies from The Complete Marquis Who's Who. The database also includes full-text articles from nearly 250 periodicals. Search for people based on one or more personal facts such as birth and death years and places, nationality, ethnicity, occupation or gender, or combine criteria to create a highly-targeted custom search path.

Literature Resosurce Center
This resource provides useful biographical information and lists author works, interviews and criticism.

NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
"The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, is the oldest, largest and strongest Civil Rights Organization in the United States.  The principal objective of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of the United States.  The NAACP is committed to achievement through non-violence and relies upon the press, the petition, the ballot and the courts, and is persistent in the use of legal and moral persuasion even in the face of overt and violent racial hostility."

Nation of Islam
Provides links to world-wide Nation of Islam sites, the Nation of Islam Student Association and The Final Call, a Nation of Islam newsletter.

National Association of Black Journalists
"The National Association of Black Journalists, 3000 members strong with 74 affiliated professional chapters and 51 student chapters, is the largest media organization for people of color in the world. "

National Bar Association
"At present, the NBA is the nation's oldest and largest national association of predominately African American lawyers and judges. It has 87 affiliate chapters throughout the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Africa and the Caribbean and represents a professional network of over 17,000 lawyers, judges, educators and law students."

National Urban League (NUL)
"Founded in 1910, the National Urban League is the premier social service and civil rights organization in America. The League is a nonprofit, community- based organization headquartered in New York City, with 115 affiliates in 34 states and the District of Columbia."

Negro Almanac:  A Reference Work on the African American - E185 .N385 1989 Main Ref.
A definitive reference on the history and culture of African-Americans and their contributions to national life including data on population, health and other vital statistics.

Who's Who Among African Americans - E185.96 .W52 Main Ref.
Describes the accomplishments of over 20,000 outstanding Americans of African ancestry.