UC Library Search
Finding Books & Articles about the African Diaspora in the Americas
Secondary sources are studies done by historians and other researchers by analyzing primary sources. Books and journal articles are the main types of secondary sources.
When starting your keyword search to find articles and books, try to do a balanced search—not too broad but not too narrow either. Use several synonyms to be sure that you find everything relevant to your topic. This is very important when you are focusing on just one country, e.g. Cuba, the Dominican Republic, etc.
- Blacks AND "Puerto Rico"
- "African Diaspora" AND Mexico
- "sugar cane industry" AND blacks AND Jamaica
Image source: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. "Arthur Schomburg" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1896.
Where to Find Articles? (Recommended Databases)
- Black Studies Periodicals Database This link opens in a new windowIIBP Full Text includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations & abstracts from over 150 scholarly and popular journals, newspapers and newsletters from the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean, as well as full-text coverage of 90 core Black Studies periodicals from 1998 forward.
- Black Studies Center This link opens in a new windowThe Black Studies Center (BSC) combines a wide array of resources for research and teaching in Black Studies such as, The International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP) - includes cover coverage of U.S., African, and Caribbean periodicals. and Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience - a database of essays on important black studies themes and issues.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowThe Ethnic NewsWatch database contains news, culture, and history from 200 publications of the ethnic, minority, and native press. The database is searchable in both English and Spanish, with titles in both languages.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA scholarly, multi-disciplinary database providing indexing and abstracts for over 10,900 journals and other publications.
- Hispanic American Periodicals Index (HAPI) This link opens in a new windowThis database focuses on information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region, and Hispanics in the United States. Articles mostly in Spanish but there are articles in English, French, and Portuguese
- Archives of Latin American and Caribbean History, Sixteenth to Twentieth Century This link opens in a new window
Covers contemporary Latin American and Caribbean history, as well as historical perspective back to the colonial period (15th to 20th century). Provides information about the indigenous peoples of the region, the Conquest (la Conquista), colonial rule, religion, struggles for independence, and political, economic, and social progress and issues in newly independent nations. Contains pages of historical material from archival collections in the United States and Europe. Provides original manuscripts, signed letters, expedition records, reports, maps, diaries, descriptions of voyages, ephemera, and more.
- Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) This link opens in a new windowThe Handbook is a bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowUse JSTOR to search for articles about the Black Diaspora in the Americas. Use the Advanced Search option to limit your search by journals in a specific topic. For example, you can select to search only journals about African American Studies, Latin American Studies or you can select those two topics and search only those journals.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new windowUse Project Muse to search for articles about the Black Diaspora in the Americas. Use the Advanced Search (also called Browse All), and limit your search by language and/or research area. For example, you can select Area and Ethnic Studies to search only journals in that topic.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowA scholarly, multi-disciplinary database where you can search across disciplines for academic journal, magazine and newspapers articles in a wide variety of topics.
- Africa-Wide Information (NiPAD) This link opens in a new window
Combines bibliographic databases from around the world to form a multidisciplinary aggregation offering unique and extensive coverage of all facets of Africa and African studies. Includes content from South African Studies, African Studies, and African HealthLine, focusing on health relating to Africa and other developing nations.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new windowSome of the causes of the modern African diaspora is political upheaval in many countries on the continent (war, coup d'etat, etc.). This database will help you find articles about the intersection between politics and the African diaspora in the Americas
- EconLit This link opens in a new window
Covers the international literature on economics. Provides bibliographic citations, with selected abstracts, of journal articles, books, dissertations and working papers.
- Black Studies Center This link opens in a new windowThe Black Studies Center (BSC) combines a wide array of resources for research and teaching in Black Studies such as, The International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP) - includes cover coverage of U.S., African, and Caribbean periodicals. and Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience - a database of essays on important black studies themes and issues.