African American Literature

Leverage the power of Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) to find precisely what you need. Search our discovery service and WorldCat by subject to find autobiographies (i.e., primary sources) and secondary criticisms.

Genre Headings:

• Autobiographies and Biographies are used as genre headings to identify, respectively, autobiographies (primary) and biographies (secondary). Generate lists of AA autobiographies and AA biographies.
• Autobiographical is a modifier (e.g., Autobiographical fiction but also Autobiographical memory).

Subject Headings:

• Autobiography is used as the main heading to find criticisms (i.e., secondary sources) about autobiographies.
• Biography, diaries, memoirs, and personal memoirs are used as subdivisions to find primary sources (see below). "Biography" here can identify both autobiographies (primary) and biographies (secondary).
• Similar in concept is personal narratives, another subdivision that identifies eyewitness accounts of wars and other historical events (e.g., World War, 1939-1945 — Personal narratives). Additional subdivisions include correspondence, interviews, letters, manuscripts, oratory, and speeches. All reveal primary sources.
• Terms not used in LCSH but worth searching for as keywords are life story(ies), life narrative(s), life writing (particularly useful), and testimony(ies).

Examples:

• African American Authors—Biography [primary/secondary/tertiary]
• African American Women Scientists—Biography [primary/secondary]
• Autobiographies [primary]
• Autobiographies AND "African American*" NOT juvenile [primary]
• Autobiography—African American authors [secondary]
• Autobiography—African American authors—History and criticism [secondary]
• Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Moore, 1875-1935 [autobiographer or diarist as subject]
• Slave narratives—United States—History and criticism [secondary]
• Slaves’ writings, American—History and criticism [secondary]

Note: Select the "Books, Media & More" radio button and then re-execute your search to include online journal articles in your results set. Remember to search WorldCat by subject to retrieve more books!