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Humanities Librarian
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5787-2609Room 216
Selected Reference
Go-to library databases for obtaining bio-bibliographical information about African American authors:
- Literature Online
- Search Author Pages for a known author.
- Browse > Authors > African-American
- Literature Resource Center
- Perform a Person Search for a known author.
- Person Search > Ethnicity > African American
- Browse Topics >
The titles below also provide credible background information about African American authors. Some, in addition, contain lists of authors' primary works as well as reviews and scholarly criticisms about those primary works.
Best bets:
Encyclopedia of African-American Writing: Five Centuries of Contribution: Trials & Triumphs of Writers, Poets, Publications and Organizations (4th ed.) by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 1637001657Publication Date: 2022-11-30Don't miss the articles that appear after the biographical entries on such topics as historical African American newspapers (e.g., Pittsburgh Courier); literary groups (e.g., Affrilachian Poets); and presses (e.g., Lotus Press).
Notable African American Writers (2nd ed.) by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9781642654073Publication Date: 2020-05-30This up-to-date book concludes—after many biographical entries—with articles that introduce the reader to African American Drama, Poetry, Long and Short Fiction. It incorporates a lengthy Bibliography.
Also great:
African American Authors, 1745-1945 by Call Number: PS153.N5 A32 2000ISBN: 0313309108Publication Date: 2000-01-30
African American National Biography by Call Number: E185.96 .A4466 2008ISBN: 9780195160192Publication Date: 2008-02-18This reference work ranks alongside American National Biography. The highly readable, signed entries include persons from all walks of life including literary and other creative figures. Each entry concludes with a brief further readings section. Available only in print, Reference Stacks, 1st floor.
Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB):
DLB is available online from the library's Literature Resource Center (LRC) database. Employ the appropriate title (see below) or conduct a Person Search (e.g., Morrison, Toni) across all of LRC. Click Biographies from the gray bar at the top of your author's page. Sort results by date, Newest at the top of the list. If desired, Filter Your Results by selecting the box next to "Dictionary of Literary Biography" under the Publication Title tab. The titles below, although dated, are useful for obtaining background information about your chosen author or identifying an author to research. Other DLB volumes are more up-to-date. Toni Morrison, for example, has an 18,000+ word biographical entry in Nobel Prize Laureates, DLB vol. 331 (c2007).
Afro-American Writers Before the Harlem Renaissance by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 0810317281Publication Date: 1986-08-15also available in print, Reference Collection, Call # PS129 .D47 v. 50- Afro-American Writers From the Harlem Renaissance to 1940 by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780810317291Publication Date: 1986-08-01also available in print, Reference Collection, Call # PS129 .D47 v. 51
- Afro-American Fiction Writers after 1955 by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 0810317117Publication Date: 1984-10-19also available in print, Reference Collection, Call # PS129 .D47 v. 33
- Afro-American Writers after 1955: Dramatists and Prose Writers by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 0810317168Publication Date: 1985-04-26also available in print, Reference Collection, Call # PS129 .D47 v. 38
A companion is a "a handbook intended to be used in connection with the study of a particular subject or field" (ODLIS). Companions provide introductory essays and topic overviews.
General:
African American Literature: A Guide to Reading Interests by Call Number: PS153.N5 A3364 2004ISBN: 1563089319Publication Date: 2004-12-30This volume defines and contextualizes literary genres including Detective and Crime Fiction, Frontier Literature, Historical Fiction, Inspirational Literature, Life Writing, Mainstream Fiction, Romance Fiction, and Speculative Fiction. Each chapter concludes with a list of major authors and their works.
Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 0521815746Publication Date: 2004-04-15also available in print, General Collection, Call # PS374.N4 C36 2004
The Columbia Guide to Contemporary African American Fiction by Call Number: PS374.N4 D533 2005ISBN: 0231124724Publication Date: 2005-10-14
The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature by Call Number: PS153.B53 C59 2001ISBN: 019513883XPublication Date: 2001-02-15
Harlem Renaissance:
The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780521856997Publication Date: 2007-06-14also available in print, General Collection, Call # PS153.N5 C345 2007
A Companion to the Harlem Renaissance by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 1118494067Publication Date: 2015-07-20- The Harlem Renaissance: A Gale Critical Companion by Call Number: PS153.N5 H245 2003ISBN: 0787666181Publication Date: 2002-10-11
Slavery in literature and slave narratives:
The Cambridge Companion to Slavery in American Literature by Call Number: PS169.S47 C36 2016ISBN: 9781107048768Publication Date: 2016-03-29
The Cambridge Companion to the African American Slave Narrative by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780521850193Publication Date: 2007-05-31also available in print, General Collection, Call # E444 .C36 2007
The Oxford Handbook of the African American Slave Narrative by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780199731480Publication Date: 2014-03-31
An encyclopedia is "a book or numbered set of books containing authoritative summary information about a variety of topics in the form of short essays, usually arranged alphabetically by headword or classified in some manner. An entry may be signed or unsigned, with or without illustration or a list of references for further reading" (ODLIS).
African American Literature: an Encyclopedia for Students by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9781440871511Publication Date: 2019-11-15
Encyclopedia of African-American Literature by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9781438140599Publication Date: 2013
Encyclopedia of Black Comics by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9781682751688Publication Date: 2017-09-15
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature (in 5 vols.) by Call Number: PS153.N5 G73 2005ISBN: 0313329729Publication Date: 2005-09-01
