Research Guides: African American Studies *: Databases & Journals

Core African American Studies Article Databases

Start with these databases:

Black Studies Center
The Black Studies Center provides access to several resources at once: Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP), 10 historical African American newspapers, Black Literature Index and 100 oral history videos in History Makers.
America: History & Life with Full Text
The definitive index to articles and other literature (books, dissertations, book reviews, etc.) covering the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada, from the 15th century to the present. Indexes nearly 1,800 journals from 1860s to present, including all key journals in the discipline, state and local history publications, and selected articles from scholarly journals in the social sciences and humanities.
MLA International Bibliography
Index to scholarly publication in literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore from over 4000 journals and series published worldwide. Indexing only: no full text.
JSTOR
A growing full text collection of core social science, humanities, and science journals and books.
Project MUSE
MUSE provides access to the complete content (including all images) of nearly 500 current scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences.

As of January 2012, Project Muse has added thousands of University Press ebooks to its collection. However, USC DOES NOT have access to them. If you are interested in one of these titles, please search Homer or Quick Search to see if we have a copy.

Multidisciplinary Databases

Multidisciplinary databases are extremely useful for finding articles published in interdisciplinary journals or in journals outiside of the discipline of American history that may still be relevant to your research topic.

In addition to containing journal articles, many of these database also provide citations for (or full-text access to) books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference proceedings, which allows you to cast a wider net in your effort to find sources.

Large Multidisciplinary Databases:

Academic OneFile
Academic OneFile is the premier source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources.

With extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects, Academic OneFile is both authoritative and comprehensive. With millions of articles available in both PDF and HTML full-text with no restrictions, researchers are able to find accurate information quickly. Includes full-text coverage of the New York Times back to 1995. Updated daily.
ArticleFirst
Contains the table of contents pages and holdings information from more than 13,000 journals in science, technology, medicine, social science, business, the humanities, and popular culture. Although most of the journals are published in English, journals in other languages are also included. Updated daily.
Arts & Humanities Full Text
This database features hundreds of titles covering Art, Architecture, Design, History, Philosophy, Music, Literature, Theatre and Cultural Studies.

It is designed to complement the following indexes: ABM, Avery, BHA, BHI, DAAI, Index Islamicus, MLA, Philosopher's Index and RILM.
Google Scholar
Filtered Google Search finding scholarly journal articles, books, citations, and case law.
OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson)
OmniFile Full Text, Mega Edition contains a wealth of essential material for learning and detailed research in a single, easily-searched database.

With the full text of articles from over 2,500 publications, and indexing and abstracts from nearly 3,600 publications, this database provides invaluable support for research in all core undergraduate subjects and for cross-disciplinary work.
PIO - Periodicals Index Online
Periodicals Index Online is an electronic index to millions of articles published in over 5,500 periodicals in the humanities and social sciences.

Periodicals Index Online is unique in combining a broad subject base with deep chronological coverage going back over 300 years. It covers 37 key subject areas in the humanities and social sciences and offers vast variety within these subject areas. Periodicals Index Online currently indexes over 18 million articles going as far back as 1665 and every article in each journal is indexed, from volume 1 issue 1 to recent times. Cataloging in Periodicals Index Online is not limited by language or by date. Over three centuries of scholarly publication in 40 languages and dialects are indexed, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and other Western languages.
ProQuest
Databases of resources for arts, business, humanities, social sciences, science and newspaper resources.
Web of Science
Interdisciplinary collection of journal articles, conference proceedings, and books. Collection of seven online database: Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Index Chemicus, Current Chemical Reactions, and Book Citation Index. Coverage is 1900-present.

Other Multidisciplinary (Point of view) Databases:

Alternative Press Index
The API is a bibliographic database (with links to full-text) of more than 368,000 journal, newspaper, and magazine articles from over 300 international alternative, radical, and left periodicals.

Born of the New Left, it was launched in 1969 to provide access to the emerging theories and practices of radical social change. Coverage, beginning in 1991, is both international and interdisciplinary. The Alternative Press Archive covers 1969-1990.
GenderWatch
GenderWatch features publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas including media, health sciences, political science, and more.
Left Index
Focused on the political, social, economic and cultural issues of the Left, the Left Index has been under production since 1982 and contains nearly 60,000 records (many with abstracts since the year 2000).

The database indexes more than 150 journals focused on the political, social, economic and cultural issues of the Left. The journals are thoroughly reviewed for relevant scholarship and research. The Left Index has been under production since 1982 and contains nearly 60,000 records (many with abstracts since the year 2000). The database indexes more than 150 journals focused on the political, social, economic and cultural issues of the Left. The journals are thoroughly reviewed for relevant scholarship and research.

African American Studies Journals

Black American Literature Forum Early publication of MLA's Black American Literature and Culture division

Black Renaissance = Renaissance Noir Put out by the Africana Studies Program and the Institute of African American Affairs at New York University

Black Scholar Founded in 1969, this is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal devoted to the exploration of cultural, political, social, and economic issues affecting black Americans and other peoples of African descent across the world

Callaloo Original works by and critical studies of black writers worldwide

CLA Journal Published since 1957 by the College Language Association - an association formed by historically black colleges and universities in 1937. It is a peer reviewed journal that features book reviews and articles in the areas of language, literature, linguistics and pedagogy.

Ethnic & Racial Studies An interdisciplinary academic forum for the presentation of research and theoretical analysis, drawing on sociology, social policy, anthropology, political science, economics, international relations, history and social psychology

Journal of African American History Founded by Carter Woodson in 1916 as the Journal of Negro History. Since then, this journal has become one of the leading scholarly sources on African American life and history

Journal of African American Studies

Journal of Black Studies - Scholarship on the Black experience

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education Importance of higher education in the lives of Black Americans

Journal of Negro Education Study of Blacks and education

Langston Hughes Review The official publication of the Langston Hughes Society

Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men - A multidisciplinary research journal whose articles focus on issues related to aspects of Black men's experiences, including such topics as gender, masculinities, and race/ethnicity.

The Review of Black Political Economy Published in affiliation with the National Economic Association, this journal examines the economic status of African American and Third World peoples and analyzes policies designed to either reduce economic inequality or to advance economic opportunities.

Transition Multidisciplinary journal providing essays and book reviews and essays on a wide range of topics in African American Studies

Western Journal of Black Studies - Covers a wide range of disciplines that focus mainly on the experience of African Americans in the United States of America. Publishes articles that contribute new knowledge and understanding to the field of Black/African American Studies and the African diaspora.

Black Women, Gender, & Families
The primary mission of Black Women, Gender & Families is to analyze, develop, and further Black Women's Studies paradigms. It centers the study of Black women and gender within the critical discourses of history, the social sciences, and the humanities.
African American Review
Official publication of the Division on Black American Literature and Culture of the Modern Language Association.
Black American Literature Forum
Early publication of MLA's Black American Literature and Culture division, 1983-1991

Find out if USC has a Specific Journal

If you are looking for a specific journal, select Journals on the Libraries homepage:

If you have the exact title of the journal, search for the title and on the Results page, select "Sort by: Title":

If we have online access to this publication you'll see one or more results, with the dates available and the name of the database or publisher linking you to the journal. If we have the journal in print or on microfilm you will see location information under the "Availability" section of the item record.