Africa and the African Diaspora:
Traditions, Revolutions, Innovations

In conjunction with the year-long series of events centered on Africa and the African Diaspora, the Library has gathered a selection of its various holdings from the physical collection for display and distribution. The Library’s goal—to invite students and faculty to explore and utilize the wealth of materials we have on Africa and the African Diaspora.

The Diaspora exhibit features the visual collections “Faces of the Diasporas” which focuses on members of the African Diaspora from countries world-wide. Includes credits and bibliographic citations.

We have over 120 titles, selected by our subject specialists, which feature Africa and the African Diaspora as their subject material. The items range from book-length studies on Diasporan history to volumes of poetry by African and African American writers; correspondingly, various academic disciplines are represented.

The monographs are grouped alphabetically by subject or discipline (e.g. Anthropology); individual items within each grouping are listed alphabetically by author and/or editor and include LOC (Library of Congress) call number.

There is an accompanying annotated bibliography; the annotations highlight the relevancy of the monograph to the study of the African Diaspora.

All items are available for check-out unless otherwise indicated in the bibliography. Please check the catalog for up-to-date availability on specific titles.

ACLS Humanities E-book
A fully searchable collection of over 1,700 books of high quality in the humanities.

Net Library
A collection of published materials, such as reference books, scholarly monographs, and trade books, for electronic distribution.

To retrieve titles on Africa in both databases, use the search term “Africa*”

African American Music Reference
Brings together reference texts, biographies, chronologies, sheet music, images, lyrics, liner notes, and discographies which chronicle the diverse history and culture of the African American experience through music.

Black Drama (1800s - present)
Includes plays, many previously unpublished, rare, or out-of-print, by playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.

Aluka (on Trial)
An international, collaborative, not-for-profit effort that is building a networked digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa.

The Media Resource Center (lower level of library) has relevant DVDs and videos by noted African filmmakers; a list of annotations accompanies the items. Find an annotated list online here.

Our Reference holdings on Africa and African Diaspora — over 170 titles — will be showcased upon completion of the new Reference Room.

Highlights include:

• Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience (1999),
• The African Studies Companion: A Guide to Information Sources (2003),
• Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History (2006),
• African Americans in the Visual Arts (2003)
• African Americans in the Performing Arts (2003)
• Black Firsts: 4000 Groundbreaking and Pioneering Historical Events (2003)

These resources may be used in the library only and are not available for check-out.

African Diaspora on the Internet

Columbia University Libraries, African Studies: African Diaspora on the Internet

Stanford University Library, African Diaspora on the Internet

LANIC, African Diaspora in Latin America

John Henrik Clarke Africana Library, Cornell University, Caribbean Studies Internet Resources

Organizations

MOAD, Museum of the African Diaspora

ASWAD, Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora

New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Association of Dance in the African Diaspora

Association of Black Women Historians

Center for the Arts of the African Diaspora, Inc.

Africa and the Diaspora Timeline

The African Diaspora Foundation