African American

KPL staff-selected resources. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Staff Recommends

Barack Obama by Heather WagnerBreach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders by Eric EtheridgeExporting American Dreams: Thurgood Marshall's African Journey by Mary DudziakTaking It Back: How to Become a Successful Black Beauty Supply Storeowner by Devin RobinsonThe Red Tails: World War II's Tuskegee Airmen by Steven Jones

Databases (most require KPL library card)

Biographies Plus (Home Access)

Current Biography, World Author Series, World Artists, Nobel Prize Winners, and other biographical books. Searchable by name, profession, place of birth, gender, race/ethnicity and keyword. 

Biography Resource Center (Home Access)

Biographical information of contemporary & historical figures.

Heritage Quest (Home Access)

Includes family histories, local histories, and primary sources in full images.

InfoTrac All Using PowerSearch

Magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, ebooks available in the library or at home with your KPL library card or with your Michigan Driver's License or ID by going to Mel.org
Includes Computer Database; Custom Newspapers; General Reference Center Gold; Grand Rapids Press; Expanded Academic ASAP; General Business File ASAP; Legal Trac; InfoTrac Onefile; Health Reference Center Academic ASAP

InfoTrac Custom 120 Full Text Newspapers

A collection of approximately 900 full text newspapers from around the country and the world. Includes the last 12 months of the New York Times and the Grand Rapids Press (1996-current).

NetLibrary

Michigan eLibrary collection of ebooks.

Newspapers and Magazines

View details

African American Review

American Visions

Black Enterprise

Community Voices

Crisis

Ebony

Essence

Jet

Michigan Chronicle

Minority Business Entrepreneur

Mosaic Literary Magazine

  • Powell: Current and previous 1 year

Sister 2 Sister

Community Resources

Black Arts & Cultural Center

Phone 269-349-1035

Produce annual Black Arts Festival; fine art exhibitions; classes; workshops; artistic demonstrations.

Concerned Black Women's Roundtable

Phone 269-344-2537

Award scholarship to eligible women every 2 years.

Dulcet Club

Phone 269-385-2444

Emergency Financial Grant for African American Students, WMU, Davenport University, and KVCC; (application through university) grants for camps and other youth programs; Christmas Holiday gala every other year.

Kalamazoo Push for Learning

Phone 269-375-2275

Information and referral; educational workshops; newsletter; outreach services; incentive program.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Phone 269-343-4105

Northside Association for Educational Advancement

Phone 269-344-3582

Scholarships for four year bachelor's degree programs.

Saturday Eves' Book Club

Phone 269-381-8659

Donation of books to book-needy children who are recommended by local educators.

Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society

Phone 269-383-8388

Newsletter; workshops; oral history project.

Southwestern Michigan Urban League

Phone 269-962-5553

"Restoration" for boys; Sojourner Truth Girls Academy; Parents Against Gang Violence; Brothers Dwelling in Unity; Future Force.

Websites

AARL - Auburn Avenue Research Library

A special library of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History offers specialized reference and archival collections for the study and research of Black culture.

African American Odyssey

Showcases the African American collections of the Library of Congress.

Black Abolitionists

University of Detroit Mercy Black Abolitionists Archive. Search by name, orgainization, subject or date.

Black Archives of Mid America

Based in mid-America, this archive site can be browsed or searched.

Black History and African American Resources

Links complied by the Hackley Public Library(Muskegon, MI)

Black History Month

Links and information provided by Infoplease.

Black History

Resources exploring black history in Michigan.

Black Inventors - from About.com

List of African American patent holders,  individual biographies of African American inventors and much more.

Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights

Thurgood Marshall Law Library's complete electronic record of United States Commission on Civil Rights publications held in the Library's collection and available on the USCCR Web site.

Michigan Historical Markers - Black History

Provides background information, a photograph and a map for each site.

NAACP

Information on both state and local levels for NAACP interests. 

National Civil Rights Museum

Exhibits and events.

Official Kwanzaa Web Site

Learn more about Kwanzaa, a celebration of community, culture and family.

Genealogy

African Ancestry, Inc.

Uses current advances in science and genetic technology to provide a bridge to the past for people of African descent searching to identify their ancestral homeland.

AfriGeneas-African Ancestored Genealogy

Provides resources, leadership, promotion, and advocacy for the mutual development and use of a system of genealogy for researching African related ancestry.

Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.

Strives to preserve African-ancestored family history, genealogy, and cultural diversity by teaching research techniques and disseminating information.

Cyndi's List - African American

Web resources for African American genealogy. A useful place to start, also includes a list of appropriate societies.

In Literature

African American Literature Book Club - Author Index

A - Z listing of authors from the African American Literature Book Club. 

African American Authors - Kansas City, Kansas Public Library

Lists includes poets, cartoonists, children & young adults, romance, mystery, science fiction, classic and general fiction.  Check KPL's catalog to see if we have any of these authors in our collection.

African American Literature Book Club

An online portal to contemporary African American literature that includes a searchable database powered by bookstores, author profiles, writers resources, bestsellers book reviews, discussion boards, literary events, chat room, and newsletter.

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century

This is a digital collection of some 52 published works by 19th-century black women writers.A part of the Digital Schomburg, this collection provides access to the thought, perspectives and creative abilities of black women writers before 1920.

Black Issues Book Review

Online version of the magazine. Includes reviews, author sightings and signings  

Cush City

World's largest African American selection of DVD's, videos, books and more.

QBR The Black Book Review Online

QBR is a book review exclusively dedicated to books about the Africana experience.


View all Topic Guides

photo of Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston, American writer, 1891-1960

Source: Biography Resource Center database