AMETH 160 - Introduction To American Ethnic Studies
Library Research Guide
Historical and Social Context
These databases and books can help provide context for the historical events, movement, or popular culture stereotype you are researching.
They are just a sampling of what K-State Libraries offers. If you need to research a different topic, visit our complete list of databases.
Search Tips:
1. Collect keywords that concisely describe the topics you are researching. We do this to increase our chances of finding relevant articles, even if the researcher is using different terms from those used in the books or your class discussions.
Start narrow with the person, object, or event from the book. Then add the categories to which they may belong.
Example: Packard --> car
Once you have categories, add synonyms.
Example: Car = automobile = sedan
2. Read the bibliographies and references. Whether on Wikipedia or in an academic journal article, find out what sources the author consulted. These could be relevant to your research, too.
When you find a title that looks relevant, paste the title (just the title) into Search It to see if K-State Libraries owns it. If we do not, we can try to get a copy for you from another library through Interlibrary Loan.
3. Plan to research, write, research, write. Writing and research feed and inform each other. Be sure to plan time to do both, several times.
4. Ask a librarian - we can help you at the planning stage and when you get stuck. We can help you via chat, email, or Zoom. You can talk to me, your librarian, or talk to trained library student employee through our Peer Consultations.
K-State Libraries Databases
History and Legal Databases
- America: History & LifePublication Dates Covered: 1964 - present Simultaneous users: 6 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Indexes and abstracts for approximately 1,800 journals in the field of United States and Canadian history. Full-text coverage for more than 280 journals and more than 80 books. Contains citations and links to book and media reviews. Can search by time period. - HeinOnlineHeinOnline is a premier online database containing more than 160 million pages and 200,000 titles of historical and government documents in a fully searchable, image-based format. HeinOnline bridges an important research gap by providing comprehensive coverage from inception of more than 2,600 law-related periodicals. In addition to its vast collection of academic journals, HeinOnline contains the entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, and entire databases dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, U.S. Presidents, and much more.
- Civil Rights Litigation ClearinghouseThis site tracks lawsuits related to civil rights in the United States. Includes active and decided cases. From the University of Michigan Law school.
Interdisciplinary Databases
These databases cover a lot of different subjects, especially in the humanities and social sciences. They are helpful when you're topic could be studied by a number of different disciplines.
- Diversity Database SuitePaid for by K-State Libraries
Provides a combined search for Ethnic NewsWatch and Ethnic NewsWatch History which feature newspapers, magazines, and journals from ethnic and minority presses; GenderWatch which features historical and current perspectives of gender roles; and Alt-PressWatch which showcases some of the nation’s most respected and cited grassroots publications. Searches can be narrowed to peer-reviewed publications. - JSTORPaid for by K-State Libraries
A full-text collection of more than 550 core journals ranging from history to business to literature to science and mathematics. Coverage begins with the first issue of a title, but the most recent three to five years of each title are usually not available. The full article text is searchable. - Project MusePublication Dates Covered: 1995 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Full-text scholarly journals in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Titles include the most widely held and heavily used core titles from noted academic publishers. Subjects include literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, mathematics and others.
Reports and Data
These sources provide facts and numbers on a variety of topics, from census data to major legislative issues to career data.
- CQ (Congressional Quarterly) Researcher Plus ArchivePublication Dates Covered: 1923 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Single-themed reports on current issues from Congressional Quarterly Press dating back to 1923. Topics include social trends, health concerns, the economy, education, and technology. Reports provide overview, background, pro/con arguments, chronologies, current situation, and bibliographies of additional sources.
- The Hashtag Syllabus ProjectThis site collects links to several hashtag syllabi. Due to age, not all syllabi are still active.
- Bureau of Justice StatisticsThe United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics.
- Census BureauGovernment agency responsible for the United States Census.
- Occupational Outlook HandbookThe OOH profiles hundreds of occupations, describes responsibilities, work environment, employment trends, more.
- Pew Research CenterThe Center conducts national surveys about public attitudes toward the press, politics, and public policy issues. The site contains both raw data, which can be downloaded, as well as commentary and summaries of findings. The newer data sets are in SPSS, and the older data is in ASCII text using a fixed format; Pew strongly recommends that only experienced analysts download these files.
News and Newspaper Databases
News sources can be primary or secondary sources.
Primary sources: If the article was written at the time of the event you are researching and includes interviews, photos, or reporting from eye-witnesses, it is a primary sources.
Secondary sources: If the article describes a the event in the past, indicating that most of the activity related to that event has ended, it is probably a secondary source.
Sometimes an article can be both, as when an article describes events happening today and then describes events in the past or events leading up to this one. Another tricky example is an article written at the time of an event but focuses on insight from experts instead of witnesses. Consider how you are using the article and what part is most important to your research.
- ProQuest US Newsstream
This link opens in a new window
Paid for by the State Library of Kansas
US Newsstream enables users to search current U.S. news content, as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. It features top newspapers, wires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, and news sites in full-text format. US Newsstream provides key national and regional news sources from the U.S. and includes exclusive and preferred access to top titles, including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune. US Newsstream is a subset of Global Newsstream. - New York Times, HistoricalPublication Dates Covered: 1851-2020 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Digitized version of The New York Times since its first issue in 1851. Search the full text of articles to find articles on a wide variety of topics. Full name of the database is ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index. - Newspaper Source PlusPaid for by K-State Libraries
Contains more than 1,000 full-text newspapers, television and radio news transcripts, videos, and podcasts from around the world.
Literature and Popular Culture Databases
- Encyclopedia of Popular MusicPaid for by K-State Libraries
Part of Oxford Music Online, the Encyclopedia of Popular Music covers all popular musical genres spanning from 1900 to the present day, including artist bibliographies and discographies. - MLA (Modern Language Association) International BibliographyPublication Dates Covered: 1926 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
This is the largest and most comprehensive database for literary criticism in all languages. Also covers folklore, linguistics, and film studies. Includes journal and book articles, books, and dissertations. Does not index book reviews in literary journals. - Music IndexPublication Dates Covered: 1976 - present Paid for by K-State Libraries
Articles and reviews published in academic journals and popular magazines on all aspects of music including styles such as classical, jazz, popular, folk, and world music, and the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, theory, applied and professional topics, music education, and the music industry.
K-State Libraries Books
You can find print and ebooks through K-State Libraries on almost any topic. Below are a sampling of the kinds of books you might find that are relevant.
Use the Search It box on the Libraries' home page and enter keywords related to your topic. Or, you can go to the main Search It page.
You can locate more books that introduce you to a topic by searching for your topic and terms like: encyclopedia, handbook, or dictionary.
You can limit your search results using the options that will appear on the left side of the screen on your Search It results page. Options include Resource Type (you can choose book or journal article) or date.
Do you have to read the whole book? Possibly not. You might find the information you need in a specific chapter or, in the case of the scholarly encyclopedias, an entry.
The Anthology of Rap by Call Number: Ebook - available online. ML3531 .A573 2010ISBN: 9780300141917Publication Date: 2011In The Anthology of Rap, editors Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois explore rap as a literary form, demonstrating that rap is also a wide-reaching and vital poetic tradition born of beats and rhymes. This pioneering anthology brings together more than three hundred rap and hip-hop lyrics written over thirty years, from the "old school" to the "golden age" to the present day. The volume also features an overview of rap poetics and the forces that shaped each period in rap's historical development, as well as a foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and afterwords by Chuck D and Common.
Ebook edition.
The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Civil Rights by Call Number: E185.61 .E54 2003ISBN: 9780313321719Publication Date: 2003The African American struggle for freedom and equality is one of the truly heroic elements of American history. This encyclopedia explores the struggle's successes and setbacks, from emancipation to the beginning of the 21st century. An impressive range of subjects covers everything from W.E.B. DuBois to early legislative acts, constitutional amendments of the mid-1800s, Black Is Beautiful, the tumultuous events of the 1960s, Al Sharpton, the Million Man March, and Adam Clayton Powell. Primary documents_personal vignettes, court cases, newspaper articles, and speeches_provide firsthand accounts and supplement the A-to-Z entries.
Hollywood's Indian by Call Number: PN1995.9.I48 H66 2003ISBN: 9780813190778Publication Date: 2003Offering both in-depth analyses of specific films and overviews of the industry's output, Hollywood's Indian provides insightful characterizations of the depiction of the Native Americans in film.
Latinas in the United States, Set by Call Number: E184.S75 L35 2006 and EbookISBN: 0253111692Publication Date: 2006Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia records the contribution of women of Latin American birth or heritage to the economic and cultural development of the United States. More than 200 scholars explore the experiences of Latinas during and after EuroAmerican colonization and conquest; the early-19th-century migration of Puerto Ricans and Cubans; 20th-century issues of migration, cultural tradition, labor, gender roles, community organization, and politics; and much more. Individual biographical entries profile women who have left their mark on the historical and cultural landscape.
Landmark Legal Cases
Many of your topics involve important, or landmark, law cases. K-State owns books that provide overviews of these cases, including a series from the University Press of Kansas known as the Landmark Law Cases and American Society Series. If you follow this link to Search It, you will see about 70 titles from that collection; scroll through to see if your case is included. Most of these books are available in Hale, unless they are checked out.
I've also included a sample of titles below.
Brown V. Board of Education by Call Number: KF4155 .C68 2003ISBN: 9780700612895Publication Date: 2003Before 1954, both law and custom mandated strict racial segregation throughout much of the nation. That began to change with Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark decision that overturned the pernicious "separate but equal" doctrine. In declaring that legally mandated school segregation was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court played a critical role in helping to dismantle America's own version of apartheid, Jim Crow. This new study of Brown--the title for a group of cases drawn from Kansas, Virginia, South Carolina, Delaware, and the District of Columbia--offers an insightful and original overview designed expressly for students and general readers.
The Japanese American Cases by Call Number: KF7224.5 .D36 2013ISBN: 9780700619252Publication Date: 2013After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt, claiming a never documented "military necessity," ordered the removal and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II solely because of their ancestry. As Roger Daniels movingly describes, almost all reluctantly obeyed their government and went peacefully to the desolate camps provided for them. Daniels, however, focuses on four Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, who, aided by a handful of lawyers, defied the government and their own community leaders by challenging the constitutionality of the government's orders.
Mendez V. Westminster by Call Number: KF4155 .S77 2010ISBN: 9780700617197Publication Date: 2010While Brown v. Board of Education remains much more famous, Mendez v. Westminster School District (1947) was actually the first case in which segregation in education was successfully challenged in federal court. Finally giving Mendez its due, Philippa Strum provides a concise and compelling account of its legal issues and legacy, while retaining its essential human face: that of Mexican Americans unwilling to accept second-class citizenship.
The Hashtag Syllabus
Want to know what resources professors recommend to each other when teaching topics related to race and/or injustice? Search the internet for a "hashtag syllabus." In each case, the "hashtag" is usually the most common hashtag associated with a movement or event.
A hashtag syllabus does not exist for every movement or event. BUT, you may be surprised by the resources you do find, even if they aren't exactly syllabi.
