The Black Studies Center (from ProQuest) -- providing a wealth of primary and secondary sources for the study of the Black experience in the United States, Africa, and around the world -- is now available from the VCU Libraries. This resource not only provides the vital foundation for in-depth research, but also reflects Black contributions in virtually every discipline, from medicine to education to economics. The lived experience of individuals across diverse times and places is placed in the larger contexts of political, economic, religious, and social movements and upheavals throughout history, from the ancient to the modern world. The struggles of individuals against the forces of history are shown in full detail.
At the heart of the Black Studies Center are four comprehensive resources:
- Schomburg Studies on the Black experience (from records in the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, part of the New York Public Library), which includes topical overviews by leading scholars in Black Studies, as well as dissertations, articles, book chapters, reference materials, bibliographies, and a multimedia library that is fully searchable.
- The Chicago Defender, 1910-1975 (the most influential African-American newspaper of its time in the U.S.), reporting on such transformative events as the "Great Migration," in which 1.5 million African-Americans left the segregated South for the industrial North, arguing vigorously for anti-lynching legislation, and publishing noted Black intellectuals and writers, including Langston Hughes, Walter White, and early work by Gwendolyn Brooks.
- The International Index to Black Periodicals - Full Text (with new documents added regularly) provides multidisciplinary coverage of cultural, economic, historical, religious, social, and political issues that have shaped Black history across the world.
- The Black Literature Index (with over 70,000 citations), allowing users to locate records of fiction, poetry, and literary reviews published in 100 black periodicals and newspapers between 1827 and 1940.
With multimedia, historical timelines, glossary of terms, and extensive contextual materials, Black Studies Center makes rare and unique primary sources available to researchers who can find connections and trace the influences that illuminate the past, present, and future of the Black experience.