February 2009
Black History Month

With the inauguration of our first African-American president in January, Black History Month takes on a new significance this year. This wonderful event invites us to delve into our new president’s history, and to remember that the history of a wide range of ethnicities is the history of our country. The Library is here to guide you to resources to explore the history of all of our American roots. If you’re interested in African-American history, the list below will get you started. It is a very small sampling of the amazing number of excellent resources we have. Don’t hesitate to talk to a librarian. We love to explore history.

Our own faculty have researched and published on various aspects of black history, such as Black Workers Remember: An Oral History of Segregation, Unionism, and the Freedom Struggle by Professor Michael Honey (IAS).

Additionally, we have a very special collection held only by our UW Tacoma Library: Oral History Interviews of the Community History Project, 1991-2007. As described on the access page, the project was compiled by students enrolled in Honey's "Doing Community History" class. Students in that class have developed oral histories with scores of area residents, from union members to businesspeople, from Native Americans to African Americans, Latinos and Japanese Americans. As Honey writes, "oftentimes some of the most important information about the history of a community is lost because the people in it were not consulted or questioned by researchers. We would like to help preserve the history of this area, as told by the people themselves."

Encyclopedias, Dictionaries & Handbooks

All of the books listed below are available in the UW Tacoma Library. Don’t forget we have lots more where these came from.

• Encyclopedia of African American History 1619-1895: From the Colonial Period to the Age of Frederick Douglass, edited by Paul Finkelman.
• The Columbia Guide to African American History since 1939, edited by Robert L. Harris, Jr. and Rosalyn Terborg-Penn
• Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: the Black Experience in the Americas, edited by Colin A. Palmer
• Landmarks of African American History by James Oliver Horton
• A Companion to African American History, edited by Alton Hornsby

Online resources (NetID may be required)

• African American Newspapers
• Black Studies Center
• America: History & Life
• African Writers Online
• Cambridge Histories Online

DVDs available at the UW Tacoma Library

All of the DVDs listed below are available in the UW Tacoma Library. We have more titles available, so try searching our database.

• Senator Obama goes to Africa (video)
• What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party library (video)
• Ethnic Notions (video)

Black History on the Web

This is just a mere smattering of what’s available. Be sure to evaluate the website, though. You can use UW Librarian Jessica Albano’s guide to evaluating information at for guidance.

• African-American Experience in Ohio, 1850-1920
• African American Odyssey
• African American Pamphlets
• African American Women Writers of the 19th Century
• Documenting the American South
• African-American Journey
• African-American Mosaic
• From Slavery to Civil Rights: A timeline of African American History

Tip of the month

Book Dirt is the inside scoop on the UW Tacoma Library and everything it has to offer, provided by Carole Svensson, the Library's assistant director. Got an idea for a book to feature in Book Dirt? E-mail Carole at svensson@u.washington.edu.