Database Review

The African American Periodicals database offers researchers a wide variety of search options such as full text, headline, date, author, publication, citation text, as well as  the place of publication.  Their website offers viewers a Text Explorer tool to aid them in visualizing data using different methods such as clustering, frequencies, trends etc. The site boasts of more than 150 years of African American life being documented from the antebellum period to modernity. The site has digitized more than 170 periodicals, including journals, magazines, newsletters, bulletins, and annual reports. Thanks to the contributions of James P. Danky’s monumental African-American Newspapers and Periodicals and the Wisconsin Historical Society, this collection was born. The database has not digitized Danky’s entire catalogue, restricted by the Wisconsin Historical Society. The database’s collection is also valued within the library community.  Michelle Callaghan of the Favley Library Blog says that the African American Periodicals, 1825-1995 “It includes periodicals published in the twentieth century which are generally hard to find in digital collections as a result of copyright restrictions. Students and faculty alike will appreciate access to primary sources which reflect unique African American perspectives on the civil rights and black power movements” (Callaghan 2014).  Students or faculty can gain access to the database through their institutions. The database also offers a tool to help viewers create citations and share it with others,

 

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