Public Library Of Youngstown & Mahoning County: Black History Month Using Library Online Resources

Press release from the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County:

Sara Churchill

February 1st, 2022

February has been the official month devoted to Black History since 1976; but it’s origins actually go back to 1915 with the formation of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). For more about the origins, both History.com and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) have detailed articles. There are lots of websites that can be found by Googling “Black History Month,” such as: BlackHistoryMonth.gov. But let’s not forget the many online resources that your library card provides freely to you. 

This tour of library online resource begins with the resources filled with historical information: 

One resource dedicated to African American History is Black Freedom Struggle. This resource is filled with a variety of primary source documents, such as letters, lectures, articles, and government documents. They are divided up among the following time period categories: 

There is a lot to find here, as it covers challenges and triumphs for African Americans in the U.S. through history. 

Another history resource is History Reference Center. You can either browse by subjects, such as: Slave Trade, Abolition, and Civil Rights Movement; or you can do a keyword search for history articles. A keyword search which finds a  over 20,000 articles is: “African Americans or Black Americans or Blacks.” The results can be narrowed down using the search filters on the left-side of the screen for: Publication Date, Source Type (Book, Magazine, Primary Source, etc.), and Subject.  

Gale eBooks provides full text access to many books which were formerly only available by going to a library’s reference collection for in-library use only. But, now with this resource and your library card, you can use these books anywhere in the world on any device that connects to the internet! Among the eBooks here with information on African American history and famous first facts, is The African American Almanac.  Doing a keyword search for: “African Americans” will find not only articles from that eBook, but many other titles as well, in fact over 12,000 articles will be found. 

Salem Online provides full text, online access to Working Americans Vol. 14: African Americans. This covers the work life history from 1898 through 2016. As noted by the publisher,  

“The African-American struggle and triumph comes to life in these pages, from the Emancipation Proclamation and racial segregation, to the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement, to the first African-American president. This volume provides information on what it meant and means to be an African American—from the 1800s to the present day.” 

Along with reading about history, there are resources which include videos to watch: 

Hoopla is the streaming resource from our library, providing access to ebooks, audiobooks, music, movies and television shows. A keyword search for “Black History” finds over 16,000 results. Searching “African American History” finds over 800 results. With the keyword searches, you can use the filters on the left to narrow the results by Format (eBook, Audiobook, Music, Television, Comics, or Movies) and by Release Date, by Date Added, and even by User Rating. Plus, Hoopla has a featured collection of 9 movies devoted to Martin Luther King Jr. Day which, while celebrated in January, is still very relevant for February’s Black History Month. 

Digital Video Collection from INFOhio is one of these. When you open this resource, check out the Playlists found in the right-hand column. There is a collection of 5 videos for Martin Luther King, and a collection of 9 videos for Black History Month.  

A resource that you might think only has eBooks is the eBook Collection from EBSCO. However, a keyword search for: “African Americans or Black Americans or Blacks,” finds over 4,000 videos along with 634 eBook results! 

We have three versions of Explora from EBSCO. These resources provide access to articles, books, and videos. Explora Public Libraries found over 25,000 results with a keyword search for “African American History,” which includes 22 videos. Using the same search in Explora Secondary Schools finds over 24,000 results, and, for our younger school-age users, Explora Primary Schools finds over 3,000 results. While the article and book results differ from each version of Explora, they all find the same 22 videos to watch. 

As I am now covering some resources for the school age users, another great resource for Kindergarten through 12th grade is Lincoln Library Online from FactCite. You can browse subjects to find African American History topics by clicking on American History. Then scroll down to The African American Experience where you will see 4 topics to choose:  

Or choose Defining Moments in U.S. History. Scroll to Index by Topic and under African American Experience, there are 8 topics:  

Of course, you can also do a keyword search for “African Americans or Blacks” and find over 1,000 articles. 

Gale in Context: Elementary is for Kindergarten through 5th grade. A search for: “African Americans or Black Americans or Blacks,” finds over 150 Book Articles, over 6,000 News, over 1,000 Magazines, over 700 Biographies, and over 800 pictures. Results can be narrowed down by using the filters on the right such as: Publication Date, Subjects, and Document Type. 

Capstone Interactive eBooks is one of the new online resources. Geared for grades 3-6, you can find full text and read aloud access to some great Black history eBooks here. On the opening screen, there is A Primary Source History of Slavery in the United States. A keyword search for “African American” finds 7 books.  

Highlights Library is much more than the children’s magazine many of us remember from our childhoods. This online resource provides full text access to many children’s books and videos. A keyword search for “African American” finds 47 titles. Clicking the F to exclude the fiction titles, leaves 28 non-fiction books. 

Pebble Go Next, another newer online resource, is for grades 3-5. This resource has very limited keyword searching for articles. Instead, it works best by browsing the subjects, and once you find a good article for your topic of interest, then click on the related articles tab. To find articles for African American History month, click on Social Studies, then United States, next U.S. History, and finally Civil Rights. 5 topics are provided: 

Following the same path, after U.S. History, you could also choose Important People in U.S. History. Among the relevant topics that next appear are: 

Wanting to know more about prominent African Americans? Then go to Biography Reference Center and click on African Americans in the Biographies by Genre column on the right-side of the screen. You will see a huge A to Z listing of names.  Each listing has the person’s name, occupation, and years of life, plus a camera symbol to show that a picture of the person is available. Clicking on a name will lead you to a brief biography and then links to detailed biographies.  

Another resource with lots of biographies of African Americans, which was mentioned earlier, is Lincoln Library Online. Click on U.S. & World Biography, then under Society & Social Reform click on African Americans. You will find a long list divided into 3 categories: People, First Ladies, and Associate Justices. 

To end, let’s take a look at World Book Timelines. For African American History month, you can do a keyword search for “African American,” and 2 Timelines are available: 

You can also find relevant timelines by browsing. Browse Notable People, then Notable Americans, and you can choose from the following timelines: 

Using this blog, I hope you find much to discover in your quest to learn more about African American History this month. And for those whom it inspires to look into their own family’s history, the library has a great genealogy resource available: African American Heritage.

Sara Churchill

Sara Churchill is the Digital Services Specialist and Assistant Supervisor in the Information Services Department at Main Library. A major fan of technology devices and computer research resources at work, she enjoys helping everyone learn to use their devices and the library's many online resources.  She loves reading Science Fiction/Fantasy books, British cozy mysteries, True Crime and other true stories, plus a past reader of horror fiction by the likes of Stephen King and John Saul (among others).  Also, she’s a big fan of Sci-fi, action, horror, spaghetti westerns, and based-on-a-true story movies.  Her blogs are for adults and the entire family to enjoy reading and trying out the many online resources free for PLYMC library cardholders to use.

This press release was produced by the Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County. The views expressed here are the author’s own.