General Resources
New to music research? Consider starting at the Music History Research Guide where you will learn strategies for finding and utilizing reference sources, books, articles, scores, audio, and other formats available from University Libraries.
Databases for Reference and Research
Scholarly Encyclopedias
- New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,
Music Collection Reference ML100 .N48 2001 - Grove Music Online (online version of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians)
"African American Music" article in Grove Music Online - International Dictionary of Black Composers, edited by Samuel Floyd
Music Collection Reference ML 105 .I5 1999 - The African American National Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
E185.96 .A4466 2008
Online: http://tinyurl.com/y4yzfplh - Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895
E185 .E5453 2009 (also available online using the same link)
Online Resources (Log in Required from Off Campus)
- Oxford Music Online
- Naxos Music Library - over 1,000,000 tracks from classical CD labels
- RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
- Music Index indexing to hundreds of music periodicals in English
- America: History & Life
- Historical Abstracts
Free Online Resources (No log in required)
- Open Music Library
- National Museum of African American History and Culture: Music
- AfriClassical.com: African Heritage in Classical Music
Print Reference and General Works
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-First Century by
Focusing on the making of African American society from the 1896 "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson up to the contemporary period, this encyclopedia traces the transition from the Reconstruction Era to the age of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Brown ruling that overturned Plessy, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ascendant influence of African American culture on the American cultural landscape. Covering African American history in all areas of U.S. history and culture from 1896 to the present, the Encyclopedia contains approximately 1,200 fully cross-referenced entries that are all signed by leading scholars and experts, making this five-volume set the most reliable and extensive treatment to be found on African American history in the twentieth century. The set also contains 500 images and roughly 640 biographies, as well as an entry on each of the fifty states. In addition to its comprehensive coverage of African Americans, the Encyclopedia also contains entries about key figures who affected the lives of African Americans in particular and Americans in general. Unrivalled in breadth and scope, this is the preeminent source of information on this topic and is destined to become a trusted reference source for years to come.
Call Number: E185 .E5453 2009 V.1-5 (General Collection) and Oxford Reference OnlinePublication Date: 2009
The African American National Biography by
The African American National Biography presents history through a mosaic of the lives of thousands of individuals, illuminating the abiding influence of persons of African descent on the life of this nation from the arrival of Esteban in Spanish Florida in 1529 through to notable Black citizens of the present day. Available initially as a handsome eight-volume set containing over 4,000 entries written and signed by distinguished scholars, the AANB continues to grow along with the field of African American biographical research, and continuous updates to the online edition will bring the total number of lives profiled to more than 5,000. This is a remarkable achievement, an eightfold increase over the number of biographies contained in 2004's award-winning and substantial African American Lives. In addition to Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Martin Luther King Jr., the AANB includes a wide range of African Americans from all time periods and all walks of life, both famous and nearly-forgotten. In the words of AANB editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "These stories, long buried in the dusty archives of history, will never be lost again. And that is what scholarship in the field of African American Studies should be all about."
Call Number: E185.96 .A4466 2008 V.1-8 (General Collection)Publication Date: 2008
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music by
v. 1. Africa / Ruth M. Stone, editor -- v. 2. South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean / Dale A. Olsen and Daniel, editors -- v. 3. The United States and Canada / Ellen Koskoff, editor -- v. 4. Southeast Asia / Terry E. Miller and Sean Williams, editors -- v. 5. South Asia / Alison Arnold -- v. 6. The Middle East / Virginia Danielson, Scott Marcus, and Dwight Reynolds, editors -- v. 7. East Asia; China, Japan, and Korea / Robert C. Provine, Yosihiko Tokumaru, and J. Lawrence Witzleben, editors -- v. 8. Europe / Timothy Rice, James Porter, and Chris Goertzen -- v. 9. Australia and the Pacific Islands / Adrienne L. Kaeppler and J. W. Love, editors -- v. 10. The world's music: general perspectives and reference tools / Ruth M. Stone, editor.
Call Number: ML100 .G16 1998 V.1-10 (Music Reference) and Music OnlinePublication Date: 1998
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz by
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition is the largest, most comprehensive and accurate reference work on jazz ever published, putting the world of jazz at your fingertips. With articles on every aspect of the field, from jazz groups, composers and arrangers to instruments, terms, record labels and venues, the new edition is the ideal companion for scholars and enthusiasts in this rapidly growing field. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition is unique:* No other title covers jazz to this extent across all forms and styles* The only way to be completely up-to-date with the full scope of writing in this field* Provides new perspectives to established areas of study--musicology, film and media, American studies, modern social history, women's studies and cultural studies, to name a few* Offers a one-stop resource to all the key names in the jazz world
Call Number: ML102.J3 N48 2002 V.1-3 (Music Reference)Publication Date: 2003
International Dictionary of Black Composers by
Worldwide in scope, this handsome two-volume set profiles composers of African heritage on several continents. Both those who composed for the concert hall as well as composers of popular and vernacular forms are included. The preface lays out the criteria for inclusion: classical and theater composers are covered if they have a substantial body of work that has been published or recorded. Composers of vernacular or popular music are included if they have composed music that has "circulated within performing repertories and had a substantial impact on the elaboration of the traditions of blues, ragtime, jazz, gospel" and other popular genres. Although all genres of music are represented, close to half of the 185 entries are on classical composers. This is one of the strengths of the set because black composers of popular forms are more widely represented elsewhere.
Call Number: ML105 .I5 1999 V.1-2 (Music Reference)Publication Date: 1999
Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919 by
A groundbreaking history of African Americans in the early recording industry, Lost Sounds examines the first three decades of sound recording in the United States, charting the surprising roles Black artists played in the period leading up to the Jazz Age and the remarkably wide range of Black music and culture they preserved. Drawing on more than thirty years of scholarship, Tim Brooks identifies key Black recording artists and profiles forty audio pioneers. Brooks assesses the careers and recordings of George W. Johnson, Bert Williams, George Walker, Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, W. C. Handy, James Reese Europe, Wilbur Sweatman, Harry T. Burleigh, Roland Hayes, Booker T. Washington, and boxing champion Jack Johnson, plus a host of lesser-known voices. Many of these pioneers struggled to be heard in an era of rampant discrimination. Their stories detail the forces--Black and white--that gradually allowed African Americans to enter the mainstream entertainment industry. Lost Sounds includes Brooks's selected discography of CD reissues and an appendix by Dick Spottswood describing early recordings by Black artists in the Caribbean and South America.
Call Number: ML3479 .B76 2004Publication Date: 2004
From Jubilee to Hip Hop: Readings in African American Music by
From Jubilee to Hip Hop includes 36 reading selections that underscore the breadth and variety of African American musical culture. Each of these selections relates something notable and interesting about African American musical culture since the Emancipation, whether it is Marian Anderson's recollection of the legendary 1939 DAR Constitution Hall debacle, or John Chilton's story of the impact of Louis Jordan's song, "Caldonia."
Call Number: ML3479 .F76 2010Publication Date: 2010
African American Music: An Introduction by
African American Music: An Introduction is a collection of thirty essays by leading scholars which survey major African American musical genres, both sacred and secular, from slavery to the present. The work brings together, in a single volume, treatments of African American music that have existed largely independent of each other. The research is based in large part on ethnographic fieldwork, which privileges the voices of the music-makers themselves, while interpreting their narratives through a richly textured mosaic of history and culture. The book is replete with references to seminal recordings and recording artists, musical transcriptions, photographs, and illustrations that bring the music to life as expressions of human beings. At the same time, it includes the kind of musical specificity that brings clarity to the structural, melodic, and rhythmic characteristics that both distinguish and unify the music of African-Americans.
Call Number: ML3556 .A34 2006Publication Date: 2006
Lift Every Voice: The History of African American Music (Print and eBook) by
Since their enslavement in West Africa and transport to plantations of the New World, Black people have made music that has been deeply entwined with their religious, community, and individual identities. Music was one of the most important constant elements of African American culture in the centuries-long journey from slavery to freedom. It also continued to play this role in Blacks' post-emancipation odyssey from second-class citizenship to full equality. Lift Every Voice traces the roots of Black music in Africa and slavery and its evolution in the United States from the end of slavery to the present day. The music's creators, consumers, and distributors are all part of the story. Musical genres such as spirituals, ragtime, the blues, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, rock, soul, and hip-hop--as well as Black contributions to classical, country, and other American music forms--depict the continuities and innovations that mark both the music and the history of African Americans. A rich selection of documents help to define the place of music within African American communities and the nation as a whole.
Call Number: ML3556 .P45 2009 and ProQuest Ebook CentralPublication Date: 2009
Black American Music: Past and Present by
Revised and expanded, this important text is designed to introduce the beginning scholar to various types of Pan-African music, from Africa to the Americas. With an emphasis upon the African American composer, this survey uses musical examples and illustrations to pinpoint beginning influences, the slave era, the emergence of the Black professional, and contemporary trends. Discussions center upon classical and popular forms, and offer the music of William Grant Still alongside that of such jazz personalities as Edward (Duke) Ellington, Ferdinand (Jelly Roll) Morton, rap artist M. C. Hammer, and rock star Michael Jackson. Suitable for use in semester-length courses on African American Music, the book captures the fascinating story of a proud heritage whose roots grew centuries ago, and whose influences serve as a backdrop not only for African American music, but as a cornerstone for other American music as well.
Call Number: ML3556 .R58 1992Publication Date: 1992
The Music of Black Americans: A History by
This text provides comprehensive coverage of Black American music, from the arrival of the first Africans in the English colonies to contemporary developments in African-American history. The book draws on authentic documents, from colonial times to the present, to illuminate the history of Black music. The evolution of various genres, instrumentation, minstrelsy, dance, religious aspects, recording companies, and musical theater are all dealt with meticulously. A chronology of important events at the beginning of each chapter and extensive bibliographies and discographies help greatly in navigating the massive amount of material. An important addition to this edition is expanded coverage of women composers and performers.
Call Number: ML3556 .S74 1997Publication Date: 1997
Readings in Black American Music by
The collection includes documents dating from early America through the twentieth century. Monumental figures such as Frederick Douglass, Solomon Northrup, W. E. B. DuBois, W. C. Handy, Ethel Waters, Dizzy Gillespie, Imamu Baraka, and Martha Jackson are represented, as are several complete musical works, by Francis Johnson and others.
Call Number: ML3556 .S75Publication Date: 1972
Online Resources
Archives and Libraries:
- Archives of African American Music and Culture (AAMC) at Indiana University
- The Center for Black Music Research at Columbia College, Chicago
- The Blues Archive at The University of Missisippi Libraries
- Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University
- Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz at Tulane University
- Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives at the University of the District of Columbia
- Chicago Jazz Archive at the University of Chicago (Focus on jazz in Chicago)
- Fillius Jazz Archive at Hamilton College (Clinton, NY)
- Jazz Archive at Duke University
- Jazz at the National Archives
- Sonny Rollins International Jazz Archives at the University of Pittsburgh
- Montreux Jazz Digital Project (Lausanne, Switzerland)
- Spirituals at the Library of Congress American Folklife Center
- African-American Band Music & Recordings, 1883 to 1923 at the Library of Congress (recordings and sheet music, mainly popular song)
Blogs:
- AfriClassical blog: news about classical performers & composers of African heritage
- Center for Black Music Research blog
- Black Grooves, a review site for music & books about music
Websites:
- Afrocentric Voices in "Classical" Music
- Mississippi Blues Trail, an organization that has placed markers at locations of significance in Mississippi
- National Museum of African American Music
- The Spirituals Database
Black History Resources:
- National Archives Library Information Center (ALIC) Black History resources
- Moorland-Spingarn Research Center at Howard University
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)
- Stone Center Library for Black Culture & History at the University of North Carolina
- Black Archives of Mid-America (Kansas City)
Film and Video Resources:
- Folkstreams video archives
- Kanopy educational videos (Log in required from off campus)
Interlibrary Loan
Users are encouraged to search for items beyond University Libraries' catalog via RILM Abstracts of Music Literature and WorldCat. Materials not available in print or online may be requested through Interlibrary Loan. Please allow up to seven days for electronic delivery and up to fourteen days for delivery of physical items.