HIST 491C / LAS 450/ AMS 490 / Africana 406: Race and Racism in the Americas (Spring 2025)

The Libraries have a LOT of e-journal subscriptions and hundreds of databases designed to help you find them. You can use PRIMO, the main catalog, to find interesting secondary sources (like articles!). For specialized  US history topics, you may want to try America: History and Life. Both work in a similar manner. 

NOTE: this is just a small listing of our databases. Full list of subject specific databases:

As noted earlier, databases each use the same keyword and subject system, so searching in the catalog will work in databases too. We can use the same searches as before to find articles.  Below are examples.

NOTE: you'll probably need to try these searches in multiple databases.

• The experiences of people of color on the Titanic
• Role of Irish Immigrants and Black Americans in the 1863 Draft Riots in NY
• Use of lyrics in the trial of Jeffrey Williams (Young Thug)
• Intentional misrepresentation and devaluation of Caribbean Music by Europeans, and later acceptance and incorporation by white artists
• superhumanization of Black people in rhetoric, possibly related to Nat Turner
• Racism and Medicine, as reflected by exploitation and experimentation on Black and/or enslaved persons
• Race relations at William & Mary, possibly related to fraternities and sororities
• Linguistic racism
• Race, class, and politics as represented through Jay-Z (Shawn Corey Carter)
• Criminalization of rap and hip-hop, as reflected in trail of Jeffrey Williams (Young Thug)
• Relationship and rift between W.E.B. Du Bois and the NAACP
• Haitian migration the US 1992-4 and American racialization of Haitian immigrants

• social impact of the Black Greek Letter organizations on the campus of William & Mary.
  • (black OR "African American" OR "African americans") AND ("Greek life" OR "Greek Letters" OR "Greek Letters" OR fraternit* OR sororit*) AND ("education, higher" OR "higher education") AND history
• Formation of the ideas of race in Colonial America
  • "colonial period" AND race 
  • racism pre 1776
• Somerset v. Stewart Case
  • (Somerset v. Stewart) OR "James Somerset"
  • slavery AND abolition* AND (england OR britain OR "united kingdom")
  • "Antislavery movements" AND "Great Britain" 
  • Somerset AND slavery 
• Skills of enslaved Africans in Colonial America
  • (slaves OR enslaved) AND (skill* OR trade*) AND "colonial period"
• Runaway slaves in Colonial America, showcasing autonomy
  • (runaway* OR "run away" OR "run aways") AND (slave* OR enslaved) AND ("united states" OR "colonial period" OR "colonial america")
  • agency AND (runaway* OR "run away" OR "run aways") AND (slave* OR enslaved) AND ("united states" OR "colonial period" OR "colonial america")
  • agency AND "fugitive slaves" AND "united states"
• Tuskegee Airmen
  • Tuskegee Airmen
  • "African American air pilots"
  • ("world war" AND 1945) AND ("African americans" OR "African american") AND (pilot* OR enlist* OR particip*)
  • ("world war II") AND ("African americans" OR "African american") AND (pilot* OR enlist* OR particip*)
• military desegregation
  • (military OR "armed forces") AND desegregation
• Frank E. Petersen Jr
  • "Frank E. Petersen" OR "Frank Petersen"
  • In AHL

• African Americans are portrayed in media
  • "African americans" AND media AND (depict* OR represent*)
  • "African americans" AND television AND (depict* OR represent*)
  • "African americans" AND film AND (depict* OR represent*)
  • "African americans" AND radio AND (depict* OR represent*)
• Emmett Till
  • "Emmett Till"
    • revised
• American Catholicism's relationship with racism.
  • (america* OR "united states") AND catholic* AND racism
  • catholic* AND racism
    • my buddy Kevin comes up a bunch of times again!
• American Protestant Christianity and its development alongside slavery
  • (america* OR "united states") AND (protestantism OR protestant*) AND slavery
    • subject search
• enslaved people were followers of the Christian message,
  • (america* OR "united states") AND (slaves OR enslaved) AND christian*
    • subject search
• race within William & Mary during the civil rights movement in the mid 1950’s,
  • ((race OR "civil rights") AND ("William and mary" OR "william & mary")) NOT SO (("William and mary" OR "william & mary"))
    • lots of false its
  • "civil rights" AND ("higher education" OR "Education, higher")
    • 1950s focus
• Black radical entertainers were suppressed by both the U.S. government and the entertainment industry, looking at how surveillance, blacklisting, and industry exclusion were used to silence them.
  • ("black" OR "African american"  OR "African americans") AND (entertainer* OR artist* OR perform* OR musician* OR singer*) AND (supress* OR surveillance OR blacklist* OR observ*)
• Paul Robeson
  • "Paul Robeson"
  • "Paul Robeson" AND (FBI OR "black listed" OR "black list" OR surveillance OR observat*)
• Nina Simone
  • "Nina Simone"
• black face by white students at the College of William and Mary
  • (blackface OR "black face" OR racism OR racist) AND ("william and mary" OR "william & mary")
  • (blackface OR "black face" OR racism OR racist) AND ("higher education" OR "education, higher")
• White Fraternities and Sororities  at the College of William and Mary
  • "White Fraternities" OR "White Sororities"  
  • "Fraternities" OR "Sororities"  
  • Greek letter societies