NEIU Libraries Research Guides: Urban Community Studies Research Guide: Reference Sources

Recommended E-Reference

Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
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The OED is the unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of English-language words, both present and past.
Credo Reference: Academic Core This link opens in a new window
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Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.

African American Almanac
This almanac is a unique and valuable resource devoted to illustrating and demystifying the moving, difficult, and often lost history of black life in America.
Encyclopedia of Chicago
Search thousands of historical resources, including articles, photos, maps, broadsides and newspapers, related to Chicago's history. From the Chicago Historical Society.
Human Rights Watch
HRW is an independent, nongovernmental organization focusing on human rights abuses and publishes numerous reports on countries and regions worldwide.
The World Factbook
Summary data (including maps) on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues of countries. Provided by the CIA.

Black Studies in Video This link opens in a new window
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This collection features award-winning documentaries, newsreels, interviews and archival footage surveying the evolution of black culture in the United States, many from producers California Newsreel and Filmmakers Library. At present, the collection includes 145 videos, totaling 141 hours, going back to 1969. Many of the videos also have transcriptions.

Say it Plain: A Century of Great African American Speeches
Transcripts and audio of selected speeches (Corporation for Public Broadcasting).