Guides: HIST 411: Topics in African History: National Liberation: Home

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African History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Feb 28, 2023 225 views this year

Librarian Office Hours

Wednesdays 10:00am - 12:00pm
Leacock 632
*Note: There will be no Office Hours on March 22 or 29, 2023.

Encyclopedias

The Oxford Handbook of Modern African History by John Parker and Richard Reid (Eds.)
Call Number: DT20 O94 2013
Publication Date: 2013
This book critically reflects upon the current state of the field of modern African history. It focuses on the history of the continent in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although also looks back to the era of the Atlantic slave trade. Its aim is to consider the evolution of the field and to set out where, after fifty years of sustained research, it has arrived.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History by Thomas T. Spear (Ed.)
Publication Date: 2016
Substantive, peer-reviewed, and regularly updated online encyclopedia of African History.

Find Primary Sources

Strategies for finding primary sources

If you have selected a figure:

Search for the figure in the Library Catalogue in the author field (au:) in the format Last First. Example: au:Azikiwe Nnamdi
After identifying a work by your figure, click on the author name to bring up more results.

Tip: Be sure to click Libraries Worldwide at the left to get more comprehensive results!

Library Catalogue

If you have selected a group:

First: After determining what the abbreviation stands for, search for this in the Library Catalogue as an exact phrase (in quotation marks). E.g.: "African National Congress".
Sort through the results to determine if any of these items are primary sources.
Next: Try a general web search (e.g., on Google) for the group and the word "archives." E.g., "African National Congress" archives.
If an archive exists, you may be able to find useful documents this way.
Finally: Try browsing the digital collections available below.

Digital Collections

Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa (JSTOR)
The liberation of Southern Africa and the dismantling of the Apartheid regime was one of the major political developments of the 20th century, with far-reaching consequences for people throughout Africa and around the globe. This collection focuses on the complex and varied liberation struggles in the region, with an emphasis on Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. It brings together materials from various archives and libraries throughout the world documenting colonial rule, dispersion of exiles, international intervention, and the worldwide networks that supported successive generations of resistance within the region.
Freedom Archives: African Liberation Movements
Our collection contains a wide range of materials representing liberation movements from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, and the Congo (DRC). Our collection also features containing Human Rights Reports from South Africa, IKWEZI, a revolutionary Azanian journal, and a sub-collection containing general resources about the continent. This collection includes audio and paper materials.

Strengths of the collection include materials on the role of women in African liberation struggles and national reconstruction, an interesting assortment of periodicals from Southern Africa, speeches and interviews with revolutionary leaders from across the continent, audio from solidarity events in the United States, and a set of human rights reports compiled during the transition from Apartheid to democracy in South Africa.
African Activist Archive
The African Activist Archive at Michigan State University is preserving and making available online the records of activism in the United States to support the struggles of African peoples against colonialism, apartheid, and social injustice from the 1950s through the 1990s. Find historical materials, personal remembrances, interviews with activists, and an iternational directory of collections deposited in libraries and archives.
Liberation Movements in Africa and African America
Composed of FBI surveillance files on the activities of the African Liberation Support Committee and All African People's Revolutionary Party; this collection provides two unique views on African American support for liberation struggles in Africa, the issue of Pan-Africanism, and the role of African independence movements as political leverage for domestic Black struggles.

Reader

African Liberation Reader by Aquino De Braganca; Immanuel Wallerstein (Editor)
Call Number: DT30 Q4513 1982
Publication Date: 1984
v. 2 The national liberation movements
v. 3. The strategy of liberation

Find Secondary Sources

Find books and eBooks

Library Catalogue

Find peer-reviewed articles

Africa-Wide Information (Ebsco)
- This link opens in a new window
Produced by NISC South Africa, this resource combines bibliographic databases from around the world to form a multidisciplinary aggregation of extensive coverage of all facets of Africa and African studies. Contains 3.2 million citations and abstracts dating back to the 16th century.

TIP: Try search Africa-Wide Information for the name of your subject and select "SUBJECTS ALL" as your search field. This should exclude out results of things named after your historical figure.

Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
- This link opens in a new window
This database contains references to journal articles, book reviews and some dissertations about the history of all parts of the world from 1450 on, EXCLUDING Canada and the United States. In the search options, select "Peer Reviewed" and enter "Historical Period" (e.g., Start Year: 1950 To End Year: 1989).

Citations

History as a discipline uses the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) for citations, and usually the Notes-Bibliography form. This requires creating properly formatted footnotes footnotes and a Bibliography for your assignments. Resources to understand the Chicago style of citations are included below.

The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
Call Number: Z253 U69 2017
Use VPN to access the electronic resource off-campus.

Guides

Chicago Manual of Style Citation Quick Guide
Purdue OWL Chicago Style Guide
Resource from Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) with explanations of how to write Chicago-style citations. Select the source type (books, periodicals, web sources) on the left-hand side.
McGill Library Citation Subject Guide
Under "citation styles by subject", select "History" for more resources on Chicago style.

Library Support

Attend a Chicago Citation Style Workshop
Virtual workshop on Chicago citation style offered by McGill librarians. Click the link to find the date and time and register!
Get Started with Zotero
Zotero is a free, open-source citation management system that will make it easier for you to write and cite throughout your undergraduate education and beyond! Get started early for the most benefits.

Liaison Librarian

Kristen Howard

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Contact:

McLennan Library Buildilng
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514-398-5550

Subjects: Classical studies, History, Indigenous studies, Religious studies