The UC San Diego Library has acquired quite a few collections of full texts of literary works by ethnic U.S. writers and/or writers from regions from which U.S. ethnic writers trace their roots, along with other collections such as newspapers and periodicals that are not primarily literary. In general, these texts may be searched by keyword. Many of the collections also contain information about the authors, the works, their publication or performance, etc.
African American Periodicals, 1825-1995. and African American Newspapers, 1827-1998.
African American Poetry contains nearly 3,000 poems by African American poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It provides a comprehensive survey of the early history of African American poetry, from the earliest published African American poems to the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar, the first African American poet to achieve national success and recognition. For a continuation, see Twentieth-Century .... (below).*
African Writers Series. For over 40 years, Heinemann's African Writers Series published the key texts of modern African literature. It has a unique importance in the history of postcolonial writing. This online edition includes over 250 volumes of fiction, poetry, drama and non-fictional prose, including works by Chinua Achebe, Ama Ata Aidoo, Steve Biko, Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, Bessie Head, Doris Lessing, Nelson Mandela, Dambudzo Marechera, Christopher Okigbo, Okot p'Bitek and Tayeb Salih.*
Afro-Americana Imprints, 1535-1922, from the Library Company of Philadelphia. Full text of books in all subjects published by, for, or about African Americans.
Asian American Drama. Currently has 252 plays by 42 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more.
Black Drama. Contains approximately 1200 plays by 200 playwrights, together with detailed, fielded information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs and other ephemera related to the plays. Some 440 of the plays are published here for the first time, including a number by major authors.
Black Short Fiction and Folklore: African, African American, and Diaspora Includes the texts of almost 11,700 short stories and a total of 82,000 pages of text, reproduced from books, little magazines, and archival sources.
Caribbean Literature is a searchable collection of poetry and fiction produced in the region during the 19th and 20th centuries. The titles selected by our editors are presented in the original: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, and various Creole languages. It also features dictionaries of the Creole spoken in these countries.
Latino Literature brings together more than 100,000 pages pages of poetry, fiction, and over 450 plays written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latino authors working in the United States. Among the gems of the collection are nearly 800 items (poems, novels, and plays) that have never been published before. Researchers will also find numerous Chicano folk tales and audio files of selected poems and plays. It contains over 133,465 pages.
Twentieth-Century African-American Poetry. Coverage begins with the key writers of the early decades, continues with major figures of the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts movement of the 1960s and concludes with a considerable body of writing of the 1980s and 1990s.*
International Index to Black Periodicals. (See box for Secondary Bibliographies). In addition to being an index, this resource contains the full texts from 1998 forward of about 90 African American periodicals.
*These are sections of Literature Online (LiON). Click here for a LibGuide devoted to the Literature Online database.
Although not specifically literary in nature, ethnic newspapers are extremely useful for obtaining book reviews and reviews of cultural activities, biographical information (including obituaries), notices of literary clubs, and other community information. Some of these resources contain the full text of the newspapers; others are just indexes to them.
Ethnic News Watch. 1960-present. Full text U.S. ethnic community newspapers, newsletters, magazines. Includes African-American, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian-Pacific, European-American, Hispanic, Jewish, Native-American. Searchable in English and Spanish.
African American Newspapers, 1828-1998. Full text, but due to the scarcity of original copies, only a few issues of some newspapers are available for digitization.
African American Newspapers. Full text of 6 newspapers: Freedom's Journal (1827-30); Colored American (1837-1841); North Star (1847-51); National Era (1847-50); Provincial Freeman (1854-55); and Frederick Douglass Paper (1851-52). Some years incomplete.
Black Historical Newspapers. Cover-to-cover article and page images of Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Chicago Defender (1910-1975), Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-40, 1946-2005), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993).
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980. See note for African American Newspapers.
Access World News. More than 1500 sources worldwide, including 650 in the U.S. Largely newspapers,local news video for the U.S.; newspapers for Canada, UK and other English-speaking countries. For the rest of the world mostly wire services, BBC news digests, etc. Dates of coverage vary -- many only go back a few decades.
Alternative Press Index. 1969-current. Citations to articles alternative, radical, and left publications in North America which report and analyze the practices and theories of cultural, economic, political, and social change.
