Oxford African American Studies Center

The Oxford African American Studies Center is an engaging and visually appealing database dedicated to a comprehensive study of African American history from more than 600 years ago to today; as of this writing, it offers nearly 14,800 items. Searches result in biographies, subject entries, primary-source documents, images and multimedia, maps, charts, tables, and more. Familiar subjects such as Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. are covered, but obscure topics (e.g., the 1908 patent for the paper-rewind mechanism on an adding machine) are also addressed. Tabs allow sorting by document type, and filters on the left-hand side of the page—which include various time periods and subject-based categories—can be used to narrow the query before or after searching. A "Look It Up" function enables researchers to highlight a term in an entry and conduct a separate search for information on that topic.