-->
Skip to Main ContentThis guide is for students taking Dr. Adam Roberts's "Race and Religion in America" course (RLGN 2230, Spring 2018).
It lists some sources and provides link to others. Please don’t hesitate to see the reference librarian for assistance; the best resources for your own topic may not be mentioned on this guide.
You may also want to look at other guides, such as Loren Pinkerman’s guide on “School Desegregation & Civil Rights.”
Reference books are often the best place to start your research. They’ll provide background information on a topic, (usually) a bibliography of other sources you can consult, and often they’ll give you ideas of directions in which you can take your research, or search terms you can use.
The GALE Virtual Reference Library database provides PDF full text for several reference books, including two we also have in print:
Other reference books in Lewis Library (on the main level) include:
Note the call numbers, which indicate a book’s subject, for example:
Use our online catalog to find books and videos.
You can use a “Words or phrase” search, or determine the subject heading to find more books on a specific subject. When you find a good book, click on “Catalog record” and note the “Subject” terms. Here are a few used in our catalog:
Subject: Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity.
Racism--Religious aspects--Christianity.
Civil rights--Religious aspects
Race relations--Religious aspects--Methodist Church--History--20th century.
Civil rights movements--Southern States--History--20th century.
White supremacy movements--Southern States--History--20th century.
African Americans--Civil rights--Southern States--History--20th century.
Subject: United States--Race relations--History--20th century.
You can also, of course, do a “Subject” search for a person, such as Martin Luther King or Malcolm X.
Here’s a small sampling of books (currently on the lower level of the library) that may be of interest; you’ll find more in the same call number areas.
A tip on searching the online catalog: the truncation symbol is $, so religi$ will retrieve both “religion” and “religious”; raci$ will retrieve “racism,” “racial,” etc.
Don’t hesitate to see the reference librarian for assistance. He has access to a database that can search the Tables of Contents for many books the library owns (which may or may not show up in the catalog). He can also order on interlibrary loan any books (or articles) you want that the library doesn’t own.
You can access some of our e-books through the online catalog; others are in “E-book Central” (use this link or click “Find eBooks” on the library home page). Our e-books include:
If you want articles from periodicals (journals, magazines, or newspapers), we have several databases you can try.
In most databases (except those that search the full text, such as JSTOR and newspaper databases), you’ll want to use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to formulate your search, for example:
civil rights AND Georgia
race AND religion AND (america OR united states)
You may also want to use truncation, e.g., nonviolen* retrieves “nonviolence” and “nonviolent”; segregat* retrieves “segregation,” “segregated,” “segregationists,” etc.
For a review of tips on database searching, see this guide.
Here are links to a few of the articles available in the databases above (note the dates):
"LaGrange College Students Polled on Integration.” Atlanta Constitution Dec. 17, 1963, p. 18
Hurt, John J. “Klan Rallies Strength: Stages Comeback in Georgia—Ministers Deplore Rebirth of Movement.” Christian Century 65.52 (Dec. 29. 1948) 1440-1441.
Lloyd, Vincent W. “Organizing Race: Taking Race Seriously in Faith-based Community Organizing.” Journal of Religious Ethics 42.4 (Dec. 2014): 640-660.