Product Info

Library Media Connection, April/May 2007

"This comprehensive, in-depth research database presents an uncluttered, easy-to-use, and appealing online research database. Over 300 titles, new material from major print reference sets, and regular updates provide reliable, authoritative information on African-American life, history, and culture. Primary source materials include slave narratives, classic, texts, letters, laws and legal cases, speeches and quotations, and audio files of interviews and music. ... Photographs, maps, and images, as well as classroom resources such as lesson plans and essay for teachers, complement the online material. Designed for uses in high school through adult, the intuitive interface and lack of advertising and clutter make this database a valuable curriculum support especially for those schools with a strong Black-American curriculum. RECOMMENDED."

Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin, February 1, 2007

A comparison of The African American Experience to another online resource was reviewed in Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin's February 1, 2007 issue in their "Spotlight on Black History Databases." In it, they said:

"Both databases are intended for a wide audience, ranging from the middle-school student to teachers and researchers. Which to choose if your library can't afford both? Apart from the relative merits of (and your preferences for) the core encyclopedias on which they are based, African American Experience offers a more impressive array of different kinds of data, and it also has a more well-developed classroom area."

School Library Journal, February 2007

"This database provides a unique opportunity for students to easily investigate and explore the rich history and heritage of African American culture. ... Greenwood's African American Experience (AAE) database provides students with a clean, yet jazzy-looking home page that displays an easy-to-access list of contents to begin browsing. ...

Students will find the AAE easy to use and informative for quick access to general topics of interest and as a primary source for research of in-depth subjects ranging from slavery to music, from business to politics. With a wide range of informational content and additional resources provided on the sides or each results page, students will easily locate not only the information that they need but also perhaps information that they were not aware of until now.

Teachers will be amazed at the specialized lesson plans that utilize the content of the database to creatively provide opportunities for instruction in either the high school or college classroom. ...

Librarians will find that the AAE "drips" with educational content for students and teachers at both the high school and the college levels. With information not generally found in most reference collections, this database is comparable to only a few specialized databases, and at a price that could not be reproduced by collection the individual resources.

With school libraries in mind, Greenwood's African American Experience deserves an A+ for providing not only a uniquely specialized database filled with exceptional content but also quality resources to help teachers develop unique and thought-provoking lessons. ... This database paves the way for great opportunities in cultural studies at both the high school and college levels."

Choice, January 2007

"Impressively provides access in full or part to over 200 Greenwood reference and monographic titles relating to African American culture and history; it also includes 67 Negro University Press classic texts, the WPA slave narratives, and other primary documents....The strongest subject content is in history, literature, music, folklore, politics, civil rights, criminal justice, and biography. Quotations, images, audio files, and teacher lesson plans are available for many topics. The library subject specialists and university professors composing the advisory board have vast experience with African American reference materials and primary documents....The AAE database is reasonably priced for its coverage and would be useful for all academic libraries. Recommended. All levels."

Library Journal, November 15, 2006

"I recently reviewed the Oxford African American Studies Center (LJ 7/06). It merited an unprecedented 11 (out of ten) and was recommended for all libraries. AAE deserves a similar rating, within certain contexts. For school and public libraries, it's an 11 for its extraordinary combination of content and design. For academic libraries, it gets a 10 - still outstanding but with not quite as much in-depth research content as the Oxford product. Frankly, it would be a boon if the two files were combined, but I'd serve them up the Greenwood way. ...The Bottom Line The African American Experience is enthusiastically recommended for school and public libraries and strongly recommended for academic institutions."

Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin, November 1, 2006

"African American Experience (AAE) is a compilation of more than 300 of the publisher's relevant print publications, including monographs, encyclopedias an dictionaries, and primary sources....Content is very good. Thousands of biographical entries, probably AAE's strongest feature, cover earliest times to the twenty-first century and range in length from short paragraphs to encyclopedic treatment. But there are also topical entries in the areas of arts and literature, culture, history and politics, religion, sociology and more. The full text of letters and speeches from Kennedy, King, and others; audio files with songs and interviews of former slaves; and transcripts of thousands of slave narratives add immeasurably to our understanding of related encyclopedia entries....African American Experience is appropriate for libraries serving middle- and high-school through adult patrons. Content is very rich."