On January 11, Kimberly Williams brought her Black Culture & Society class to SBU. The students had chosen a Black historical figure to research, with the goal of creating a presentation. When they came to SBU, they were able to explore a plethora of primary sources using databases such as video interviews with prominent twentieth and twenty-first century African Americans using the database, HistoryMakers, historical newspaper articles from the database, African American Newspapers, and historical collections of newspapers such as The New York Times and Chicago Tribune.
Before searching for content, they had to think carefully about the time period in which their historical figure lived, so that they could make sure they were searching in a database that covers that same time period. They thought about what relevant search terms, besides the person’s name, might be valuable, and how to find obituaries from a variety of different newspapers and historical eras.
