For the student of African-American history, St. Louis County Library has a premier research tool: Facts on File-African American History Online. There are numerous print resources, such as those by Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr, especially at the Headquarters Reference Department, but the Facts on File database is an outstanding one-stop site. What makes it so special? The site has a simple menu under "Browse" of biographies, events and topics, primary sources, timelines, images, videos, and maps and charts. Topic centers are helpful in that they provide overview essays, a listing of important events and topics, key people, primary sources, and maps.
For example, under the topic center on the slave trade, there is an entry for Benjamin Banneker, mathematician and astronomer, along with his picture. There are useful charts, such as one showing average prices for "prime field hands" in New Orleans compared with cotton prices in New York from 1800 to 1860. The images, maps and videos can be e-mailed and saved into documents. These features will enhance a research paper. The essays are from print resources, such as the Encyclopedia of African-American History, so the student can provide a citation that is authoritative.
Facts on File-African American History Online is a useful tool for research and education, providing multiple sources of information in an easy to access format.
--Harry C., Reference
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