About

The African American Experience

The African American Experience is the widest ranging and easiest-to-use online database collection on African American history and culture.

Database Content Selection and Curation

ABC-CLIO is an award-winning publisher of reference, contemporary thought, and professional development content, created to help students, educators,librarians, and general readers of all ages wrestle with complex challenges. Throughout our history, we have invested resources in the development of new content genres, giving our diverse customer and reader communities the opportunity to explore deep factual treatments of the topics that matter, and delivering the most current scholarship and perspectives on those topics.

Our experienced editorial staff compiles database content from a variety of sources, including ABC-CLIO’s award-winning books, recognized scholars and writers in various fields, educators, and professional development specialists. Our curriculum content includes Topic Essentials video presentations developed with the guidance of master teachers. Our master teachers are at the top of their fields, with decades of combined teaching experience. All content is aligned to state and national standards, including Common Core, American Association of School Librarians, and the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework.

Some of the materials we present in our Commentaries and other curriculum pieces blend scholarly hypotheses with supporting evidence. They are designed to teach students the art of formulating informed theses and to stimulate discussion of the arguments presented. Our expert authors are asked to craft well-reasoned arguments from their particular points of view. As a result, these pieces can be challenging, even controversial. The opinions represented do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ABC-CLIO staff.

Our databases comprise hundreds of thousands of entries; each piece of content is reviewed by multiple editorial staff to ensure content is age-appropriate to the database it is in (Schools or Academic). In our database coverage, we strive to include the voices, stories, and experiences of a wide diversity of peoples, including the stories of those that have been historically underrepresented.

Objectivity and Review

Objectivity and balance are always of the utmost importance to our staff, both in writing pieces and editing work submitted by contributors. We are guided by our editorial boards and advisers, as well as our own editorial policies and fact-checking procedures. Recognizing that every person has inherent bias, we strive toward creating and curating content that is as factual and as free of bias as possible, and have included bias checks and balances as an essential part of our editorial review.

Content Warnings

As a reference publisher, ABC-CLIO aims to present impartial, scholar-driven content supplemented by full collections of primary sources in their original forms. These sources offer historical context and value in enhancing students' understanding of how modern ideas, beliefs, and societal structures are influenced by our past—including prejudices and biases. Primary sources, as fragments of history, often reflect attitudes and values of individuals in particular time periods. Acknowledging dehumanizing language, for example, can be an important part of understanding historical events.

Some of this content may be upsetting or disturbing to modern readers, but we have avoided censoring such terminology in order to both retain historical accuracy and to offer opportunities for students to make connections between past attitudes and ideas, and their roles in shaping many contemporary issues in American society.

We flag instances of harmful terminology and potentially disturbing images with content warnings and encourage teachers to set guidelines for approaching such content in the classroom, especially where material may be quoted or read out loud.

Translations, Closed Captions, and Transcripts

Translations, closed captions, and transcripts are provided by a third-party service to improve accessibility and usage for all users. ABC-CLIO does not review all of the technology-generated content of translations, closed captions, or transcripts and they may contain errors. ABC-CLIO makes no representations or warranties about the accuracy, reliability, timeliness or completeness of any information that appears, and expressly disclaims any responsibility or liability with respect to any errors or omissions.

Questions and Feedback

Drop us a line if you have any questions on the specific editorial policies of any of our Schools or Academic Databases at: customerservice@abc-clio.com.

Click here to learn more about ABC-CLIO's Mission and Vision

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The African American Experience Team

Editorial
Judy Fay, Sr. Director, Digital
Julie Dunbar, Manager, Editorial Development
Nita Lang, Editorial Specialist
Jennifer Hutchinson, Sr. Writer/Editor
Ellen Rasmussen, Sr. Media Editor
Tamara Johnson, Writer/Editor
Mary Bagne, Project Editor
Nicki Griffin, Curriculum Specialist

Technical
Susan Basch, Sr. Developer
Chris Martinich, Developer
Eelco Vrolijk, Principal Engineer
Neal Schaefer, Director, Product and Content Management Systems

ABC-CLIO Database Advisors
Paul R. Bartrop, PhD, Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Human Rights Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University
Lee W. Eysturlid, PhD, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
Trinidad Gonzales, MA, PhD, South Texas College
Kyle T. Mays, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Tarissa Spoonhunter, MA, PhD, High Plains American Indian Research Institute at University of Wyoming
John R. Vile, PhD, Middle Tennessee State University
Xiaojian Zhao, PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara

Photo Credits: Home Page Carousel
Africa and the Atlantic, 500-1550—Alan Gignoux/Dreamstime.com
Africans in Colonial North America, 1550s-1760—MPI/Getty Images
Hopes for a New Nation, 1763-1816—Lebrecht Music & Arts/Alamy Stock Photo
Pre-Civil War Era, 1816-1846—Library of Congress
Civil War and Emancipation, 1846-1877—Library of Congress
Rise of Jim Crow, 1877-1895—Library of Congress
The Progressive Era, 1895-1917—Library of Congress
World War I to the Great Depression, 1917-1939—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
World War II and Post-War Integration, 1939-1954—Universal History Archive/UIG/Bridgeman Images
Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1965—AGIP/Bridgeman Images
Black Power Movement, 1965-1979—Bettmann/Corbis
Urban Politics and the Shifting Landscape, 1979-1991—AP Photo
Dawning of a New Era, 1992-2000—Consolidated News Pictures/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
New Millennium, 2001-Present—AP Photo/Lynne Sladky