THET 496 / WMST 496: African American Women Filmmakers

Instructor: Mary Hardcastle
Librarian: Judy Markowitz

This guide will assist you in locating resources for your THET 496 assignments. For additional information contact Judy Markowitz, Reference Librarian, 301-314-1316. judym@umd.edu.

table of Contents

• Bogle, Donald. Blacks in American Films and Television: an Encyclopedia.
  MCK STKS PN1995.9.N4B58 1988 FOLIO

• Contemporary Black Biography. MCK REF E185.96.C66

• Foster, Gwendolyn. Women Film Directors. An International Bio-Critical Dictionary.
  MCK REF PN1998.2.F67 1995

• Moon, Spencer. Reel Black Talk. A Sourcebook of 50 American Filmmakers.
  MCK REF PN1998.2.M66 1997

• Unterburger, Amy, ed. The St. James Women Filmmakers Encyclopedia. Women on the Other Side of the Camera. MCK REF PN1998.2.S683 1999

Use the THE CATALOG to locate materials you found cited in the above sources and to locate additional materials.

Examples of different kinds of citations you might find:

• Juhasz, ALexandra, ed. Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, 2001.
  (BOOK) - Search the catalog under the author or title using the Basic Search.

• Alexander, Karen. "Julie Dash: Daughters of the Dust and a Black Aesthetic." IN Cook, Pam (ed.)--Dodd, Philip (ed. and foreword); xxix, 287 pp.; Women and Film: A Sight and Sound Reader; Temple UP, Philadelphia, PA pages: 224-31.
  (CHAPTER or ESSAY IN A BOOK) - Search the catalog under the name of the book (Women and Film) or the editor (Cook, Pam) - NOT the author of the chapter (Alexander) or the title of the chapter (Julie Dash)

• Williams, John. "Re-Creating Their Media Image: Two Generations of Black Women Filmmakers." Cineaste: America's Leading Magazine on the Art and Politics of the Cinema 20, no. 3 (1994): p. 38-42
  (JOURNAL ARTICLE) - Search the JOURNALS Subset of the catalog under the title of the journal (Cineaste) - NOT the title of the article (Re-creating Their Media) or the author of the article (Williams)

  OR
  Use the Full Text Finder (path = home page - how do I... - Interlibrary Loan)
  

  Use The Catalog to locate additional books. Usually it is recommended to start with a word/s anywhere search and then follow the subject headings. But, the subject headings for this topic can be tricky, so they are listed below. Searching for the filmmaker is a good strategy.
  Use the subject beginning with... and the last name, first name: dunye, cheryl. To broaden the search, use the word/s anywhere and place the name in quotes: "cheryl dunye"
  Look at the subject headings and follow the link
  Once you know the subject headings you can use the subject beginning with... search.
  Examples of subject headings:
  

  Afro-American women motion picture producers and directors
  Afro American women in motion pictures
  Afro Americans in motion pictures
  African American women in motion pictures
  African American women motion picture producers and directors
  Afro Americans in the motion picture industry
  women in the motion picture industry
  women motion picture producers and directors biography dictionaries
  African Americans in motion pictures
  motion pictures united states history
  
  return to top

  Film Reviews and Film Studies Guide

• Film Review Guide

• MLA International Bibliography 1963 - .
  Most important database for literature and literary studies, film is included.
  Use keywords or the filmmakers name:
  african american and women and filmmakers
  kasi lemmons

• International Index to Black Periodicals IIBP Full Text includes current and retrospective bibliographic citations and abstracts from over 150 scholarly and popular journals, newspapers and newsletters from the United States, Africa and the Caribbean--and full-text coverage of 40 core Black Studies periodicals (1998 forward).
  Search by keyword or name of the filmmaker:
  kasi lemmons
  women and filmmaker*
  Search by Subject Terms: women and filmmakers
  limit Document Type: research and analysis;limit Language: english

• America: History and Life 1954 -
  Most important database for articles on the history of the United States and Canada.
  Limits: LANGUAGE = english / DOCUMENT TYPE = article
  Search by keyword or name of the filmmaker:
  blacks and films and women
  stereotypes and blacks and films
  ayoka chenzira

• Ethnic Newswatch. 1990 - Bilingual (English/Spanish) fulltext database of 200 publications of the ethnic, minority and native press.
  Use the Advanced Search: women and filmmakers, limit by Ethnic Group and type of article (article) (so you do not retrieve book reviews). Also use the filmmakers name or film title.

• Gender Watch. Full text database comprised primarily of the many ongoing periodicals that deal with gender issues, including academic and scholarly journals, regional publications, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, booklets and reports. Contains archival material, in some cases as far back as 1974.
  Use keywords: african american filmmakers, fimmakers name or film title. Also limit by article.

• Contemporary Women's Issues 1992 - .Provides full-text access to global information on women in over 150 countries. Indexes books, journals, newsletters, research reports from non-profit groups, government and international agencies, and fact sheets.
  african american women filmmakers; name of filmmaker

• Academic Universe (Lexis/Nexis)
  Coverage dates vary; NYT=abstracts 1969-; full 1980-; Washington Post = 1977-.
  Search Strategy:
  Go to Guided News Search
  Step One: Select a News Category = General News
  OR Step One: Select a News Category = U.S. News
  

  Step Two: Select a News Source = Major Papers
  OR Step Two: Select a News Source = Northeast Regional
  

  Step Three: Enter Search Terms = eye's bayou and review in Headline, Lead Paragraph(s), Terms
  OR
  Step Three: Enter Search Terms = kasi lemmons or kasi lemmons and interview
  Step Four: Narrow to a specific date range = all available dates
  Search
  Results = Expanded List

  return to top