LibGuides: History 369: Race and the Law in American History: Getting Started

Getting Started with Reference Sources

There are many handbooks, dictionaries, and encyclopedias that provide basic information for historical studies. If you are selecting a topic, build a framework by consulting definitions or a quick overview found in these resources and then focus on your topic by searching for more specific information. These materials and many more for all geographic areas are to be found in the Reference Room. (Call number "D" = general and European history, "E" and "F" = American history, and "C"= the auxiliary sciences of history, such as archeology.)

General Supreme Court Reference Sources

The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions
Written by eminent legal scholars, each entry provides the United States Reports citation, the date the case was argued and decided, the vote of the Justices, who wrote the opinion for the Court, who concurred, and who dissented. The entries feature an informative account of the particulars of the case, the legal and social background, the reasoning behind the Courts decision, and the cases impact on American society.
Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court
Provides information on the workings of the Supreme Court. It includes short alphabetically-arranged essays on people, cases, concepts and doctrines, statutes, etc. Includes suggestions for further reading.
Oxford Reference Encyclopedia of American History
Use to provide context for your court cases. Provides continuously updated information about events, people, places, cultural happenings, etc. in the history of America.

Race and Supreme Court Reference Sources

The Supreme Court, Race, and Civil Rights by Abraham L. Davis; Barbara Luck Graham
ISBN: 9780803972193
Publication Date: 1995-07-27
From Jim Crow to civil rights the Supreme Court and the struggle for racial equality by Konrad H. Jarausch; Michael J. Klarman
ISBN: 9780195351675
Publication Date: 2004-01-01