Researching School Segregation

This page is intended as a guide to getting started with legal and historical research. For more assistance, contact a librarian.

Faculty interested in bringing classes to the library for instruction on how to conduct research should contact kafarrell@ucsd.edu or click here for more information about the Library’s instruction program.

Useful Search Terms & Search Tips
Books
Newspaper Articles
Magazine & Journal Articles
Laws & Court Cases
Useful Websites

Useful Search Terms & Search Tips Tips

Type only those terms that describe your topic in the search box.
Do not type an entire sentence into a search box.
Search by synonyms, or other words or phrases, that describe your topic. Terms that we use today were not commonly used in the early 20th century.
Combine your terms using AND, OR, NOT

Useful Search Terms

Segregation
Education
Schools
History
United States
California
School integration
Minorities
African Americans
Mexicans
Indians
Chinese
Multicultural education
Discrimination
Busing
Laws
Legislation
Cases

Sample Search Strategies

Busing and Los Angeles and legislation
Segregation and (Indians or Native Americans)
Education and segregation and California
Segregation and education not brown

Books

Due to high demand, many of our books on Brown v. Board of Education and other school segregation cases are available for library use only in the Brown v. Board reading area.

To find more books, sound & video recordings, and other materials about school segregation, search one of the Catalogs below:

Roger: Find books and other materials at the UCSD Libraries.

Melvyl: Find and request books from other UC Libraries.

Circuit: Find and request books from other San Diego research libraries.

Library catalog search tips:

Try a subject search using one of the Subject headings below:

Segregation in Schools
Segregation -- Law and legislation -- United States -- History
Segregation in education – California
School integration -- United States
Minorities -- Education -- United States
Multicultural education -- United States

If you don’t know the exact subject heading for your topic, try a keyword search and enter the terms that best describe your topic. Once you find a book that matches your topic, look at the full record to see what subject headings are used.

Newspaper Articles

Los Angeles Times (Historical) 1881-1953: [UCSD Only]
Search and view complete text and images of the Los Angeles Times from 1881 - 1953.

Los Angeles Times 1985-present: [UCSD Only]
Search and view the full text of the Los Angeles Times from 1985 to present

New York Times (Historical) 1851-1999: [UCSD Only]
Search and view complete text and images of the New York Times from 1851 to 1999.

New York Times (Current) 1999-present: [UCSD Only]
Search and view the full text of the New York Times from 1999 to present.

Newsbank: America's Newspapers: [UCSD Only]
Find newspaper articles published within the past 10 years. Search and view the full text of more than 250 U.S. newspapers (45 in California).

Magazine & Journal Articles

America: History & Life: [UCSD Only]
Find journal articles, books, book chapters and dissertations on all periods of U.S. and Canadian history. Click on the UC-eLinks button to locate the article or book.

Expanded Academic ASAP: [UCSD Only]
Find scholarly journals, general interest magazines, and newspaper articles on all subject areas - many with full text and images. If the full text of an article is not available, click on the UC-eLinks button to locate the article in print or electronically.

JSTOR: [UCSD Only]
Search the full text of more than 400 scholarly journals in social sciences, humanities, and sciences, to their earliest issues. Many titles extend as far back as late 19th or early 20th centuries; most recent 3-5 years not included.

LexisNexis Academic: [UCSD Only]
Click on Legal Research to search the full text of law reviews (journals) published by law schools across the nation.

Reader's Guide Retrospective: [UCSD Only]
Identify general-interest U.S. magazine articles published between 1890-1982. Click on the UC-eLinks button to find the magazine article at UCSD or to request it from another UC library.

Laws & Court Cases

LexisNexis Academic: [UCSD Only]
Click on Legal Research to find Federal and State court cases and U.S. legislation.

LexisNexis Congressional: [UCSD Only]
Find U.S. legislative information, including bills and pending legislation, legislative history, hearings, testimony, reports, documents, Congressional Record, public laws, etc.

Supreme Court Decisions, 1893 +
A searchable database of the Supreme Court decisions since 1893.

Useful Websites

50th Anniversary Bibliography - Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Brown 50 Years and Beyond: Promise and Progress - NAACP

Brown @ 50 - Fulfilling the Promise - Howard University Law School

Brown v. Board of Education - NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Brown v. Board of Education: A 50th Anniversary Exhibit - Seattle University School of Law

Brown v. Board of Education: 50 Years Later - Bank Street Library

Brown v. Board of Education: Commemoration 1954-2004 - University of Michigan

Brown v. Board of Education: National Historic Site

Digital Archive Brown v. Board of Education - University of Michigan Library