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Humanities & Interdisciplinary Studies: Mr. Pitts HIST 1301 Research Project

This is a supporting LibGuide for HCC Students and Faculty in the Humanities and related Interdisciplinary subject areas, such as, Africana/African American Studies, Global Studies, Mexican-American/Latinx Studies, and Women & Gender Studies.

Librarian Pro-Tips Before Getting Started

The shortcut to this page is: https://library.hccs.edu/HUMA_LibGuide/Pitts_HIST1301_2023

  • Using the Full Text filter within Eagle Library Search found under the Limit To section of your search results will eliminate most bibliographic & indexed records that don't provide full access to a source, but it will also eliminate Catalog (print book) results.
  • Avoid using Reviews/Book Reviews as direct sources (unless you are writing a literary essay and need critiques). You may want to use them to help you find a relevant book. With some databases, you have the ability to deselect or filter out reviews automatically, but some may slip through the filter if the database hasn't categorized them correctly.
  • When using the starter search strings I've assembled below, you should copy and paste the search string without modifying the format. Note that some of the topics have multiple search strings provided.
  • Most of these search strings will work in Eagle Library Search, individual HCC Library Databases, Google Scholar, or Open Access (OA) collections, such as Digital Commons Network, though articles searches in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) may require simpler search strings.
  • As your information needs narrow or change, you may need to modify your search strategy, including your search strings or database choice. HCC librarians can help you with that via Ask A Librarian! You can request help by phone, email, or SMS/text (be aware of character limits with this last option) during Virtual/Chat hours, or by requesting a research consultation appointment via the Schedule Research Help buttons listed for every HCC library location. Online meetings can take place with any location librarian, but in-person meetings should take place with a librarian listed at your preferred campus library.

Topics and Starter Search Strings

Topics and Starter Search Strings, alphabetized
The Amistad Case
Book Note: Click here to check for HCC Library print books on Amistad.

Amistad AND (law OR legal OR case OR legislat*)

Andersonville P.O.W Camp
Book Note: Check out "Prison Life In Dixie...", a print book in the HCC Library collection.
("Andersonville P.O.W Camp" OR "Andersonville Prison") OR ("Camp Sumter" AND prisoners)
Andrew Jackson-Good President or Reckless Egomaniac?
Book Note: Click here to check for HCC Library print books on Andrew Jackson.
"Andrew Jackson" AND ("public opinion" OR reput* OR influen* OR cause* OR effect* OR legac* OR significan* OR impact* OR consequen* OR importan*)
Bass (pronounced băss) Reeves/Bill Pickett/Mary “Stagecoach” Fields: Black Cowboys/Cowgirls
Book Note: Check out this historical graphic novel on Mary Fields and Bass Reeves or the Representation Matters: Diversity in American Policing (1886-1910) chapter of Law Enforcement in America. Check out Black Cowboys of Rodeo at Houston Public Libraries or HCC Library. Have a look at the Library of Congress's blog post on Black Cowboys at "Home on the Range."

"Bass Reeves" AND (African* OR Black) AND (cowboy* OR cowgirl*)

"Bill Pickett" AND (African* OR Black) AND (cowboy* OR cowgirl*)

("Mary Fields" OR "Black Mary" OR "Stagecoach Mary") AND (African* OR Black) AND (cowboy* OR cowgirl*)

Battle over Confederate Monuments-Should they come down?

Book Note: Check out Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause.

(monument* OR landmark OR homage) AND Confedera* AND (controvers* OR scandal* OR criti* OR support* OR praise* OR oppo* OR pros OR cons)

The California Indian Catastrophe

Book Note: Check out An American Genocide: the United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873.

"The California Indian Catastrophe" OR ("California genocide" AND ("Native American" OR "Indigenous American" OR "American Indian" OR AmerIndian))

Californios: Who were they? What is their legacy?

Book Note: Check out The Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-speaking Californians, 1846-1890.

Californio* AND (influen* OR cause* OR effect* OR legac* OR significan* OR impact* OR consequen* OR importan*)
David Walker: Cause/Effects/Legacy

Book Note: Check out "From Bondage to Liberation...". Open Access historical text

"David Walker" AND (American OR "United States") AND abolition* AND (influen* OR cause* OR effect* OR legac* OR significan* OR impact* OR consequen* OR importan*)

The Devils Punchbowl: US Concentration Camp-Mississippi

Book Note: Can you corroborate historical facts on the Devil's Punchbowl in The War Was You and Me...?

"Devil's Punchbowl" AND "Civil War"

^^^Note: Before proceeding on this research topic, please read the following database news article:

Griffey, Jan. "Devil's Punchbowl: 'Concocted Confederate propaganda,' Boxley says." Natchez Democrat, The (MS), June 17, 2022. NewsBank: America's News – Historical and Current. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&docref=news/18AB68DDEC729210.

The Dred Scott Decision

Book Note: Check out one of these titles from HCC Libraries.

"The Dred Scott Decision" OR "Missouri's Dred Scott Case" OR "Dred Scott v. Sandford" OR "Dred Scott v. John F.A. Sandford" AND (influen* OR cause* OR effect* OR legac* OR significan* OR impact* OR consequen* OR importan*)
Fort Pillow Massacre/Bloody Island Massacre

Book Note: Check out some of these HCC Library Books that cover the Ft. Pillow massacre. Check out some of these HCC Library eBooks on Native American genocide in California and the U.S.

"Battle of Fort Pillow" OR "Fort Pillow Massacre"

"Bloody Island Massacre" OR (("Native American" OR "Indigenous American" OR "American Indian" OR AmerIndian) AND ("Clear Lake" OR California) AND ("mass killing" OR genocid*))

Frederick Douglas: Enslaved to Leader

Book Note: Check out Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

"Frederick Douglass" OR "Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey"

Free Black Slave Owners: Who were they? What was their story?

Book Note: Check out Black Masters: A Free Family of Color in the Old South at Houston Public Library.

"Black slaveownership" OR "Black slave ownership" OR "Black slaveholders" OR "African American Slaveowners" OR "African American Slaveholders" OR ("Black Masters" AND slave*)
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

Book Note: Check out these books from HCC Libraries.

"Harriet Tubman" AND "The Underground Railroad"

Homosexuality in Early America 

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library eBooks, Long Before Stonewall... and Charity and Sylvia...

(homosexual* OR lesbian* OR gay* OR bisexual* OR "same sex") AND ("Early America" OR "American colonies")

Indian Removal Act-Trail of Tears

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library books.

("Indian Removal Act" AND 1830) OR "Trail of Tears"

J. Marion Sims- Origins of Gynecology: Experiments on enslaved women

Book Note: Check out this HCC Library eBook.

("J. Marion Sims" OR "J Marion Sims" OR "James Marion Sims") AND gynecolog* AND (slaves OR enslaved)

John Brown/Harper’s Ferry

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library eBooks.

"John Brown" AND raid AND "Harper's Ferry"

Ku Klux Klan-Emergence and Legacy

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library books.

(KKK OR "Ku Klux Klan" OR "The Klan" OR Klan) AND (emerge* OR origin* OR legac* OR effect* OR cause* OR precipitate* OR induc* OR trigger* OR begin* OR start* OR birth OR impact* OR significan* OR consquen*)

Lynching of Mexican Americans (1800s)

Check out The Injustice Never Leaves You: Anti-Mexican Violence in Texas.

"Anti-Mexican violence in Texas" OR (Mexican-American* OR "Mexican American" OR Mexican* OR Tejano* OR "ethnic Mexican") AND (lynch* OR hang* OR "mob violence" OR "mob justice" OR vigilant* OR "string up" OR "strung up" OR "stringing up" OR execut* OR "state-sponsored terrorism" OR "state violence" OR "ethnic cleansing" OR "denial of justice") AND ("19th Century" OR "Nineteenth Century" OR 1800s) AND (Texas OR "United States")
Massachusetts 54th Regiment
(Mexican-American* OR "Mexican American" OR Mexican* OR Tejano* OR "ethnic Mexican") AND (lynch* OR hang* OR "mob violence" OR "mob justice" OR vigilant* OR "string up" OR "strung up" OR "stringing up" OR execut* OR "state-sponsored terrorism" OR "state violence" OR "ethnic cleansing" OR "denial of justice") AND ("19th Century" OR "Nineteenth Century" OR 1800s) AND (Texas OR "United States")
Massachusetts 54th Regiment

Book Note: Check out these eBooks and eBook excerpts.

"Massachusetts 54th Regiment" OR "54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment" OR "Robert Gould Shaw"

Mexican Americans who fought in Civil War

Book Note: Check out A Life Crossing Borders: Memoir of a Mexican-American Confederate / Las Memorias De Un Mexicoamericano En La Confederación as a book or eBook with HCC Libraries.

("U.S. Civil War" OR "American Civil War") AND (Mexicans OR "Mexican Americans" OR "Mexican-Americans" OR "Santiago Tafolla")
(Mexican* OR Mexican-American*) AND (soldier* OR officer*) AND ("U.S. Civil War" OR "American Civil War")
("Mexican American soldiers" OR "Mexican Americans") AND ("U.S. Civil War" OR "American Civil War")

Middle Passage-African Holocaust

Book Note: Check out this HCC Library eBook.

"Middle Passage" AND (slave* AND enslave*) AND (holocaust OR genocid* OR "mass murder" OR "mass killing" OR injustice* OR horror* OR inhuman* OR tortu* OR cruel*)

Topics and Starter Search Strings, alphabetized
Nat Turner-Hero or Villain?

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library books.

"Nat Turner" AND (Virginia OR Southampton OR impact OR legacy OR "public opinion")

Native American Boarding Schools

Book Note: Check out these eBooks and books from HCC Libraries.

"Native American Boarding Schools" OR "American Indian boarding schools" OR "American Indian residential schools" OR "Native American residential schools"

Native American Heroes: Sitting Bull/Crazy Horse/Geronimo/Red Cloud

Book Note: Explore these HCC Library books.

("Native American" OR "Indigenous American" OR "American Indian" OR AmerIndian) AND (hero* OR warri*) AND "Sitting Bull"

("Native American" OR "Indigenous American" OR "American Indian" OR AmerIndian) AND (hero* OR warri*) AND "Crazy Horse"

("Native American" OR "Indigenous American" OR "American Indian" OR AmerIndian) AND (hero* OR warri*) AND "Red Cloud"

Native American Religion

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library eBooks.

("Native American" OR "Indigenous American" OR "American Indian" OR AmerIndian) AND (faith* OR relig* OR spiritual* OR belief*)

Native American Slave owners

Book Note: Check out the e/book Black Slaves, Indian Masters: Slavery, Emancipation, and Citizenship in the Native American South.

"Native American slaveownership" OR "Native American slave ownership" OR "Native slaveholders" OR "Native American Slaveowners" OR "Native American Slaveholders" OR ("Indian Masters" AND "black slaves")

Olaudah Equiano-Who was he and why is his story important?

Book Note: Check out these e/Books from HCC Libraries.

("Olaudah Equiano" OR "Gustavus Vassa") AND (influen* OR cause* OR effect* OR legac* OR significan* OR impact* OR consequen* OR importan*)

Reconstruction after Civil War

Book Note: Check out these e/Books from HCC Libraries.

"Reconstruction era" AND "United States"

Robert Smalls and other black heroes of the Civil War

Book Note: Check out Be Free or Die... or Life Upon These Shores...

"Civil War" AND "United States" AND ("Robert Smalls" OR "Black hero" OR "Black heroes")

Seneca Village: Lost to History (Black Town Erased)

Book Note: Check out Places in Mind: Public Archaeology As Applied Anthropology (eBook) and see the chapter on The Seneca Village Project.

"Seneca Village" AND (1857 OR "eminent domain" OR "Central Park")

Slave Codes: How did they affect the enslaved lives?

Book Note: Check out The Borderlands of Slavery...

"slave codes" AND (influen* OR cause* OR effect* OR legac* OR significan* OR impact* OR consequen* OR importan*) AND (states OR "United States" OR "The South" OR "The Confederacy" OR "The Union")

Slave Music/Culture

Book Note: Check out Slave Culture...

("United States" OR "Early America" OR "Early America") AND ("slave music" OR "slave culture")

Slave Rebellions: The Haitian Rebellion, Gabriel’s Conspiracy, German Coast Uprising, New York Conspiracy

Book Note: Check out these books and eBooks.

Haiti* AND (rebel* OR revolt* OR uprising OR revolution*) OR "Haitian Revolution"
"Gabriel’s Conspiracy" OR "Gabriel's Rebellion"
"German Coast Uprising" AND 1811
"New York Conspiracy of 1741" OR "Conspiracy of 1741" OR "Slave Insurrection of 1741"
Slave Treatment/Punishments-North and South America

Book Note: Check out From Slave Abuse to Hate Crime...

("North America" OR "North American" OR Canada OR Canadian OR "Early America" OR "United States" OR "Early American" OR "Pre-Civil War" OR "Pre Civil War" OR Mexico OR Mexican OR Spanish#American OR Hispanic#American) AND ("slave treatment" OR "slave punishment" OR "slave conditions" OR "slave health" OR "slave livelihood" OR "slave abuse" OR "slave mistreatment" OR "slave torture")

("South America" OR "South American" OR Bra#ilian OR Bra#il OR "Latin America" OR "Latin American" OR Argentin* OR Colombia* OR Chile* OR Peru* OR Paraguay* OR Uruguay* OR Venezuela* OR Ecuador* OR Bolivia* OR Guyan* OR Surinam* OR "French Guiana" OR Arub* OR Trinidad* OR Tobag* OR "Islas Malvinas" OR "Falkland Islands" OR Curacao OR Panama*) AND ("slave treatment" OR "slave punishment" OR "slave conditions" OR "slave health" OR "slave livelihood" OR "slave abuse" OR "slave mistreatment" OR "slave torture") AND ("19th century" OR "Nineteenth century" OR 1800s OR "18th century" OR "Eighteenth century" OR 1700s OR "17th century" OR "Seventeenth century" OR 1600s OR "16th century" OR "Sixteenth century" OR 1500s OR "15th century" OR "Fifteenth century" OR 1400s)

Slavery Abolition-Who, What, When, Why?

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library eBooks.

("United States" OR "Early America" OR "Early American") AND abolition* AND ("major figures" OR hero* OR "major players" OR proponent* OR supporter* OR advoca*)

Sojourner Truth

Book Note: Check out these e/Books from HCC Library.

"Sojourner Truth" OR "Isabella Baumfree"

The Story of Berdaches: Trans Indigenous Natives

Book Note: Check out this eBook from HCC Library's CREDO database.

(Berdache* OR ininiikaazo OR ikwekaazo OR two#spirit OR nádleehi OR nádleeh OR tayagigux' OR ayagigux' OR ninauh-oskitsi-pahpyaki OR ááwowáakii OR a'yai-kik-ahsi OR iskwêw ka-napêwayat OR napêw iskwêwisêhot OR  înahpîkasoht OR ayahkwêw OR napêhkân OR iskwêhkân OR batée OR wíŋkte OR "tida wena" OR lhamana OR indig#queer) AND histor* NOT fiction

The Story of Lewis/Clark & York: We (sic) did they accomplish? Why should they be remembered?

Book Note: Check out The Essential Lewis & Clark or Dear Brother... at HCC Library.

"Lewis and Clark" AND York AND (explor* OR scout* OR map* OR adventur*) AND (legac* OR accomplish* OR importan* OR significan* OR consequen* OR influen* OR impact* OR effect* OR contribut* OR cause*) AND histor*

Story of the Mormons-How did they come to be?

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library eBooks and books.

Mormon* AND "United States" AND (origin* OR start* OR begin* OR split OR histor*)

Texas Rangers Vs. the Tejanos

Book Note: Check out these HCC Library eBooks and books.

"Texas Rangers" AND (Tejano* OR "Mexican-Americans" OR "Mexican Americans" OR Mexicans) AND (legacy OR reput* OR impact* OR importan* OR crim* OR exploit* OR notor*) AND histor*

Tiburcio Vazquez/Juan Cortina and other Mexican Frontier Justice Seekers

Book Note: Check out Drink Cultura: Chicanismo (p. 119).

("Juan Nepomuceno Cortina" OR "Juan Cortino" OR "Juan N. Cortino" OR "Juan Nepomuceno Cortina Goseacochea" OR "Cheno Cortina" OR "Red Robber of the Rio Grande" OR "Rio Grande Robin Hood") AND ("Mexican Frontier" OR "Republic of Texas" OR Te#as OR "Rio Grande Valley" OR Mexico) AND (bandit* OR renegad* OR vigilant* OR hero* OR outlaw* OR rebel* OR criminal* OR outcast*)

("Tiburcio Vásquez" OR "Tiburcio Vázquez") AND California AND (bandit* OR renegad* OR vigilant* OR hero* OR outlaw* OR rebel* OR criminal* OR outcast*)

("Mexican Frontier" OR "Republic of Texas" OR Te#as OR "Rio Grande Valley" OR Mexico OR California OR "American West" OR "American Southwest" ) AND (bandit* OR renegad* OR vigilant* OR hero* OR outlaw* OR rebel* OR criminal* OR outcast*) AND (histor* OR "19th century" OR "18th century" OR "17th century* OR 1600s OR 1700s OR 1800s)
Vicente Guerrero: Mexico’s Greatest Man of Color

Book Note: See Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World on Vicente Guerrero.

("Vicente Ramón Guerrero" OR "Vicente Guerrero") AND Mexic* AND histor*

Willie Lynch Letter-How does it apply today?

Book Note: See The Willie Lynch letter and The making of a slave.

("Willie Lynch letter" OR "William Lynch speech") AND relevan*

^^^Note: Before proceeding on this research topic, please read the following web news article:

Garcia, Mayra. "Historian Dispels Myths Surrounding Slavery: Forgery Revealed Through Confession from Source." The Advocate: The Student Voice of Contra Costa College, Nov. 19, 2014. https://cccadvocate.com/1366/news/historian-dispels-myths-surrounding-slavery/. 

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