PROTOTYPE: Portal to the Black Experience, Beta
Introduction
Portal to the Black Experience, Beta, is a unique online search portal containing prominent African Americans and individuals of African descent who contributed to the cultural history of the Black experience. It contains over 2,100 names of individuals, structured biographical information about each individual, and links to networked library and archival services that lead users quickly to materials by or about a selected person, and where they may be obtained. The project was begun on December 1, 2013 and was completed on May 31, 2017. This portal was created to amplify the mission of Howard University’s libraries, its host institution, and of its partner libraries. Today, more than ever, it is incumbent upon librarians and archivists to enable and accelerate learning and discovery through improved discovery tools and interfaces. Portal to the Black Experience, represents one concrete way of achieving this mandate.
STATUS 3-1-2021: The Solr index supporting access to the Portal to the Black Experience data was shutdown in 2021. You can still browse the static pages of the Portal to learn more about the project.
About the Beta Version
While the beta version was created we identified a number of problems, some of which we were able to correct in this version, but some of which will only be addressed if a new version of the portal is created. In order to avoid confusion and some frustration when using the beta version, we point out the following bugs:
- The “email” and “Contact Us” functions have not been activated
- Diacritical marks do not always display properly
- Web design has not yet been configured properly for mobile devices and for all browsers
- The text search results list of names will be solely arranged by surname
About the Alternative Alpha Version
Portal to the Black Experience, Alternative Alpha, was produced for researchers interested in prosopographical research. It contains approximately 3,600 additional names to the 2,100 in the Beta version, for an approximate total of 5,700. The 3,600 additional names do not have working links on their landing pages, and therefore will not provide links to library and archival resources.
Downloading Source Data
Portal to the Black Experience is a publically funded project. Therefore, all data created for this project is made freely available for download. The data is available as marc records in .txt files.
Audience
Portal to the Black Experience address in one resource the challenges of academic researchers and public library patrons searching for library and archival materials created by or about persons of African descent and others related to the Black experience.
Academics
Academics may choose to use Portal to the Black Experience as an ancillary research tool to support their research interests and teaching in History, Africana studies, Black studies, African American studies, Black Diaspora studies, Afro American studies, Pan African Studies, and Africology. The research methodology of this tool meets the need of those interested in prospographical study -- a method of historical inquiry that studies collections of biographical material about people connected by race, associations, occupations, institutional affiliations, gender, date or place. For more about its methodological usefulness, see: Research Methodology.
Teachers are also encouraged to use this portal for classroom exercises and exploration into people, topics, and materials related to social studies.
General Public
The general public may choose to use Portal to the Black Experience as a reference tool for discovering and retrieving information based on a cultural affinity for materials produced by or about persons of African descent. In American public libraries serving a substantial African-American population, patrons are often interested in finding novels, music, movies, genealogical records, created by or about African Americans, and to a lesser extent finding rarified artifacts about their local Black cultural heritage preserved in regional or state special collections. Portal to the Black Experience aids public library patrons wishing to persue either course of action.
What Portal to the Black Experience provides
Portal to the Black Experience is an innovative reference tool that provides patrons with three things. First, it provides biographical information on thousands of well-known individuals of African descent. It also includes biographical information about people who are not of African descent, but who had a major impact upon the Black experience. Second, it contains structured data for each person, allowing for group, or prospographical study, and aggregated results produced from filtered searches. And third, it provides linked access to archival and library materials by or about every person in the portal, together with information about where those materials are available, locally and nationally.
