This document provides instructions for accessing and using the Alexander Street (ProQuest) Black Thought and Culture database through the Dominican University library. It describes the database as containing over 100,000 pages of writings by major African American leaders over 250 years of history. It also provides step-by-step directions for logging into the database through the library website using a Dominican University network ID and password. Contact information is included for library research assistance.

1. African American
Discovery
Academic Resource Guide

2. Authoritative (Trusted Resource)
ProQuest database is a key partner for content holders of all types,
preserving and enabling access to their rich and varied information.
Those partnerships have built a growing content collection that now
encompasses 90,000 authoritative sources, 6 billion digital pages and
spans six centuries. It includes the world’s largest collection of
dissertations and theses; 20 million pages and three centuries of global,
national, regional and specialty newspapers; more than 450,000 eBooks;
rich aggregated collections of the world’s most important scholarly
journals and periodicals; and unique vaults of digitized historical
collections from great libraries and museums, as well as organizations as
varied as the Royal Archives, the Associated Press and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
https://about.proquest.com/en/libraries/academic

3. This Online Database Serves Adults in an
Academic Environment
(Full-text and Full-video)
Examples of insights provided by this resource:
• African American literature and media on the health crisis in the
African American community (e.g., AIDS)
• Literature and media on historical events written by African American
(e.g., Nat Turner revolt)
• Literature and media on subjects affecting the African American
community

4. Alexander Street (ProQuest)
Black Thought and Culture
https://search-alexander-com.dom.idm.oclc.org/bltc
Black Thought and Culture is a landmark electronic
collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-
fiction writings by major American black leaders—
teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes,
war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—
covering 250 years of history. In addition to the most
familiar works, Black Thought and Culture presents a
great deal of previously inaccessible material,
including letters, speeches, prefatory essays, political
leaflets, interviews, periodicals, and trial transcripts.
The ideas of over 1,000 authors present an evolving
and complex view of what it is to be black in America.

5. Alexander Street (ProQuest)
Black Thought and Culture
This resource usability is intuitive due to its filters for
Collections, Disciplines, Titles, Publishers, Playlists, and Clips
being viewable from its refined search tool located
horizontally at the top of the screen. It provides a search box
for Advanced Search located at the top and middle of the
screen as well.

6. Access to this database is available to
current Dominican University
Students and Staff online at the
Rebecca Crown Library
Required:
Dominican Network ID and Password

7. Access
Step 1: Visit the Dominican University website: https://www.dom.edu/
Step 2: Use the cursor to select “Quick Links” in the top right-hand
corner of the website.
Step 3: Select “Library” from the drop-down.
Step 4: On the following web-page select “Find a Database Article”
located in the middle of the screen (under “Locate Materials”).
Step 5: Once the search box for this selection is shown choose “Select a
Database”.
Step 6: Select “Alexander Street Press Video Collections”.
Step 7: You can begin your research on the Alexander Street (ProQuest)
web-page (you can refer to the following slides on
how to search this database).

9. My Collections

10. Disciplines

11. Titles

12. Publishers

13. Advanced Search

14. Sample search: “James Baldwin”
Menu My Collections Black Thought and Culture
Advance Search Type in “James Baldwin”
408 Results
• James Baldwin: Speech on Civil Rights (Video)
Produced by Educational Video Group (Greenwood, IN: Educational
Video Group, 1968), 18 mins
This video shows James Baldwin giving a speech on civil rights to a
group of students in London.
• Comment: Open Letter to President Carter by James Baldwin (Article)
Written by James Arthur Baldwin, 1924-1987 (1977); in The Black
Panther 16 no. 12:1-26 (January 29, 1977), Black Panther, 16 no. 12:1-26
(January 29, 1977) (San Francisco, CA: Black Panther Party. Black
Panther Productions, 1977), 1-2

15. Dominican University
Rebecca Crown Library
Academic Library
If you have questions regarding the use of
this resource or additional resource
requests. Please feel free to contact us at:
Chat With Us https://research.dom.edu/rcl
Or
Reference Desk at (708) 524-6875
reference@dom.edu

16. Library Directory

17. Dominican University website: https://www.dom.edu/
ProQuest Database
https://about.proquest.com/en/libraries/academic
Alexander Street (ProQuest)
Black Thought and Culture
https://search-alexander-com.dom.idm.oclc.org/bltc
Bibliography