Discover SUBJECT ENCYCLOPEDIAS! An excellent place to begin learning about your topic and gather background information!
Table of contents outlines what's covered and how it's organized. Entries are often written by subject experts. Bibliographies lead you to more sources on the topic. Indexes help you build a list of keywords/search terms.
Don't forget to visit web sites set up by advocacy groups, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. They are also great for background information on your social injustice issues.
You can limit your regular old Google searches to these kinds of sites by adding site:.org or site:.edu to the search box along with your issue's keywords.
Watch this tutorial for help finding reference sources (background information) in the library's online databases.