AP African American Studies Resource Archive | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Three Black men in suits and two Black women in dresses protesting, as other people protest in the background. The woman on the right, Maya Angelou, is holding a sign, the bottom of which reads "W.E.B. Du Bois."

Maya Angelou, Julian Mayfield, and Others in Ghana

1963

View an example of African American activism in Ghana.

Primary Source

A map of the then-forty-eight states, each with a number of lynchings from 1889 to 1921 (in red) and the number of representatives who voted against the federal anti-lynching bill (in black).

“Visualizing the Red Summer” Map

2015–2025

Explore the history of racial violence culminating in the Red Summer of 1919.

Thematic Map

Two Black women wearing light-colored coats look into a glass vitrine case with the title "Arthur A Schomburg, 1874–1938." Atop the case is a matted photograph of Arturo [Arthur] Schomburg.

“The Negro Digs Up His Past”

1925

Read this essay by Afro-Latino historian and collector Arturo Schomburg.

Primary Source

Marcus Garvey, a Black man, wearing a dark jacket and vest, white shirt, and dark tie. He is also wearing a button on his lapel.

“Address to the Second UNIA Convention”

1921

Read Marcus Garvey’s address rejecting the colonization of Africa and advocating Black nationalism.

Primary Source

From left to right: Fodé Lassana Diabaté, a Black man wearing a light-colored tunic and dark red shirt, playing the balafoon (a struck instrument similar to a xylophone); Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, a Black woman wearing a patterened cloth dress and red headscarf, singing with arms outstretched, and Chérif Keita, a Black man in a blue robe, smiling.

The Sunjata Story: Glimpse of a Mande Epic

with Fodé Lassana Diabaté, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, and Chérif Keita

Explore the story of Sunjata Keita through this performance.

Video

Malcolm X, a bespectacled Black man, wearing a dark suit, dark patterned tie, and white shirt, with a large ring on his left finger. He is sitting in an upholstered chair or sofa and smiling with his head in his right hand (leaning on the armrest of the chair or sofa).

The Ballot or the Bullet Speech

1964

Read Malcolm X’s speech on methods to reach equality and the potency of both political activism and armed self-defense.

Primary Source

Printed copy of the Constitution.

Excerpts from the United States Constitution

1787

Read the three-fifths, transatlantic slave trade, and fugitive slave clauses, none of which explicitly referenced slavery or enslaved people.

Primary Source

A man wearing a white shirt and pants begins a handstand as a band plays in the background and others look on.

Two Depictions of Capoeira

ca. 1835/2017

View how capoeira has persisted in the culture of Brazil over nearly two hundred years.

Primary Source

A circular seal of a woman with wrists in chains kneeling, with her plea above: "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"

Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?

ca. 1833

View this visual representation of a rallying cry for abolition among Black women.

Primary Source

The Roots in performance on stage at the House of Blues — band members include (left to right) a saxophonist, trumpeter, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, wearing a white shirt, jeans, sunglasses and a dark hat while holding a microphone), drummer (Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, behind the drum kit, wearing a black t-shirt), sousaphonist, and percussionist.

“Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”

2012

Watch a modern performance of a classic song from the Black Freedom struggle.

Video

Joe Louis, a Black man wearing a light colored cardigan sweater and white polo shirt, next to Fidel Castro, a bearded Latino man wearing a dark coat and smoking a cigar held in his left hand.

Joe Louis and Fidel Castro

1960

View a photograph from the boxer’s trip to Havana with a delegation of African Americans in business.

Primary Source

Two water fountains: at left, a larger water fountain labeled "white" and a smaller fountain labeled "colored." The labels appear above the fountains.

Segregated Water Fountains

n.d.

See another example of how Jim Crow discrimination was made manifest in the built environment.

Primary Source