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

A wedding near a fireplace. The groom is a Black man wearing a dark coat, white pants, and a white shirt. The bride is a Black woman wearing a white dress. Groomsmen and bridesmaids are behind the couple, and the officiant (wearing a dark coat and pants and holding a book) is faced in the couple's direction. Behind the officiant are more witnesses, a bassist, and a clarinetist (the latter musicians sitting).

Dressing Freedom: The Wedding Clothing of Freed People

by Brenda E. Stevenson

Explore the importance of wedding clothing for freed people during Reconstruction.

Essay

A photograph of a bronze cast sculpture titled "Emancipation." The sculpture depicts male and female figures emerging from the tree of knowledge at the center.

Shaping the Public Imagination: The Sculpture of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

by Chenoa Baker

Read about the life and art of Fuller and some of her more famous pieces.

Essay

Laura Wheeler Waring, a Black woman, wearing an artist's smock and painting a portrait of a man with her right hand while holding a palette in her left. On the walls behind her are other portraits and artwork.

Laura Wheeler Waring: A Luminous Palette

by Cherene Sherrard-Johnson

Learn more about Laura Wheeler Waring’s portraiture, highlighting her luminous palette and contributions to African American art history.

Essay

Black-and-white photograph of an art gallery, with three men standing in the gallery: a white man in his Coast Guard captain uniform of dark double-breasted coat, white shirt, dark tie, and white cap with a dark brim); at center, a white man in a dark suit, light colored shirt, and dark tie; and at right, a Black man in his Coast Guard sailor uniform of dark shirt (with gold bands on the sleeves) and pants, light-colored scarf, and dark beret.

The Cubist Collage Aesthetic and the Historical Narratives of Jacob Lawrence

by Patricia Hills

Read more about Jacob Lawrence’s use of cubist collage aesthetics to depict historical narratives in his artwork.

Essay

A Black man smiling while wearing a black suit, light blue shirt, and patterned red tie.

A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist

with Michael Thurmond

Learn how James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, helped to secure Ayuba bin Suleiman Diallo’s freedom.

Video

Henri Christophe, a Black man, in military uniform (blue double-breasted jacket with tails, white shirt, white pants, yellow boots), holding a sabre and dark hat in his right hand with his left in his jacket pocket.

The First and Last King of Haiti

with Marlene L. Daut

Explore the life, career, and brief reign of Henri Christophe.

Video

Black women in coats and sweaters dancing as a multiracial crowd looks on from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (with the Museum's colonnade in the background).

Land of a Thousand Dances

by Lucy Sante

Explore the history, and memory, of Soul Train.

Essay

A metal bust of a man on a marble base, topped with two Black-eyed Susan flowers. The bust reads "Zumbi dos Palmares: O Líder Negro De Todas As Raças."

The Palmares Quilombo

by Ana Lucia Araujo

Learn more about the development and defense of this maroon community.

Essay

Bert Williams, a Black man, wearing a black coat and white collar.

Representation on the Stage, Screen, and Airwaves

by Kenya Davis-Hayes

Explore the history of Black performance from Reconstruction through the 1960s.

Essay

A black-and-white photograph of a young Black girl wearing a white dress, dark sweater, and dark socks and shoes, jumping rope as other Black children look on.

The Great Migration and the Making of Modern America

by Davarian L. Baldwin

Explore the impact of the “Exodus from Dixie.”

Essay

A sepia photograph of a stone house with a shingled roof.

Antebellum Black Women Resisting Enslavement

by Emma Lapsansky-Werner

Explore Black women’s role in the Christiana Resistance, the abolitionist press, and other means of resisting enslavement.

Essay

A shirtless Black African royal holding a staff with two spear heads, wearing a red and blue tiered hat with fur flowing down the headpiece, gold armlets, bracelets, and anklets, and a blue loincloth with a long train.

The Catholic Church in Kongo

by John K. Thornton

Explore the history of Catholic conversion and syncretic practices in the kingdom of Kongo.

Essay