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

A woodcut of a Black woman with short hair, her wrists in shackles, kneeling and looking up, with the phrase “Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?” arched above

“Emigration to Mexico”

1832

Explore a perspective on emigration in The Liberator.

Primary Source

A white tile mosaic mural of several Black people airborne above buildings.

“Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines”

by Faith Ringgold

View a fantastical homage to Harlem history through this work of art in the New York City subway.

Work of Art

Two Black women in military uniform (dark jackets, light shirts and ties, dark skirts and boots) looking on at two rows of other Black women in military uniform standing at attention.

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

1945

View this photograph of Black women serving in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.

Primary Source

/ap-african-american-studies/unit-3/twentieth-century-black-migration/urban-rural-communities-1890-1930

African Americans in Urban and Rural Communities, 1890–1930

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize data that shows the impact of the Great Migration.

Thematic Map

A broadside shows multiple diagrams of a single ship seen from different views. The views illustrate hundreds of captive Africans laying down shoulder to shoulder on multiple layers of the ship.

Slavery and Abolition

1788, 1789

Explore primary sources that worked as propaganda tools for the anti-slavery movement.

Guided Readings

A certificate, with a seal at left reading "Lex in Tenebris" in Latin surrounding a schooner, a flying dove holding a piece of paper reading "Liberia," and a rising sun in the right of the seal. At right, palm tree leaves, with the signature of James Madison below.

American Colonization Society membership certificate

1833

Learn more about this document signed by James Madison.

Primary Source

Aged paper with text of different sizes and fonts, the top of which says, "178 Sugar and Cotton Plantation Slaves!"

Auction catalog of enslaved people from Louisiana

1855

Explore this primary source to learn about the process of buying and selling enslaved people in 1855.

Primary Source

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

1775

Learn more about the proclamation offering freedom to enslaved people who joined the British army.

Primary Source

AP African American Studies Resource Library