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

A large shallow, round tray shaped basket made of reeds, rush and palmetto coiled and woven together. A faded purple string is woven through the basket on one side and knotted inside the basket.

Rice Fanner Basket

pre-1863

View this artifact of rice cultivation by enslaved people on the South Carolina coast.

Primary Source

A cream quilted bedcover with appliqued red diamonds, circles, and crosses and edges bound with red

Cream and Red Appliqued Quilted Bedcover

ca. 1850

View this work of African American quilting.

Work of Art

A diagram showing bodies packed into a ship's hold

“Stowage of the British slave ship ‘Brookes’”

1788

View this diagram, which served as a catalyst for the antislavery movement.

Primary Source

Front page of the newspaper Freedom's Journal, March 30, 1827

“Our Claims Are on America”

1828

Read this excerpt from an oration by Thomas Jennings on Black identity.

Primary Source

A map of the African continent with arrows referencing the migration of Bantu peoples and languages

“The Bantu Migration, 2000 BCE–1500 CE”

by Mark Cartwright

See the extensive migration of Bantu peoples on the African continent.

Thematic Map

Map of the African continent, with colored ovals recognizing approximate geographic locations and periods of kingdoms and empires.

“Ancient & Medieval Sub-Saharan African States”

by Mark Cartwright

Visualize the approximate locations of various kingdoms and empires, including Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Thematic Map

A black-and-white photograph of Robert Smalls, a goateed Black man, seated, wearing a dark jacket, bow tie, and vest (with pocket watch chain), and a white shirt.

Beyond the Battlefield: African American Contributions to the Civil War

with Elizabeth R. Varon

Learn more about the men, women, and children who contributed to the war effort through various means.

Video

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

“The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave”

1832

This narrative was disseminated by the London Society for the Abolition of Slavery.

Primary Source

The interior of the Dexter Avenue Memorial Baptist church, with light streaming in through multicolored stained-glass windows.

Young Black adults less Protestant than their elders

2021

Compare generational statistics of religious affiliation among Black Americans.

Secondary Source

Broadside with text of varying sizes. On the top it reads in all capital letters, "MEN OF COLOR; TO ARMS! TO ARMS!; NOW OR NEVER."

Generations in Captivity: Slavery in America

with Ira Berlin

Understand how the interplay of regional and generational factors shaped the development of slavery in the antebellum United States.

Video

Black soldiers in dark Union Army uniforms, jackets with sashes and epaulets, and caps with a horn embroidered on the bill, looking at the camera while holding their rifles.

The Men of Company E

with Matthew Pinsker

Explore different points of view of Black soldiers in a postwar photograph.

Video

An engraving shows four people doing various tasks with harvested tobacco in an open shed, including pulling pieces of the leaves apart, and winding rope.

The Origins of Slavery

by Ira Berlin

Gain a greater understanding of the slave trade and the forced migration and diaspora of Africans.

Essay