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

An abstract painting of people in masks with oversized hands and feet.

“The Jungle (La Jungla)”

1942–1943

View this painting by Afro-Cuban painter Wifredo Lam.

Work of Art

A map of the Indian Ocean world — Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia — with red lines representing trade routes from the east coast of Africa. Blue arrows indicate typical monsoon seasons (November-February for East Africa, April-September for South Asia).

Map Showing Indian Ocean Trade Routes

by Willie Ryan and Lisa Vann

Explore the connection between the Swahili Coast and the Indian Ocean World.

Thematic Map

A black-and-white photograph of an elderly Black man in a white robe and black kufi hat sitting with eyes closed, plucking a guitar made of a calabash squash.

“Griot Basimana, Mali”

1970

View this photograph, an example of the persistence of African learning traditions.

Primary Source

An open-topped car with four passengers in a parade. The driver is a Black man with a dark jacket, white shirt, dark tie, and dark driver's cap. In the back seat, from left to right, is a Black man in a military uniform; a Black man wearing academic regalia; Marcus Garvey, a Black man, wearing a military uniform and holding a sword. Next to the car is a Black man wearing a dark jacket, white shirt, and striped tie. In the background are apartment buildings, where Black people are looking on at the parade.

Marcus Garvey in Harlem

1924

View another photograph of Garvey and an entourage, as captured by James Van Der Zee.

Primary Source

Mountain chart showing change over time in Black (single race, non-Hispanic or Latino), Multiracial Black (non-Hispanic or Latino), and Black Hispanic or Latino populations, in beige, green, and tan, respectively.

The Growing Diversity of Black America

2021

Explore changing demographics in the Black population over the course of the twenty-first century.

A sepia photograph of Gwendolyn Bennett, a young Black woman, seated, wearing a dark jumper over a white t-shirt.

“Heritage” by Gwendolyn Bennett

1923

Explore Gwendolyn Bennett’s vision of Africa in this poem.

Primary Source

A Black girl wearing sunglasses, a white blouse, and a white and black/white checkered skirt, holds a book in the crook of her left arm while walking to school. A White girl in the background screams at the Black girl as other White boys and girls, and men wearing helmets, look on.

“Little Rock”

1958

Read this poem written by Afro-Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén after the Little Rock Crisis.

Primary Source

A vertical timeline from the 1600s to the 2000s noting direct influences from one genre of African American music traditions in pink lines and indirect cross-influences with white arrows.

The Evolution of African American Music

by Portia K. Maultsby

View how African American music evolved over the course of four hundred years through this timeline.

Secondary Source

Ruins of a large brick cathedral (the roof no longer present), with a green tree at right.

Kongo, Christianity, and the Diaspora

with John K. Thornton

Learn more about Kongolese cultural practices merging with Christianity and evolving across the Atlantic.

Video

A map on yellowed paper.

Kongo and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

with John K. Thornton

Explore the development and evolution of, and forms of resistance against, the Kongolese-Portuguese slave trade.

Video

Masthead of the Southwestern Christian Advocate newspaper.

Clarissa Reed Searches for Her Family

1883

Read a formerly enslaved woman’s plea for information about her lost parents and siblings.

Primary Source

Cover of Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, featuring a Black woman wearing a brown hat (extending down her neckline) and large gold hoop earrings encircled in a black circle with a peach background.

“Restricted West Indian Immigration and the American Negro”

1924

Read this piece on the impact of the Immigration Act of 1924 on Afro-Caribbean migration to the US.

Primary Source