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

Map of the Caribbean, focused on Haiti, with arrows noting migratory trends from North America to Haiti, l'Il-a-Vache, and Hispaniola.

Emigration to Haiti, 1820s–1860s

by Michael Siegel, Rutgers Cartography

Explore another emigration pathway, and an aftereffect of the Haitian Revolution, through this map.

Thematic Map

Map of the East Coast of the United States featuring the sites of eight major maroon communities and nine revolts of enslaved people from New York City to the Louisiana bayous

Maroon Communities and Major Slave Revolts

by Michael Siegel, Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the major sites of marronage and uprising across the East Coast through this map.

Thematic Map

Map of Haiti showing key battle sites and selected towns noted with an inset map of the routes of Caribbean emigration from Haiti for enslaved, free, and slave-holding Saint Domingans before, during, and after the revolution

The Haitian Revolution, 1793–1809

by Michael Siegel

Visualize key events and trends before, during, and after the Haitian Revolution.

Thematic Map

Two maps of Africa identifying the territory of empires ca. 1000 BC–AD 1000 and ca. AD 1000–AD 1900, along with a timeline of these empires

Kingdoms and Empires in Africa, ca. 1000 BC–AD 1900

by Michael Siegel, Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the geography and chronology of African kingdoms and empires through this map.

Thematic Map

Color-coded map of Africa noting different vegetation zones

Vegetation of Africa

by Exploring Africa, Michigan State University

Visualize the varied vegetation zones of the African continent.

Thematic Map

A watercolor showing enslaved people picking cotton with an overseer nearby

Painting of a Plantation

ca. 1860

Explore an artist’s depiction of enslavement.

Secondary Source

A Black man wearing a dark coat speaking into a bullhorn megaphone held in his left hand, while his right arm is outstretched with a clenched fist. A crowd looks on and raises their right fists in the air. There is a sign reading "Viva La Huelga" in the left midground.

Black Student Union Strike for Black Studies at San Francisco State College

1968

See the student protests that led to the first Black Studies department and gave rise to the field of African American studies.

Primary Source

A port in a medieval city, with Black and White people on boats and walking about on land

“Chafariz d’El Rei” [The King’s Fountain]

ca. 1570–1580

Explore the role of Africans in Portugal in the sixteenth century through this painting and essay.

Work of Art

Map of the United States with arrows noting migration corridors from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

The Great Migration, 1900–1929

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore the first wave of the Great Migration through this map.

Thematic Map

Map of the United States with arrows noting migration corridors from the South to Northeast, Midwest, and West.

The Second Great Migration

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the second wave of the Great Migration on this map.

Thematic Map

Map of the East Coast of the United States with state boundaries from Maryland to Georgia and an inset map of Africa with bar charts associating enslaved people in four regions of North America with different regions of Africa.

Origins of Enslaved Africans in North America

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore and visualize the data connecting the populations of African descent in four regions of the East Coast of North America with regions of origin in Africa.

Thematic Map

Map of the southern United States from Texas to Maryland showing in red the main inland and seagoing routes of the internal movements of enslaved people, from New York and Philadelphia in the Northeast to Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Domestic Slave Trade, 1808–1865

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore data and geographical trends of the domestic slave trade in the nineteenth century.

Thematic Map