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

Seated, from left to right, a Black man wearing a white shirt, kente cloth robe, and glasses; a Black woman wearing a white shirt; Pat Nixon, a White woman, wearing a light-colored dress with a white collar and a white hat; Richard Nixon, a White man, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie; and K.A. Gbedeman, a Black man, wearing a light-colored shirt and kente cloth robe.

“M. L. King Meets Nixon in Ghana”

1957

Read this piece from the Pittsburgh Courier that connects the Black Freedom struggles in Ghana and the US.

Primary Source

A five-piece mural made out of steel grates of a person working in a field.

“Urban Garden Rail”

by Saya Woolfalk

Explore responses to food access issues in segregated communities through this work of art.

Work of Art

A mosaic featuring a black and white portrait of Audre Lorde surrounded by bursts of gold, white, and black tiles.

“Audre Lorde” in “Beacons”

by Rico Gaston

View a mosaic portrait of Lorde installed in the New York City subway system.

Work of Art

Four maps of the United States, each with bar charts noting foreign-born population from different regions of Africa.

Foreign-born Population from Africa by State, 2000

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore the further diversification of African American demographics through these maps.

Thematic Map

Map of the Caribbean with bar charts for select countries noting emigration patterns from 1989 through 2001.

Immigrants from the Caribbean Admitted to the US, 1989–2001

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the shift in the Caribbean American demographics at the end of the twentieth century.

Thematic Map

A Black man wearing a tan sweater and white pants in a power wheelchair, talking to a white man in a white hat, white shirt, jean shorts, white socks, and black boots, as another white man in a yellow shirt, khaki shorts, white socks, and sneakers looks on.

Both Black and Disabled: Intersectional Experiences

by Jenifer L. Barclay

Explore the history of stigmatization of, and resiliency among, Black disabled people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Essay

The Freedmen’s Bureau and African American Families

by Justene Hill Edwards

Understand the roles the Freedmen’s Bureau played in supporting African American families and communities.

Essay

Map of Africa with bar charts for select countries noting emigration patterns from 1989 through 2002.

Immigrants from Selected African Countries, 1989–2002

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize African emigration to the United States at the end of the twentieth century.

Thematic Map

Nichelle Nichols, a Black woman with white hair, wearing a black shirt, beaded necklace, and white round earrings. She is holding a small LEGO character of an astronaut in a white spacewalking suit, next to a large gold and blue ring on her finger.

“Nichelle Nichols: Woman on a NASA Mission”

by National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Explore Nichols’s role in diversifying the space shuttle program.

Video

A partially typed, partially hand-drawn map from All Souls Church toward the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington

March on Washington Route Map

1963

View one of the organizing documents for the 1963 March on Washington.

Primary Source

Map of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma with towns pointed out.

The Exodusters and Black Towns, ca. 1900

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore an early phase of Black migration after the Civil War through this map.

Thematic Map

At left, a man with a simian face and rumpled clothing, and a dagger in his right pocket. He is holding a club with "A Vote" written on it. He is wearing a hat with a white ribbon reading "5 Points" and a Christian cross tucked into the ribbon. 2. At center, a tall man with a goatee. He has a CSA belt-buckle, a light-colored hat with a large brim and a black ribbon, and a pistol on his left hip. He holds a dagger with "The Lost Cause" written on the blade. At right, a shorter man in a three-piece suit.

The Betrayal of Emancipation

by Thomas J. Davis

Learn more about Black civil rights following Reconstruction.

Essay