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

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

Two African American pioneer families in foreground with two children playing on left, two women and a small child near a covered wagon at center and two men drinking coffee around a campfire by a stream.

“Camping Time”

by John Coleman

View a depiction of Black migration during Reconstruction.

Work of Art

A red brick church building with white steps. "Login Required" message is an overlay.

“The Birth of a New Nation”

1957

Read the sermon Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered after his visit to an independent Ghana.

Primary Source

Breakdancing at the Olympic Games

2024

See an example of breakdancing in performance at the Paris summer games.

Primary Source

A color photograph of a row of ten female Grandassa models with natural, afro-style hair wearing dresses made from brightly colored African-inspired motifs. Three men standing on a small podium behind the models are wearing patterned dashiki shirts. The dark blue wall behind them is covered with posters advertising Black theater performances, shows, and celebrations.

Naturally ’68 at the Apollo Theater

ca. 1968

View a photograph from a key convergence of artists and models amid the Black is Beautiful movement.

Primary Source

Betye Saar, a Black woman, wearing a white shirt with black streaks, her arms crossed. Prints of her art are in the background behind her.

Black is Beautiful: “Something to Behold ... Something One Could Do”

by Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton

Learn more about the works of Betye Saar, Elizabeth Catlett, and Toni Morrison in the context of Black is Beautiful.

Essay

George Clinton, a Black man, wearing a bright red wig, dark blue vest, and multicolored shirt with skulls and crossbones, playing the keyboard as other musicians surround him.

Let’s Talk about “Black Panther” and Afrofuturism

with Steve Vasquez

Learn more about the history of Afrofuturism upon the release of the 2018 Marvel film.

Video

An abstract multicolored mural above a bus depot, with a blue and white bus pulling into the depot in the right foreground.

“Mother Hale’s Garden”

by Shinique Smith

Explore the life and career of an activist and community organizer through this work of public art.

Work of Art

Frontispiece and title page of The Souls of Black Folk, with a photograph of the author, a Black man with a mustache and beard, signed by W. E. B. Du Bois at the bottom left.

“The Souls of Black Folk”

1903

Read excerpts from W. E. B. Du Bois’s foundational book, in which he explains his ideas of “the veil” and “double-consciousness.”

Primary Source

Prince Demah’s name written on the wooden stretcher of a painting

Painting Independence in Boston: Prince Demah

by Jennifer Van Horn

Learn more about an enslaved artist during the American Revolution.

Essay

A photograph of a bronze cast sculpture titled "Emancipation." The sculpture depicts male and female figures emerging from the tree of knowledge at the center.

Shaping the Public Imagination: The Sculpture of Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller

by Chenoa Baker

Read about the life and art of Fuller and some of her more famous pieces.

Essay

Laura Wheeler Waring, a Black woman, wearing an artist's smock and painting a portrait of a man with her right hand while holding a palette in her left. On the walls behind her are other portraits and artwork.

Laura Wheeler Waring: A Luminous Palette

by Cherene Sherrard-Johnson

Learn more about Laura Wheeler Waring’s portraiture, highlighting her luminous palette and contributions to African American art history.

Essay