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

Scan of the front page of the Negro Heroes comic book, featuring a large illustration of Jackie Robinson wearing a Dodgers jersey and catching a baseball.

Jackie Robinson

with Jason Butler, Taína Quiñones, and Sandra Trenholm

Explore a comic book about Jackie Robinson’s rookie year and letters written by Richard Nixon and Robert Kennedy to Jackie Robinson about the Civil Rights Movement.

Video

Scan of the first page of the report titled "Voting Restrictions in the 13 Southern States", featuring a map of the United States with 13 Southern states highlighted in red.

Voting restrictions for African Americans

1944

Investigate a pamphlet that documented cases of voter suppression in southern states written by a group of southern editors and writers.

Primary Source

Three Black men sit along a wall. One holds a sign that reads "We march together/ Catholic, Jews, Protestant/ for dignity an brotherhood of all men under God now!"

“A Vote-less People Is a Hopeless People”: Lessons from Selma

by Robert A. Pratt

Learn about the history and legacy of the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Essay

Black and white photo of a middle-aged Black woman with shoulder length hair and wearing a large white flower pin being sworn in as the borough president of Manhattan.

Constance Baker Motley: A Trailblazer in the Legal Profession

by Gary L. Ford, Jr.

Read about the life and work of Constance Baker Motley, the only woman who argued desegregation cases in courts in the racially segregated South during the Civil Rights Movement from 1946 to 1964.

Essay

The Heart and Soul of Fannie Lou Hamer

by Earnest N. Bracey

Read about the life and advocacy about Civil Rights leader and National Women’s Political Caucus cofounder Fannie Lou Hamer.

Essay

Read an overview of the landmark moments of the Civil Rights Movement in the twentieth century.

Ten Ways to Teach Rosa Parks

by Jeanne Theoharis and Say Burgin

Read about ten common misconceptions about Civil Rights legend Rosa Parks.

Essay

The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks

with Jeanne Theoharis

Learn how examining Rosa Parks’s life challenges perceptions of her as an accidental actor in the civil rights movement.

Video

Photograph of Prof. Keisha Blain, a Black professor, smiling while wearing a white jacket over a textured green shirt, black glasses, and gold earrings.

Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America

with Keisha N. Blain

Explore Fannie Lou Hamer’s life and civil rights organizing career.

Video

The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History

with Jeanne Theoharis

Watch author Jeanne Theoharis discuss Brown v. Board of Education and school desegregation in the North.

Video

Scan of the front page of the Pacific Stars and Stripes Newspaper from August 30, 1963, featuring a large image of the 1963 March on Washington.

The March on Washington

with Bryson Bruce, Jermain Corbin, and Sandra Trenholm

Explore archival materials related to the March on Washington and the ensuing press coverage.

Video

Screenshot of thumbnail of video, featuring the title on crumpled paper above a collage of archival photos.

African American Experiences, 1878-Present

with Kellie Carter Jackson, Charles McKinney, and Yohuru Williams

Dive into a panel covering African American experiences after Reconstruction with three historians.

Video

Fannie Lou Hamer, a Black woman, speaking while wearing a floral-patterned dress.

Black Women’s Leadership and Organizing in the Civil Rights Movement

by Keisha N. Blain

Explore the civil rights leadership of JoAnn Robinson, Ella Baker, and Fannie Lou Hamer.

Essay