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

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

A handwritten document in cursive in Spanish

Juan Garrido’s Probanza

1538

Read the narrative of a Congolese man’s experience in Mexico with the Spanish conquistadors.

Primary Source

The cover of a conference program of green text on a black background reading [diagonally] "Black Studies: Paradox With a Promise" at left, and a large green question mark with "Who," "Where," "When," and "How" written in the mark. "Black Studies National Conference: Southeastern, U.S.A." at the top and "University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, N.C., March 18-21, 1975" at the bottom

First National Council for Black Studies Annual Conference

1975

Get a greater sense of questions and issues in the field of African American studies through this conference program.

Primary Source

A round stone tower next to a tree, flanked on all sides by stone walls

Great Zimbabwe

by Nancy Demerdash

Take a closer look at the kingdom of Zimbabwe and its greatest surviving architectural achievement.

Essay

Map of Africa highlighting countries along the West and West Central African coast, from Senegal to Angola, plus, on the east, Mozambique and Madagascar; a bar chart for each region show how many people were enslaved in each half-century between 1600 and 1867.

Regional Origins of Enslaved Africans Destined for the Americas

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Examine and visualize population data from the transatlantic slave trade.

Thematic Map

A detail from a watercolor image showing a Black man in gray sixteenth-century dress holding a pony's reins and a spear; in front of him is a taller White man in red and orange pantaloons and jacket, carrying a helmet with a feather

Juan Garrido on a Spanish Expedition

1579

View this image that is believed to be Garrido alongside Hernán Cortés.

Primary Source

Map of the Americas with an inset map of the Caribbean and a list of countries providing the number of enslaved Africans who arrived in each country

African Arrivals in the Americas, 1501–1867

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the impact of the displacement of Africans resulting from the transatlantic slave trade.

Thematic Map

Map of the East Coast of the United States with modern state boundaries from New Hampshire to Georgia and red dots for key cities; callout boxes provide the year slavery was legalized along with African American population numbers for 1680 and 1740 for each state.

African Americans in the 13 Colonies, 17th–18th Centuries

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore the change in the African American population over time in the colonial era.

Thematic Map

A broadside announcing "Valuable Slaves at Auction" in large type, with a list of enslaved people, their ages, and primary forms of enslaved labor below

Broadside Advertising “Valuable Slaves at Auction” in New Orleans

1859

Explore how the labor of enslaved people was advertised.

Primary Source

A page from a book reading "Laws of Virginia, Act XII."

Laws of Virginia, Act XII

1662

Read the act that established the doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem.

Primary Source

An engraving of White man with a gaunt face and long white hair, wearing a dark overcoat, jacket, and pants, his right hand holding a scroll and his left hand resting on a stack of books. "Chief Justice Roger Taney" printed below the image.

Dred Scott v. Sandford Majority Opinion

1857

Read Roger Taney’s majority opinion, overturned by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Primary Source