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

A portrait of Barack Obama sitting in a brown wooden chair wearing a black suit and white collared shirt. Surrounding President Obama are leaves and flowers of different varieties.

Portrait of Barack Obama

2018

Take a closer look at Kehinde Wiley’s portrait of the first Black president.

Work of Art

graphic of two men placed at either end of title, man on right is wearing a football uniform while man on left has his arms at his hips.

“Playbill” for “Fences”

1987

View the program for this play by August Wilson, part of his American Century Cycle.

Primary Source

Black men in dark suits and ties (some neckties, some bowties) holding bundled stacks of newspapers on the steps of a brick building topped with a crescent and the words "Muhammad's Temple No. 2."

“Muhammad Speaks” Newspaper Salesmen

1965

View a photograph of the Nation of Islam's official newspaper being prepared for sale.

Primary Source

Mary Jackson, a bespectacled Black woman wearing a white lab coat over a dark sweater, white shirt, and brooch, writing on a clipboard as engineering instruments surround her.

Mary Jackson at Work

1977

View an image of the first Black woman to be an engineer at NASA.

Primary Source

Mae Jemison, a Black woman, wearing an astronaut uniform (yellow shirt with mission patch, blue cargo pants, grey slippers) aboard the Space Shuttle. She is floating in zero gravity, surrounded by experimental stations, with a video camera floating to her left.

Mae Jemison Works at Zero Gravity

1992

Get a glimpse of the first Black woman in space at work aboard the space shuttle.

Primary Source

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. smiling and talking with each other while a police escort stands near.

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X

1964

View a photograph of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X’s only meeting.

Primary Source

From left to right: a Black woman wearing a white vest and plaid pants kneeling with head raised; John Lewis, a Black man wearing a white button-down shirt, black pants, and black shoes, kneeling with head bowed while holding a notepad in his left hand; a Black girl wearing a white shirt, shorts, and shoes, kneeling with head bowed; and a Black man wearing a white button-down shirt, black pants, and black shoes, kneeling with head bowed. All are in front of a brick building with ground-floor windows.

John Lewis at a Prayer Demonstration

1962

View a photograph of members of the SNCC kneeling in prayer in Cairo, Illinois.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph of an elderly Black man in a white robe and black kufi hat sitting with eyes closed, plucking a guitar made of a calabash squash.

“Griot Basimana, Mali”

1970

View this photograph, an example of the persistence of African learning traditions.

Primary Source

Medal podium at the 1968 Olympic Games. Tommie Smith (the gold medalist, center), a Black man, is wearing a dark blue Team USA jacket (with red and white trim), the gold medal around his neck, and his right hand in a Black Power salute with a black glove on his clenched right fist. John Carlos (bronze medalist, right), a Black man, is also wearing a Team USA uniform (with an unzipped jacket) and mirrors the salute with his left hand. Peter Norman (left), a white man, is wearing a green jacket.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos during XIX Summer Olympics

1968

View a key example of sports as a platform for the Black freedom struggle.

Primary Source

Elijah Muhammad, a Black man wearing a beret, barely visible above a lectern and a bank of microphones. He is flanked on his stage by two Black men on his right (one in a dark suit, white shirt, and dark bowtie, and another in a Fruit of Islam uniform of beret, dark jacket, and white shirt) and a Black woman (in a white robe and headwear) and Black man (in a dark suit, white shirt, and dark necktie), and behind him are several Black men in dark suits and ties and Black women in white robes and headwear.

Elijah Muhammad Addressing Black Muslims

1966

View Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, speaking to congregants.

Primary Source

A button reading "Black is Beautiful," with black text on a white background.

“Kathleen Cleaver on Natural Hair”

1968

Learn more about this element of Afrocentric aesthetics and the embrace of “Black is Beautiful.”

Video

“Nonviolence and Racial Justice”

1957

Explore Martin Luther King’s philosophy toward nonviolent resistance.

Primary Source