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

A black-and-white photograph of a young Black girl wearing a white dress, dark sweater, and dark socks and shoes, jumping rope as other Black children look on.

The Great Migration and the Making of Modern America

by Davarian L. Baldwin

Explore the impact of the “Exodus from Dixie.”

Essay

Color portrait of a smiling, bare-chested Black man, with grayscale vignettes of the same man shown in a boxing ring facing an opponent, and standing facing out wearing boxing shorts and gloves; at the top are the words "Jack Johnson: The Galveston Giant"

Jack Johnson

by Eddie Flier

View this artistic homage to boxing champion Jack Johnson.

Work of Art

Map of the United States with arrows noting migration corridors from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

The Great Migration, 1900–1929

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore the first wave of the Great Migration through this map.

Thematic Map

Map of the United States with arrows noting migration corridors from the South to Northeast, Midwest, and West.

The Second Great Migration

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the second wave of the Great Migration on this map.

Thematic Map

A tiled mosaic of three masked human figures dancing in long-fringed, multicolored body suits

“Each One, Every One, Equal All”

by Nick Cave

Explore the work of Nick Cave and his Soundsuits represented in this mosaic in the New York City subway system.

Work of Art

Hidden History: Jack Johnson

with Samuel Collins III, Linda Heywood, and Bob Spagnola

Explore the life and legacy of the “Galveston Giant” and champion boxer.

Video

Hidden History: John Rufus Gibson

with Samuel Collins III and Joan Marshall

Explore the life and legacy of a key figure in Texas Black history.

Video

Hidden History: African American Women During Reconstruction

with Rebecca Czuchry

Explore responses by Black Texan women to racial violence in the wake of the Civil War.

Video

“Dr. Charles Drew and Freedman’s Hospital”

1945

Explore a notable event in Black medical history captured in a newsreel.

Video

A black and white photograph of Nannie Helen Burroughs, a young Black woman, shown seated from the waist up, wearing a dark hat with a white feather and a white blouse

“How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping”

1900

Read Nannie Helen Burroughs’s address casting light on the importance of women organizing in Black institutions.

Primary Source

The interior of the Dexter Avenue Memorial Baptist church, with light streaming in through multicolored stained-glass windows.

Young Black adults less Protestant than their elders

2021

Compare generational statistics of religious affiliation among Black Americans.

Secondary Source

Photograph shows a procession of African Americans, with two women in the foreground, carrying signs for equal rights, integrated schools, decent housing, and an end to bias.

The March on Washington: A Virtual Tour

with Clayborne Carson

Join the director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University for a virtual tour of the 1963 March on Washington.

Video