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

An ivory and metal mask of a woman, with a tiara and necklace

Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba

16th Century

View a mask that was a symbol of the wealth of Benin in this period.

Primary Source

A port in a medieval city, with Black and White people on boats and walking about on land

“Chafariz d’El Rei” [The King’s Fountain]

ca. 1570–1580

Explore the role of Africans in Portugal in the sixteenth century through this painting and essay.

Work of Art

Stylized clay sculpture of an armored soldier on a horse

Mali Equestrian Figure

13th–15th Century

View this sculpture of a horseman with a quiver, an artifact of the Mali empire.

Primary Source

A wooden crucifix sculpture with three crosses stacked vertically, each with a Christlike crucified figure

Triple Crucifix

1500s–1800s

View this example of syncretic religious practice in the kingdom of Kongo.

Primary Source

Queen Nzinga, at right, wearing a gold crown, pink bandeau, pink, blue, and red skirt, and holding a multicolored bow and arrow, followed by an entourage of shirtless men and women.

Queen Nzinga with Military Entourage

1665–1668

View this depiction of Queen Nzinga (also spelled Njinga) from the viewpoint of an Italian missionary in Matamba.

Primary Source

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

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