Business and Culture in the 20th and 21st Centuries | APAAS | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

LO 4.15.A

Explain how economic growth in Black communities has been hindered and promoted in the second half of the twentieth century

LO 4.15.B

Explain how the Voting Rights Act of 1965 impacted the growth of Black political representation in American politics in the late twentieth century

LO 4.15.C

Describe major advances in Black federal political leadership in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

Essentials

Terms

Voting Rights Act

People

Barack Obama
Michelle Obama
Colin Powell

Required Sources

You will need to understand and be able to use these materials for the AP exam.

Colin Powell, a gray-haired, bespectacled Black man, wearing a black jacket, white shirt, and polka dot (white dots on black fabric) tie

Commencement Address by Gen. Colin Powell

1994

Watch Gen. Powell’s speech at one of the premier historically Black universities.

Video

Michelle Obama, presented in a gray skin tone, in a white dress with patches of colored stripes and triangles in front of a powder-blue background. Her right hand rests on her chin as her left hand rests on her knee.

Portrait of Michelle Obama

2018

View Amy Sherald’s portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama.

Work of Art

Portrait of Barack Obama

2018

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

Work of Art

A map of the contiguous United States with circles of different sizes for Black population in metropolitan areas, colored in shades of red based on Black middle class percentage of the overall population.

The Black Middle Class Needs Attention Too

2020

Read excerpts and view charts from a report on the state of the Black middle class.

Secondary Source

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Additional Resources

You can further develop your knowledge of this topic with primary and secondary sources.

Image of the National Museum of African American History and Culture with the Washington Monument in the distance.

Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture

with Lonnie Bunch

Learn about the significance and creation of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Video

Poster promoting consumption of healthy foods, showing dairy products (milk, cheese), eggs, fruit, vegetables, bread and cereal, and meat.

Food Deserts and the Rise of Fast Food

with Marcia Chatelain

Learn about the movement of fast food into predominantly African American neighborhoods and its connection to the larger issue of food deserts.

Video

Oprah Winfrey addressing the audience at the Women's Summit on Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, and Engagement.

Black Women in Entrepreneurship

by Andrea Smith-Hunter

Learn about the challenges and opportunities Black women entrepreneurs face, from financial barriers to networking, mentorship, and growth.

Essay

President Obama seated at his desk in the Oval Office, taking phone call.

The Black President: Hope and Fury in the Age of Obama

with Claude A. Clegg III

Take a deep dive into the political context of the Obama presidency.

Video

A Black man wearing a black baseball cap, orange shirt, jeans, and sneakers, walking along a bridge with a series of metal panels in the background.

“Empirical Evidence”

by Damien Davis

View a work of art paying homage to the African American community of Mount Vernon, NY.

Work of Art

A map of the southern states of the United States with bar charts for each noting population movement from other states (color-coded).

“African Americans Going South, 1995–2000”

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize a phase of Black migration at the end of the twentieth century.

Thematic Map

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Featured Videos

These videos from Black History in Two Minutes (or So) feature condensed, engaging, and fact-packed stories.

In these videos, take a deep dive into twentieth and twenty-first century stories of Black economic and political power.

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

LO 4.16.A

Describe ways the African American population has grown and become more diverse since 2000.

LO 4.16.B

Explain how religion and faith have played dynamic social, educational, and communitybuilding roles in African American communities.

Essentials

Terms

US Census Bureau

Required Sources

You will need to understand and be able to use these materials for the AP exam.

Mountain chart showing change over time in Black (single race, non-Hispanic or Latino), Multiracial Black (non-Hispanic or Latino), and Black Hispanic or Latino populations, in beige, green, and tan, respectively.

The Growing Diversity of Black America

2021

Explore changing demographics in the Black population over the course of the twenty-first century.

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

Additional Resources

You can further develop your knowledge of this topic with primary and secondary sources.

A color photograph of a corner store with a two-toned green wall with two signs, one reading "Wadajir Grocery, Finest Halal Meats" and the other "Mediterranean Deli, Best Gyros in Town"

Diversity in Contemporary Black Communities

by Mamadi Corra

Learn more about shifts in the foreign-born Black population and its consequent impacts on the diversity of African Americans today.

Essay

Four maps of the United States, each with bar charts noting foreign-born population from different regions of Africa.

Foreign-born Population from Africa by State, 2000

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore the further diversification of African American demographics through these maps.

Thematic Map

A color photograph of two panels of perforated metal, buildings and the sky visible through the perforations

“Paroles Vagabondes/Wisdom Along the Way”

by Béatrice Lebreton

Explore a work of art in the New York City subway system honoring diverse Caribbean and African American perspectives.

Work of Art

A large tile mosaic mural of people in a boat.

“Great Waves of Immigration”

by Carmen Lizardo

Explore the history of Afro-Caribbean migration to the US through this mosaic, installed in the New York City subway system.

Work of Art

Map of the Caribbean with bar charts for select countries noting emigration patterns from 1989 through 2001.

Immigrants from the Caribbean Admitted to the US, 1989–2001

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the shift in the Caribbean American demographics at the end of the twentieth century.

Thematic Map

Map of Africa with bar charts for select countries noting emigration patterns from 1989 through 2002.

Immigrants from Selected African Countries, 1989–2002

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize African emigration to the United States at the end of the twentieth century.

Thematic Map

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Featured Videos

These videos from Black History in Two Minutes (or So) feature condensed, engaging, and fact-packed stories.

Learn more about one unique example of religious diversity, through the lens of the life and impact of Father Divine.

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

LO 4.17.A

Describe ways African American music blends musical and performative traditions from Africa.

LO 4.17.B

Describe the influence of the African American musical tradition on American and global music genres.

LO 4.17.C

Describe the origins and elements that define hip-hop culture.

LO 4.17.D

Explain how African American political and cultural movements of the 1960s and 1970s influenced the emergence of hip-hop

Essentials

Terms

syncopation
Spirituals
Blues
Jazz
Gospel
Rhythm and Blues (R&B)
Hip-Hop
Breakdancing
B-boys/B-girls

Required Sources

You will need to understand and be able to use these materials for the AP exam.

“Hey Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean”

ca. 1952

Watch Ruth Brown’s live performance of an early R&B song.

Video

Three young Black men wearing tracksuits and white gloves dancing as another young Black man inverts his body on a piece of cardboard. Behind them is a graffitied wall.

Breakdancers in New York

1984

View an example of b-boy culture from 1980s New York.

Primary Source

A vertical timeline from the 1600s to the 2000s noting direct influences from one genre of African American music traditions in pink lines and indirect cross-influences with white arrows.

The Evolution of African American Music

by Portia K. Maultsby

View how African American music evolved over the course of four hundred years through this timeline.

Secondary Source

Additional Resources

You can further develop your knowledge of this topic with primary and secondary sources.

Three boys playing atop the roof of a blue car, in front of an apartment building with graffiti written on the ground floor.

The Influence of the 1960s and 1970s on Hip-Hop

with Jeff Chang

Explore the importance of place and community on the development and growth of hip-hop in its earliest days.

Video

A color photograph of four people in a park: a Black woman wearing a black shirt and headband; a Black man wearing a white t-shirt, chain with large star, black undershirt, glasses, and backward black baseball cap; a Black man wearing a red polo shirt, black plastic-frame glasses, and a red New York Yankees cap; and a Black man with a black vest and t-shirt, two chains, sunglasses, and a black baseball cap.

Hip-Hop in Cedar Park

by NYC Parks

Hear from DJ Kool Herc and others as they remember the early days of hip-hop in the Bronx.

Video

Four multicolored abstract mosaic panels on an outdoor subway platform.

“People’s Instinctive Travels: Homage to the Tribe”

by Eamon Ore-Giron

Explore an abstract piece in the New York City subway system paying homage to hip-hop history.

Work of Art

A black-and-white photograph of James Brown, a Black man wearing a white shirt, sunglasses, a metal bracelet, and wristwatch waving as fans wave pieces of paper and look on in the distance.

The Origins and Elements of Hip-Hop

with Jeff Chang

Learn more about the genres, composers, and performers who developed the building blocks for what would become hip-hop.

Video

Photograph of a multi-buttoned drum machine and sampler. The machine consists of a black plastic box with a small screen in the upper left corner, multiple key pads, and a vertical design of black musical notes along the left, center and right of the box.

The Evolution of Hip-Hop and Breakdancing

with Jeff Chang

Explore the development of turntables, sampling, and breakdancing as key elements of hip-hop artistry and culture.

Video

Breakdancing at the Olympic Games

2024

See an example of breakdancing in performance at the Paris summer games.

Primary Source

Expand

Featured Videos

These videos from Black History in Two Minutes (or So) feature condensed, engaging, and fact-packed stories.

Birth of Hip Hop

Birth of Modern Gospel

Resources from Our Partners

We have teamed up with New American History on interactive resources exploring America’s past and harnessing the power of digital media, curiosity, and inquiry.

It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop

We cannot understand the last fifty years of U.S. history—certainly not the first thing about Black history—without studying the emergence and evolution of rap.

Explore Activity

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

LO 4.18.A

Describe representations of African Americans on the stage and screen by African Americans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

LO 4.18.B

Explain how migration and economic growth influenced representations of African Americans in television and film.

Essentials

Terms

Soul Train
The Jeffersons (1975–1985)
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990–1996)
Good Times (1974–1979)
Black-ish (2014–2022)

People

Oscar Micheaux
Don Cornelius

Required Sources

You will need to understand and be able to use these materials for the AP exam.

A lobby card for the movie "The Betrayal". The card is comprised of a black-and-white image of a man and woman standing in a room in front of another man lying on the carpet on the floor. The man on the floor appears to be dead. The woman is wearing a dark shiny dress and is holding a gun at her side in her left hand. Her right hand is resting on her chest and her face appears to be in a state of shock. The man standing next to her is wearing a light colored suit and hat and is extending his hand toward her

Lobby card for “The Betrayal”

1948

View a lobby card from Black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux’s last film.

Primary Source

“Soul Train”

1970

Get a sense of Soul Train’s cultural impact through this photograph.

Primary Source

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

Additional Resources

You can further develop your knowledge of this topic with primary and secondary sources.

Black women in coats and sweaters dancing as a multiracial crowd looks on from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (with the Museum's colonnade in the background).

Land of a Thousand Dances

by Lucy Sante

Explore the history, and memory, of Soul Train.

Essay

Featured Videos

These videos from Black History in Two Minutes (or So) feature condensed, engaging, and fact-packed stories.

Oscar Micheaux

Protesting Birth of a Nation

Soul Train

Resources from Our Partners

We have teamed up with New American History on interactive resources exploring America’s past and harnessing the power of digital media, curiosity, and inquiry.

How Oscar Micheaux Challenged the Racism of Early Hollywood

The black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux was one of the first to make films for a black audience, a rebuke to racist movies like “The Birth of a Nation.”

Explore Activity

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

LO 4.19.A

Describe the contributions of Black athletes to sports in the nineteenth century and beyond.

LO 4.19.B

Explain how African American athletes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have contested discrimination and advocated for racial equality.

Essentials

Terms

Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes

People

Oliver Lewis
William “Billy” Walker
Jackie Robinson
Jesse Owens
Muhammad Ali
Tommie Smith
John Carlos
Colin Kaepernick

Required Sources

You will need to understand and be able to use these materials for the AP exam.

A horse race featuring Black men as jockeys (wearing long underwear in place of racing silks). In the lead is a white horse jockeyed by a rider in red long underwear and a black hat; in second is a brown horse jockeyed by a rider in a powder blue outfit and hat; and in third is a brown horse jockeyed by a rider in a red-pinstriped, white outfit and hat.

“Sketches for the Washington Races”

ca. 1840

View an early depiction of African Americans in sports.

Work of Art

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

Three of the San Francisco 49ers football team kneeling (right knee on ground, arms balanced on left knee) during the pregame performance of the national anthem, as their teammates, coaches, and staff stand, some with hats or hands on their left breast, behind them. The three Black men kneeling are wearing the 49ers uniform of red jerseys, gold pants (with red-white-red stripes along the leg), and either red or white socks.

San Francisco 49ers Protest

2016

View a contemporary example of sports as a platform for protest.

Additional Resources

You can further develop your knowledge of this topic with primary and secondary sources.

A black-and-white photograph of Major Taylor, a Black man, in a dark striped shirt and shorts atop a racing bicycle.

Black Americans and Sports in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

by Robert Turpin

Learn more about athletes like jockey Isaac Murphy, cyclist Major Taylor, and boxer Jack Johnson.

Essay

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

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

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

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Featured Videos

These videos from Black History in Two Minutes (or So) feature condensed, engaging, and fact-packed stories.

Take a deep dive into the career of Hank Aaron, the last active Negro League baseball player in the Major Leagues post-integration, and for thirty years the all-time home run king.

Explore the life and legacy of heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson.

Gain a greater understanding of Jackie Robinson’s career and legacy.

Explore the history of the Negro Leagues and their place in Black communities across the country.

Resources from Our Partners

We have teamed up with New American History on interactive resources exploring America’s past and harnessing the power of digital media, curiosity, and inquiry.

Connections for: Black Power Salute

Compare the 1968 Olympians’ protest and the NFL protests in 2016 with this audio clip and video segment.

Explore Activity

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

LO 4.20.A

Describe African Americans’ contributions to scientific or technological advancements.

LO 4.20.B

Describe African Americans’ contributions to American medical care, training, and medical advancements.

LO 4.20.C

Describe multiple, compounding forms of discrimination against Black people with disabilities as well as governmental responses.

Essentials

People

George Washington Carver
Theodore Roosevelt
Katherine Johnson
Mae Jemison
Daniel Hale Williams
Kizzmekia Corbett
Onesimus

Required Sources

You will need to understand and be able to use these materials for the AP exam.

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

Oil painting of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman. She is smiling facing forward with her hands clasped in front of her body, holding a black book with gold-colored text [HOLY BIBLE]. Lacks is wearing a red dress with a white flower pattern and small belt.

“Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine”

2017

View Kadir Nelson’s portrait and tribute to Henrietta Lacks.

Primary Source

Additional Resources

You can further develop your knowledge of this topic with primary and secondary sources.

A typed notice on American Red Cross letterhead

“Statement of Policy Regarding Negro Blood Donors”

1942

View an impact of Jim Crow segregation on medical care during World War II.

Primary Source

A Black man wearing a tan sweater and white pants in a power wheelchair, talking to a white man in a white hat, white shirt, jean shorts, white socks, and black boots, as another white man in a yellow shirt, khaki shorts, white socks, and sneakers looks on.

Both Black and Disabled: Intersectional Experiences

by Jenifer L. Barclay

Explore the history of stigmatization of, and resiliency among, Black disabled people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Essay

Image of a Benjamin Banneker postal stamp featuring a portrait of Banneker with a smaller, full-body illustration of Banneker with a telescope in the foreground.

African American Scientists

with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Learn more about some of the most notable African American scientists and their discoveries, from Benjamin Banneker to Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Video

“Dr. Charles Drew and Freedman’s Hospital”

1945

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

Video

An infographic on Black mortality rates of those who remained in the South during the Great Migration and those who moved.

Grave Effects of the Great Migration

by Jonathan Lee, Duke University

Explore some of the health outcomes of the Great Migration.

Secondary Source

Expand

Featured Videos

These videos from Black History in Two Minutes (or So) feature condensed, engaging, and fact-packed stories.

Take a closer look at key moments, discoveries, and scandals in African American medical and technological history.

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

LO 4.21.A

Explain how the discipline of African American Studies has contributed to interdisciplinary academic studies.

LO 4.21.B

Explain how Afrofuturism envisions Black lives in futuristic environments.

Essentials

Terms

Afrofuturism
Black Panther

People

Benjamin Banneker
Sun Ra
Phillis Wheatley

Required Sources

You will need to understand and be able to use these materials for the AP exam.

Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), a Black woman, wearing her Starfleet uniform (red dress with a black collar and a wavy gold band on each sleeve), with a communications earpiece in her left ear, along with green hoop earrings. She has her hands on a bank of buttons connected to an array of four light screens.

Nichelle Nichols as Uhura in “Star Trek”

1968

Learn more about the impact of Nichols and her television role on Star Trek.

Primary Source

A color lithograph poster for the musical film Space is the Place featuring Sun Ra and the Arkestra. Sun Ra is depicted in the center of the poster wearing a headdress and collar resembling that of an Egyptian pharaoh. The headdress is topped by a large golden orb with long extensions on either side. On either side of Ra is a yellow and red flaming sun. Above and below him are the words [SUN RA / IN / SPACE IS THE PLACE] small planets are scattered among the lettering.

Poster for “Space is the Place”

1974

View an example of Sun Ra’s Afrofuturist art.

Primary Source

Toni Morrison, a Black woman wearing a multicolored sweater, white blouse, and black pants, next to her son Harold (wearing a brown sweater and khaki pants) and Slade (wearing a black shirt and red pants), in front of a multi-story house and trees.

“Culture Zone; Black to the Future”

by Walter Mosley

Read this column on the history of, and potential for, Afrofuturism and Black writers in science fiction.

Essay

George Clinton, a Black man, wearing a bright red wig, dark blue vest, and multicolored shirt with skulls and crossbones, playing the keyboard as other musicians surround him.

Let’s Talk about “Black Panther” and Afrofuturism

with Steve Vasquez

Learn more about the history of Afrofuturism upon the release of the 2018 Marvel film.

Video

Expand

Additional Resources

You can further develop your knowledge of this topic with primary and secondary sources.

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

Nichelle Nichols, a Black woman with white hair, wearing a black shirt, beaded necklace, and white round earrings. She is holding a small LEGO character of an astronaut in a white spacewalking suit, next to a large gold and blue ring on her finger.

“Nichelle Nichols: Woman on a NASA Mission”

by National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Explore Nichols’s role in diversifying the space shuttle program.

Video

Business and Culture in the 20th and 21st Centuries | APAAS

Business and Culture in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries

AP African American Studies Guide

Economic Growth and Black Political Representation

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Required Sources

1994

2018

2018

2020

Additional Resources

with Lonnie Bunch

with Marcia Chatelain

by Andrea Smith-Hunter

with Claude A. Clegg III

by Damien Davis

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Featured Videos

Demographic and Religious Diversity in Contemporary Black Communities

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Required Sources

2021

2021

Additional Resources

by Mamadi Corra

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

by Béatrice Lebreton

by Carmen Lizardo

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Featured Videos

The Evolution of African American Music: From Spirituals to Hip-Hop

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Required Sources

ca. 1952

1984

by Portia K. Maultsby

Additional Resources

with Jeff Chang

by NYC Parks

by Eamon Ore-Giron

with Jeff Chang

with Jeff Chang

2024

Featured Videos

Resources from Our Partners

It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop

Black Life in Theater, TV, and Film

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Required Sources

1948

1970

1987

Additional Resources

by Lucy Sante

Featured Videos

Resources from Our Partners

How Oscar Micheaux Challenged the Racism of Early Hollywood

African Americans and Sports

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Learning Objectives

Essentials

Required Sources

ca. 1840

1968

2016

Additional Resources