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

A black-and-white photograph of Marcus Garvey, a Black man wearing a dark suit, light-colored vest, white shirt, and dark tie, sitting in a wooden chair next to a desk filled with papers, holding a handkerchief in his right hand and a gavel in his left.

Marcus Garvey at His Desk

1924

View this photograph of Marcus Garvey, the founder and leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

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A printed certificate with names, date, and location written in

Land Order for Richard Brown

1865

View an example of the short-lived promise of “forty acres and a mule.”

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A handwritten copy of the Thirteenth Amendment

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments

1865, 1868, and 1870

Read the three Reconstruction Amendments.

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A typed document on letterhead for the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

Freedmen’s Bureau, “Circular No. 9”

1867

Read the Freedmen’s Bureau’s circular helping to ensure freedpeople's voting rights.

Primary Source

A typed letter from the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.

Freedmen’s Bureau, “Circular No. 8”

1866

Read this order from the Freedmen’s Bureau protecting sharecroppers’ labor rights.

Primary Source

The first page of sheet music for "Lift Every Voice and Sing."

“Lift Every Voice and Sing”

1900

Read the lyrics composed by James Weldon Johnson for what has become known as the Black National Anthem.

Primary Source

Cover of the Messenger magazine for March 1920, featuring two torches held by disembodied hands on either side of a wreath, within which features the contents of that month's issue.

“Negroes, Leave the South!”

1920

Read an anonymous editorial calling on African Americans to move north, east, and west for safety and opportunities.

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Langston Hughes, a Black man, wearing a dark suit, dark tie, and white shirt.

“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”

1926

Read Langston Hughes's essay on the limits placed on Black poets and writers during this period.

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The top of a print of five portraits in connected ovals, two portraits, then one portrait, then two portraits. In this crop, only the top three circles are visible. All five are of Black men who served in the US Congress immediately following ratification of the 15th Amendment during the Reconstruction era.

African American Members of Congress

1884

View this depiction of five African Americans elected to Congress.

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The head of Countee Cullen, a Black man, with a stylized drawing of his shirtfront (white shirt, black bow tie).

“Heritage” by Countee Cullen

1925

Take a deep dive into Countee Cullen’s vision of Africa through this poem.

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Three bathroom doors, labeled "Ladies," "Men," and "Colored."

Segregated Restrooms

ca. 1960

View an example of the impact of Jim Crow.

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Approximately thirty-five Black boys and young men standing in a field, wearing striped prison jumpsuits and caps, with shackles linked to belts around their waists, and holding hoes.

“Juvenile Convicts at Work in the Fields”

1903

View a photograph of juvenile convict laborers.

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