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.

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.

Primary Source

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.

Primary Source

Wooden staff in the form of a kneeling female figure holding a stylized snake in an inverted U over her head, topped by a pair of opposing triangles in a bowtie or double-ax form. Female figure has white beads around her neck and staff is pigmented in red, blue, and white.

Yoruba osé Ṣàngó

Mid-20th Century

Take a closer look at an example of syncretic cosmologies.

Primary Source

A sepia photograph of Gwendolyn Bennett, a young Black woman, seated, wearing a dark jumper over a white t-shirt.

“Heritage” by Gwendolyn Bennett

1923

Explore Gwendolyn Bennett’s vision of Africa in this poem.

Primary Source

Masthead of the Southwestern Christian Advocate newspaper.

Clarissa Reed Searches for Her Family

1883

Read a formerly enslaved woman’s plea for information about her lost parents and siblings.

Primary Source

Cover of Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, featuring a Black woman wearing a brown hat (extending down her neckline) and large gold hoop earrings encircled in a black circle with a peach background.

“Restricted West Indian Immigration and the American Negro”

1924

Read this piece on the impact of the Immigration Act of 1924 on Afro-Caribbean migration to the US.

Primary Source

Two Black women wearing light-colored coats look into a glass vitrine case with the title "Arthur A Schomburg, 1874–1938." Atop the case is a matted photograph of Arturo [Arthur] Schomburg.

“The Negro Digs Up His Past”

1925

Read this essay by Afro-Latino historian and collector Arturo Schomburg.

Primary Source

Marcus Garvey, a Black man, wearing a dark jacket and vest, white shirt, and dark tie. He is also wearing a button on his lapel.

“Address to the Second UNIA Convention”

1921

Read Marcus Garvey’s address rejecting the colonization of Africa and advocating Black nationalism.

Primary Source

A train platform with, at center, a wrought-iron sculpture of a man wearing a suit and hat while holding a suitcase.

“Hear the Lone Whistle Moan” / “copacetic”

by Alison Saar

View two pieces paying homage to the Harlem Renaissance.

Work of Art

A tile mosaic in a subway station of drum majors in white uniforms dancing in formation.

“PARADE”

by Derek Fordjour

View an homage to historic parades through Harlem in this mosaic created in the New York City subway system.

Work of Art

A white tile mosaic mural of several Black people airborne above buildings.

“Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines”

by Faith Ringgold

View a fantastical homage to Harlem history through this work of art in the New York City subway.

Work of Art