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

Map of West and North Africa along the Mediterranean coast, with trade routes and kingdoms noted through illustrations.

The Catalan Atlas

1375

View a Euro-centric impression of Africa, including the ruler Mansa Musa, through this map and essay.

Work of Art

A page from a book focused on a title of legislation, "An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Slaves."

South Carolina Slave Code

1740

Read excerpts from this slave code enacted in a British colony.

Primary Source

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 map of West Africa with the Mali Empire outlined in red.

Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: The Empires of West Africa

by Chouki El Hamel

Take a deep dive into the history of these three Sudanic empires.

Essay

A stereoscope card of a field of sisal fibers with a house in the background leading to a Mexican pyramid.

Diverse Roles of Africans in Early American Colonization

by Matthew Restall

Explore the ways free and enslaved Africans influenced Latin America in the sixteenth century.

Essay

Six older Black men wearing dark suits sitting on steps in two rows of three.

The WPA Slave Narratives

by Robert C. Williams

Develop an understanding of the nuances behind recording narratives of formerly enslaved people during the Great Depression.

Essay

A portrait of a Black man with long black hair wearing a white turban, white robe, and necklace.

Ayuba bin Suleiman Diallo to His Father

ca. 1733

Read a translation of the letter that helped to secure Diallo’s freedom from enslavement.

Primary Source

A cartoon of a young Black man, mouth open, holding copies of The Black Panther newspaper, with a rifle strapped to his back. The front page of the copy in his right hand reads "ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE."

The Black Arts Movement

by Yasmine Espert

Explore the origins, evolution, and key players and works of the Black Arts Movement.

Essay

Five portraits of men (abolitionists in Brazil), below a portrait of Princess Isabel (wearing a blue dress with a white frill) and four shirtless Black men dancing next to a pole as a Black woman wearing a pink dress looks on.

Slavery and Freedom in Brazil

by Keila Grinberg

Explore the pervasive impact of slavery in Brazil, and the long fight to abolish the system of enslavement.

Essay

Seated, from left to right, a Black man wearing a white shirt, kente cloth robe, and glasses; a Black woman wearing a white shirt; Pat Nixon, a White woman, wearing a light-colored dress with a white collar and a white hat; Richard Nixon, a White man, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie; and K.A. Gbedeman, a Black man, wearing a light-colored shirt and kente cloth robe.

“M. L. King Meets Nixon in Ghana”

1957

Read this piece from the Pittsburgh Courier that connects the Black Freedom struggles in Ghana and the US.

Primary Source

A typed act of Congress.

Maintaining the Freedmen’s Bureau

1866

Read the legislation that extended the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Primary Source

People at right foreground and left background going up a set of stairs; in the center background, a multicolored glass mosaic of a city skyline with an elevated train, and below a tile mosaic reading "TO UP TOWN AND DOWN TOWN TRAINS."

“City of Glass”

by Romare Bearden

Explore the work of Romare Bearden in this posthumously completed piece.

Work of Art