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

The Tomb of Askia, a mud building covered in spikes, surrounded by two sets of walls. On the other side of the outer wall, cattle walk behind three children.

Conducting Archaeology in the Sudanic Empires

with Mamadou Cissé

Learn more about the process of, and challenges in, studying the history of Gao, capital of the kingdom of Songhai.

Video

A handwritten document in script.

“Petition of the People of Colour, Freemen,” Philadelphia

1799

Explore this petition referencing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in support of Black freedom.

Primary Source

A printed page from the newspaper The Freeman's Journal, September 21, 1781.

“Negroes Who Obtained Freedom”

1781

Read a plea from free Black people in Philadelphia to protect their freedom.

Primary Source

A brick building with two round sections on either side, connected via a colonnade topped by a white steeple and flagpole in front of a brick fence.

“Petition to the Virginia House of Delegates”

1784

Read this plea written by Sarah Greene, a formerly enslaved woman caught in a legal fight.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph of a Black man wearing a dark top hat and suit riding a horse leading a procession including a band of musicians down a dirt road

Freedom Days in American History

with Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie

Learn more about the long history of celebrating emancipation, from January 1, to August 1, to Juneteenth.

Video

Detail from a multicolored map depicting enslaved population by county in the South, along with government farms and camps set up by the Union Army during the Civil War.

Emancipation: Separating Myth from Fact

with Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie

Break down common misconceptions about the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment in this video.

Video

A black-and-white photograph of a Black man wearing a light-colored suit and dark bowler hat walking with a cane in his right hand; in the background is rubble of buildings destroyed in the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Tulsa after the Greenwood Massacre

1925–1926

View silent film scenes of Tulsa’s Black institutions and organizations in the mid-1920s.

Video

A color photograph of six golden silhouette statues in a semicircle, behind a fence, with a pedestal below reading "Portsmouth African Burial Ground."

“Petition to New Hampshire State Legislature”

1779

Read a petition for freedom inspired by the American Revolution.

Primary Source

A black-and-white still from a film of a graduation procession of Black men in black caps and gowns with Black women in white dresses behind them.

Graduation Ceremony at Langston University

1925

Watch a silent film of a graduation procession at the only HBCU in Oklahoma.

Video

A color photograph of six standing (and one seated) Black men in suits and ties, in front of a metal sign on a wooden easel reading "Alpha Phi Alpha [in Greek letters]: Gamma Iota Lambda."

Alpha Phi Alpha Records

1956-1979

View a collection of photographs and documents from a New York chapter of this “Divine Nine” Black Greek Letter Organization.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph of a parade; Black women, most wearing white dresses and hats, march in formation in rows of about twenty. Between two groups of women there is a row of four Black men in dark suits, ties, and hats, holding up large American flags. In the first group of women, one woman holds up a sign reading, "YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD."

Negro Silent Protest Petition on Lynching

1917

Read a response from Black leaders to White supremacist violence, two years before Red Summer.

Primary Source

A still from a black-and-white film showing Black men and women, many in straw-boater hats with dark hatbands, marching in a parade. In the foreground is a clarinetist, followed by two American flag bearers marching at the head of the parade.

Juneteenth Flag-Waving Procession, Oklahoma

1920s

See an example of an early twentieth-century Juneteenth celebration in this silent film clip.

Video