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

A film still of a Black man wearing a light-colored cap and a dark jacket holding a box labeled "Mme. C. J. Walker's Vegetable Shampoo, Indianapolis. Ind., USA."

The Madam C. J. Walker Company on Film

1926

View silent film scenes of Walker’s business empire.

Video

Front page of the Spotlight on Africa newsletter for April 20, 1954, featuring a group of Black women sitting and standing in a group photo.

Black Internationalism and the Expansive Meanings of Freedom

by Merve Fejzula

Learn more about how those in the Black Freedom struggle came together across the African continent and diaspora in the 1930s through the 1970s.

Essay

A photograph of a large brick hospital building with multiple wings.

Black American Contributions to Modern Medicine

by George Aumoithe

Learn more about how Black medical professionals overcame obstacles in the field and innovated despite exclusion.

Essay

“UNLADYLIKE2020: Gladys Bentley”

with Lorraine Toussaint and Lisa Wilkerson

Learn more about this trailblazing pianist, musician, and drag entertainer.

Video

A black-and-white photograph of Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. (a Black soldier in uniform and sunglasses), Joe Louis (a Black man wearing a light colored suit and a dark bowtie), Thurgood Marshall (a Black man wearing a dark suit and white shirt, his head resting on his crooked right arm), and Daisy Lampkin (a Black woman wearing a light colored dress and dark hat) seated outside under an open-air tent.

NAACP Civil Rights Convention

1947

View this photograph of four activists in the wake of the Double V movement taken by Joe Schwartz.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph of three women, Audre Lorde, a Black woman with an afro at left; Meridel Lesueur, a White woman with white hair and glasses in the center; and Adrienne Rich, a White woman with short black hair, at right.

Black Feminism: A History of Theory and Activism

by Dayo F. Gore

Learn more about the Combahee River Collective and other groups and individuals involved in shaping Black feminism in the twentieth century.

Essay

A green flyer for Bad Brains (featuring a Lion of Judah with a Star of David crown, its tail knocking over a building) and Minor Threat, noting the date, time, and location.

Bad Brains in Concert

1982

Learn more about this foundational all-Black punk band through this concert flyer.

Primary Source

Joe Biden, wearing a blue suit, blue dotted tie, and flag lapel pin, standing next to and listening to Opal Lee, a bespectacled Black woman wearing a white shirt and necklace.

Juneteenth: Exploring Freedom’s Stories

by Annenberg Classroom

Explore the history of Juneteenth, from its initial celebration following the Civil War through its enactment as a federal holiday.

Video

A White woman in a yellow dress and dark orange cape and a White man in a white and red shirt and blue and white striped pants, eating at a table. Behind them are two Black people: a woman in a white dress fanning the two seated White people, and a man, wearing a white collared shirt and orange sweater, arms crossed behind the seated White man. In front of the table are two naked Black children, one of whom is being fed by the White woman.

Slavery and Freedom in Brazil

with Reighan Gillam

Explore the pervasive nature of slavery in Brazil and the path to abolition.

Video

A black-and-white photograph of seven men wearing wide-brimmed hats. To the right of the man third from left is a horse.

African Americans in the Seminole Nation

by Rachel Sarah O’Toole

Explore how maroons and self-emancipated people joined the Seminole community.

Essay

A bronze statue of Richard Allen, a Black man, wearing a jacket, vest, and ruffled collar shirt, with his right arm outstretched. Behind the statue is a brick church building to the right of a stone church building.

“Articles of Association of the African Methodist Episcopal Church”

1796

Explore the founding document of the AME’s Mother Church in Philadelphia.

Primary Source

Title page for The Urban League Bulletin magazine.

The National Urban League and the Great Migration

with Marc H. Morial

Learn more about the impact of the National Urban League over its more than 100-year history.

Video