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

Front page of The Colored American newspaper

“Why We Should Have a Paper”

1837

Read the founding manifesto of The Colored American newspaper.

Primary Source

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

“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

Two maps side by side, of Oak Park and surrounding towns/neighborhoods in 1950 and 2010. The 1950 map shows an almost exclusively White population; the 2010 map shows a diverse community surrounded by an overwhelmingly Black neighborhood to the east and overwhelmingly Latino towns to the south.

Responses to and Impact of Housing Discrimination

with Richard Rothstein

Learn more about how African Americans fought against housing discrimination.

Video

Inscription on a dark brown earthenware jar, reading: "this jar is to Mr Segler who keeps the bar in orangeburg / for Mr Edwards a Gentle man — who formly kept / Mr thos bacons horses / April 21 1858" "when you fill this Jar with pork or beef / Scot will be there; to get a peace, - / Dave"

The Pervasive Institution of Slavery in the US

with Seth Rockman

Learn how the system of slavery extended across the American labor system, and how African Americans worked to reclaim their labor.

Video

A printed broadside announcing the sale of enslaved people in Alabama in 1858

The Economic Impact of Slavery in the US

with Seth Rockman

Take a closer look at how the system of slavery pervaded American economic markets.

Video

A color postcard depicting a brick courthouse with a cupola and entrance pediment in Meridian, Mississippi.

The Story of a Freed Mother and Daughter

by Brenda E. Stevenson

Examine one family’s story in the context of Reconstruction.

Essay

A black-and-white photograph of three suburban houses with a small tree in the foreground.

The Development and Impact of Twentieth-Century Housing Discrimination

with Richard Rothstein

Learn more about some of the ways African Americans were discriminated against when it came to seeking housing.

Video

A black-and-white image of a photograph of twelve Black men in three rows of four (and a child on one man's knee, second row left), all wearing dark suits and hats, superimposed on a photograph of Niagara Falls.

Resistance to Jim Crow During the Nadir

with Mia Bay

Explore how African Americans organized against the pernicious racism of Jim Crow.

Video

A black-and-white photograph of a Black man wearing a light-colored shirt, tie, and hat, and dark suspenders, under a sign reading "Colored Waiting Room."

The Impact of Jim Crow Laws

with Mia Bay

Explore the origins of Jim Crow legislation and how it impacted Black mobility during the nadir.

Video

A color photograph of a crowd gathering around the reflecting pool in Washington, the Washington Monument, and the Capitol rotunda in the distance. In the foreground, a White man holds a red-and-white sign reading "We march for jobs for all now!"

The Power of Nonviolent Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement

by Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Learn more about the impact and successes of nonviolent organizing during the Civil Rights Movement.

Essay