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

A Black Haitian general (wearing a pointed and feathered hat, dark coat with tails and epaulets, white pants, and dark boots) holding a book next to other troops, as a priest in formal robes and holding a staff looks above toward an image of God.

Preliminary Declaration from the Constitution of Haiti

1805

Read a translation of some of Haiti’s founding principles as an independent nation.

Primary Source

A handwritten petition in cursive.

Arkansas Petition for Freedmen’s Rights

1869

Read a petition on behalf of formerly enslaved African Americans on indigenous territory requesting tribal citizenship and benefits.

Primary Source

Cover of the 1830 pamphlet edition of Walker's Appeal ... to the Colored Citizens of the World printed in Boston

“Walker’s Appeal”

1829

Black abolitionist David Walker wrote a powerful pamphlet on the effects of enslavement on African Americans and what enslaved people should do to escape.

Primary Source

An engraving showing two dozen armed Black men in the foreground hidden along a forested path and hillside watching a group of White men in military dress coming down the path in the distance

“The Maroons in Ambush . . . in Jamaica”

1801

View this depiction of a maroon revolt in Jamaica.

Work of Art

A handwritten transcript of a letter

Letter from the Governor of East Florida

1739

Read a letter that points to the conflicts and alliances between the Spanish, English, Africans, and Native Americans in border regions of the Southeast.

Primary Source

A shirtless and shoeless Black man wearing white pants and a sword along his right leg while brandishing a rifle with both hands and identified as "Leonard Parkinson, a Captain of the Maroons."

“Leonard Parkinson, a Captain of the Maroons”

1769

View a depiction of a maroon community leader.

Primary Source

Alain Locke, a Black man, wearing a white suit, vest, and shirt, and a dark tie.

“Negro Youth Speaks”

1925

Read an excerpt from Alain Locke’s book The New Negro, a cornerstone of the New Negro movement.

Primary Source

A circular seal of a woman with wrists in chains kneeling, with her plea above: "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"

Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?

ca. 1833

View this visual representation of a rallying cry for abolition among Black women.

Primary Source

A green book cover with gold text reading "Harriet, the Moses of Her People"

Harriet, the Moses of Her People

1886

Read an authorized description of Tubman’s escape written by a White woman who had interviewed Tubman.

Primary Source

Title page of The Refugee: or the Narrative of Fugitive Slaves in Canada

Harriet Tubman’s reflection in The Refugee

1856

Read Tubman’s memories of enslavement and freedom in her own words.

Primary Source

An engraving of a bust of a bearded Black man wearing a black suit, white shirt, and dark bow tie, in three-quarter view looking toward the left

“An Address to the Slaves of the United States”

1843

Explore this speech, rejected by the National Colored Convention.

Primary Source

Title page of My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass

“Treatment of Slaves on Lloyd’s Plantation”

1855

Read Frederick Douglass’s recollection of plantation life in Maryland from his second autobiography.

Primary Source