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

Title page of an aging book, with "William Parker" handwritten in cursive at the top of the page. The book's title is, "A narrative of the proceedings of the black people, during the late awful calamity in Philadelphia, in the year 1773: and a refutation of some censures thrown upon them in some late publications."

Black Volunteers in the Nation’s First Epidemic

1794

Read Absalom Jones and Richard Allen’s narrative of the African American community’s response to the 1793 yellow fever epidemic.

Primary Source

Scan of a page from Phillis Wheatley's book of poems, 1773.

Phillis Wheatley’s poem on tyranny and slavery

1772

Take a deep dive into one of Wheatley's best-known poems.

Primary Source

Illustration from 1867 issue of Harper's Weekly showing an African American man voting for the first time

Reconstruction and Citizenship

with Eric Foner

Discover the changes in definitions of citizenship before, during, and after the Civil War.

Video

A color photograph of a corner store with a two-toned green wall with two signs, one reading "Wadajir Grocery, Finest Halal Meats" and the other "Mediterranean Deli, Best Gyros in Town"

Diversity in Contemporary Black Communities

by Mamadi Corra

Learn more about shifts in the foreign-born Black population and its consequent impacts on the diversity of African Americans today.

Essay

Scan of a signed contract engaging a captain to oversee a set of men acting as a slave patrol, with manuscript accomplishment, signed by Obadiah Woodson and Horace L. Robards.

Slave Patrol Contract

1856

Explore an effort to enforce North Carolina’s slave codes in 1856.

Primary Source

A Black man smiling while wearing a black suit, light blue shirt, and patterned red tie.

A Founder’s Journey from Slave Trader to Abolitionist

with Michael Thurmond

Learn how James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia, helped to secure Ayuba bin Suleiman Diallo’s freedom.

Video

A map of the coast of Liberia, with the Atlantic Ocean appearing diagonally in the middle of the map.

The First Age of Reform

by Ronald G. Walters

Learn more about the debates related to colonization in the context of other antebellum reform movements.

Essay

Image of man sitting and posing for a black and white photograph.

“Hidden Practices”: Frederick Douglass on Segregation and Black Achievement, 1887

by Edward L. Ayers

Analyze a letter written by Frederick Douglass describing his feelings on Black progress.

Essay

A yellowed four-fold pamphlet featuring the photograph (at top left) of Stanley Dones, a Black man wearing a dark jacket, white shirt, and dark tie, placing his right hand upon his chin.

Black Land Ownership in the Jim Crow Era

with Alison Rose Jefferson and Sandra Trenholm

Explore the history of the Black-owned Eureka Villa housing development in 1920s California.

Video

Engraving showing a Black man in a coat, vest, white shirt, and bow tie and a Black woman wearing a patterned dress with a wide white collar, with earrings.

The Dred Scott Decision and Its Bitter Legacy

1800–1858

Dred Scott’s case before the US Supreme Court challenged the nation on slavery, citizenship, and state sovereignty.

Interactive

Scan of FDR's letter to Joseph Curran, typewritten on White House stationery.

FDR on Racial Discrimination

1942

Read a transcription and a bit of historical context behind Franklin D. Roosevelt’s letter to Joseph Curran concerning Executive Order 8802 and discrimination against Black sailors.

Primary Source

Scan of the broadside, reading I AM A MAN in bold black letters with "AM" underlined.

Civil Rights Posters

1968

Explore the historical context behind two posters from the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike.

Primary Source

AP African American Studies Resource Library