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

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 written legal document from 1781 certifying Cuffee Wells' purchase of freedom.

Doctor Cuffee Saunders

1781

Read about how Cuffee Wells Saunders gained his freedom.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph of Willie O'Ree, a Black man, coming off the ice wearing a white Boston Bruins uniform.

The Desegregation of Hockey

with George and Darril Fosty

Learn about the path toward Willie O’Ree breaking the color barrier in the National Hockey League.

Video

Black men and women laying on the ground and standing (those standing holding tools, such as washboards and basins and an axe) in front of Union soldiers in uniform, themselves in front of a house.

Civil War “Contrabands”

1861–1865

View two photographs of self-emancipated people described as “contrabands” of the Union Army during the Civil War.

Primary Source

A color photograph of Harry Edwards, a smiling bald Black man with a gray beard, wearing sunglasses and a dark Nehru jacket.

The Olympic Project for Human Rights

with William C. Rhoden

Learn more about athletic protests in the 1960s and their modern reverberations.

Video

A color print of Wilberforce University showing seven small tan and white buildings and a large T-shaped white building with a brown roof surrounding a quadrangle of lawns, paths, and trees.

The Founding of Black Colleges

by Jelani M. Favors

Learn more about the birth and evolution of historically Black colleges and universities.

Essay

A black-and-white photograph of Black men in WWII aviator uniforms sitting, their attention directed out of frame.

African Americans’ Involvement in World War II

by Marcus S. Cox

Learn more about how the Double V campaign was made manifest at home and abroad.

Essay

Lines of women primarily in white dresses and hats marching in formation. Between the first and second lines, a man in a dark suit and hat holds a sign reading "RACE PREJUDICE IS THE OFFSPRING OF IGNORANCE AND THE MOTHER OF LYNCHING."

The New York Silent Protest Parade in Photographs

1917

Explore this response to white supremacist violence led by the NAACP.

Primary Source

A color photograph of large number of students on a campus pathway, flanked at either end by brick gates. In front of them are campus police officers in uniform, some wearing helmets.

The Continuum of Athletic Activism

with Len Elmore

Learn about how Elmore’s time in the ABA and NBA coincided with a larger history of athletes responding to political issues.

Video

A color photograph of large cypress trees emerging out of water, with more trees in the background fading into fog.

The Great Dismal Swamp

with Marcus P. Nevius

Learn why this region of Virginia and North Carolina became fertile ground for maroon communities.

Video

A color photograph of two Black teammates from the Oakland Raiders in the team uniform kneeling on one knee as coaches and staff around them stand with right hands over their hearts.

Athletes in Protest

with Kevin Blackistone

Learn about the long path to protests led by Colin Kaepernick and their aftermath.

Video

A color photograph of a bronze statue of Octavius V. Catto in a three-piece suit and bowtie, leaning forward, hands open, in the courtyard of Philadelphia City Hall.

Using Sports to Contest Discrimination

with Kevin Blackistone

Learn about the long history of Black athletes using sports as a platform to advocate for racial equality.

Video