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

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

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

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 flyer with the images of two white men (Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner) flanking the image of a Black man (James Chaney).

Nonviolent Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement

by Robert Greene II

Learn more about nonviolent tactics and campaigns during the Civil Rights Movement.

Essay

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

A black-and-white photograph of a crowd picketing with signs outside a building, photographed from above.

Methods of the Major Civil Rights Organizations

by Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Take a quick look at the differing practices of the “Big Four” civil rights organizations.

Essay

First typed page of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The Path to Brown v. Board of Education

with Justin Driver

Learn more about the Brown v. Board case as it made its way to the Supreme Court and the Court’s historic decision.

Video

A black-and-white photograph of nine Black students, six girls and three boys, with Mayor Robert Wagner of New York City.

School Desegregation

with Justin Driver

Learn more about the immediate aftermath and impact of the Brown decision.

Video

A black-and-white photograph of W. C. Handy, a Black man wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and light tie, holding a trumpet.

Origins of the African American Musical Tradition

with Charles Hughes

Learn more about how musical and performative traditions from Africa and diaspora became modern American genres.

Video

A bird's-eye-view map of Memphis, Tennessee, with riverboats in the Mississippi River foreground

The Memphis Sound

with Charles Hughes

Learn how Memphis became a major cultural and musical hub.

Video

A collage of three photographs on a dotted orange background. Clockwise from left: A black-and-white photograph of Bo Diddley, a Black man wearing a dark shirt with ornamental stripes on the sleeves and a dark hat. He is playing a guitar with a rectangular head while singing into a microphone; A black-and-white photograph of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a Black woman in a dark colored dress, looking upward with her guitar hanging by its strap on her shoulder; and a color photograph of Little Richard, a Black man

Bo Diddley, Little Richard, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe

with Charles Hughes

Learn more about these three trailblazing musicians.

Video