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

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

Image of a Benjamin Banneker postal stamp featuring a portrait of Banneker with a smaller, full-body illustration of Banneker with a telescope in the foreground.

African American Scientists

with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Learn more about some of the most notable African American scientists and their discoveries, from Benjamin Banneker to Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Video

A white historical marker with black text for Benjamin Banneker's birthplace and home.

Benjamin Banneker on Solar Eclipses

1789

Read Banneker’s letter analyzing the science of eclipses.

Primary Source

Drawing of various sections of the cicada.

Benjamin Banneker’s Study of the Cicada

1800

Read Banneker’s derivation of the seventeen-year cycle of the cicada, one of the first scientists to make this observation.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photogrpah of Fidel Castro (a dark-haired, bearded, light-skinned Latino man wearing a dark shirt and pants) and Malcolm X (a light-skinned Black man wearing horn-rimmed glasses, a dark trench coat, and a white shirt and dark tie) smiling while sitting on a bed in a hotel room.

Diasporic Solidarity and the Cuban Revolution

with Danielle Pilar Clealand

Learn more about the African American community’s response to the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s and 1960s.

Video

A color photograph of a multicolored mural featuring images of crowds of protesters, Yuri Kochiyama (a Japanese American woman depicted wearing a red shirt and white bandana) speaking into a megaphone, and Malcolm X (a Black man depicted wearing a light-colored suit, blue shirt, and red tie and holding a newspaper). Above them is a depiction of Earth flanked by bridges.

Black and Latino Solidarity Movements

with Danielle Pilar Clealand

Learn more about Chicano, Puerto Rican, and other solidarity movements and their relation to the Black freedom struggle.

Video

A printed flyer for "THE BLACK ARTS PARADE!!," featuring a two-sided mask in the top right of the flyer.

Building the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School

1965–1966

View early documents from a center for the Black Arts movement in Harlem, founded by the poet LeRoi Jones (aka Amiri Baraka).

Primary Source

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. smiling and talking with each other while a police escort stands near.

The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

with Peniel Joseph

Dive into the lives and work of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Video

Image of the National Museum of African American History and Culture with the Washington Monument in the distance.

Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture

with Lonnie Bunch

Learn about the significance and creation of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Video

Scan of the front page of the Pacific Stars and Stripes Newspaper from August 30, 1963, featuring a large image of the 1963 March on Washington.

The March on Washington

with Bryson Bruce, Jermain Corbin, and Sandra Trenholm

Explore archival materials related to the March on Washington and the ensuing press coverage.

Video

The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History

with Jeanne Theoharis

Watch author Jeanne Theoharis discuss Brown v. Board of Education and school desegregation in the North.

Video

A large stone building with "MUNICIPAL BUILDING" carved above the front doors and flags of North Carolina, the United States, and Wilson on poles above the entrance.

The Civil Rights Act and the Pursuit of Greater Freedom

by Charles W. McKinney

Read about civil rights protests in the small town of Wilson, North Carolina, in the 1960s.

Essay

AP African American Studies Resource Library

Using Sports to Contest Discrimination

with Kevin Blackistone

African American Scientists

with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Benjamin Banneker on Solar Eclipses

1789

Benjamin Banneker’s Study of the Cicada

1800

Diasporic Solidarity and the Cuban Revolution

with Danielle Pilar Clealand

Black and Latino Solidarity Movements

with Danielle Pilar Clealand

Building the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School

1965–1966

The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

with Peniel Joseph

Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture

with Lonnie Bunch

The March on Washington

with Bryson Bruce, Jermain Corbin, and Sandra Trenholm

The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History

with Jeanne Theoharis

The Civil Rights Act and the Pursuit of Greater Freedom

by Charles W. McKinney

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