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

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

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

Letter written in brown ink in cursive on yellowing paper.

John Quincy Adams and the Amistad Case

1840

Read a letter written by John Quincy Adams about his role in supporting the Amistad captives’ petition for freedom.

Primary Source

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

A printed broadside announcing a "$2,500 REWARD!" for freedom seekers. On each side of "$2,500" are hands with index fingers pointing toward the dollar value.

Runaway Slave Ad

1852

Explore an example of broadsides developed to find and capture self-emancipated people.

Primary Source

A handwritten letter in cursive on lined paper

“I love you but hate slavery”

ca. 1860

Read Frederick Douglass’s letter to his former owner, searching for information about his birth date.

Primary Source

A handwritten legal document for the posting of a bond for the manumission of the slave Ann.

A bond for the manumission of an enslaved woman

1757

View and develop an understanding of this manumission bond.

Primary Source

An African American protests the Fugitive Slave Law

1850

Explore a letter written by a free Black man in Boston.

Primary Source

A Black soldier in a blue Union Army uniform (jacket, coat, pants, and hat), holding a rifle on his right shoulder with a slight smile on his face.

Historical Context: Black Soldiers in the Civil War

by Steven Mintz

Get some key facts on Black service during the Civil War.

Teacher Resources

Black and white portrait of Booker T. Washington, three-quarter length, seated, facing front

Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington: A Little-known Encounter

by Adele Alexander

Learn the critical differences in attitude and approach taken by Douglass and Washington, and their 1892 encounter at the Tuskegee Institute.

Essay

Three Black men sit along a wall. One holds a sign that reads "We march together/ Catholic, Jews, Protestant/ for dignity an brotherhood of all men under God now!"

“A Vote-less People Is a Hopeless People”: Lessons from Selma

by Robert A. Pratt

Learn about the history and legacy of the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

Essay

AP African American Studies Resource Library