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

A black-and-white photograph of Sojourner Truth, seated, holding sewing materials in her hand; below her portrait is the phrase "I sell the shadow to support the substance."

Black Women’s Activism in Free Black Communities

with Carla L. Peterson

Learn how Black women such as Maria W. Stewart and Sojourner Truth organized for their communities.

Video

A string of 8 multicolored glass beads

Beads and Trans-Saharan Trade

with Abidemi Babatúnde Babalola

Learn more about the importance of beads in African kingdoms, and their impact on the archaeological record.

Video

The Evolution of the Underground Railroad

with Christopher Bonner

Learn more about how the Underground Railroad operated and how the term for this means of escape from bondage emerged.

Video

A color postcard depicting a brick courthouse with a cupola and entrance pediment in Meridian, Mississippi.

The Story of a Freed Mother and Daughter

by Brenda E. Stevenson

Examine one family’s story in the context of Reconstruction.

Essay

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

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 multicolored map of Oklahoma and Indian territories.

Emancipation on Indigenous Lands

with Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie

Learn more about the reach of the Thirteenth Amendment in American Indian nations.

Video

A color photgraph of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, a light-skinned Black man wearing a white Portland Trail Blazers uniform, holds a basketball as Reggie Evans (a dark-skinned Black man in a green and yellow Seattle SuperSonics uniform) defends.

A Thematic Conversation with Shareef Abdur-Rahim

2025

Learn more about Abdur-Rahim’s path to the NBA, Team USA, the G League, and making a place for Muslim professional athletes.

Video

A color illustration of an olive-skinned, gray-haired/bearded St. Luke (with ceremonial halo) writing in Ge'ez.

African-European Interactions Through the Sixteenth Century

by Matthew Salvadore

Learn more about early connections between Africa and Europe.

Essay

A black-and-white photograph of a Black man wearing a dark turban, jacket, coat, and tie, seated, holding a cane in his right hand.

Narrative and Photograph of Omar Ibn Said

ca. 1850

Learn more about the capture and enslavement of African people through this photograph and narrative.

Primary Source

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