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

A metal bust of a man on a marble base, topped with two Black-eyed Susan flowers. The bust reads "Zumbi dos Palmares: O Líder Negro De Todas As Raças."

The Palmares Quilombo

by Ana Lucia Araujo

Learn more about the development and defense of this maroon community.

Essay

Bert Williams, a Black man, wearing a black coat and white collar.

Representation on the Stage, Screen, and Airwaves

by Kenya Davis-Hayes

Explore the history of Black performance from Reconstruction through the 1960s.

Essay

A black-and-white photograph of a young Black girl wearing a white dress, dark sweater, and dark socks and shoes, jumping rope as other Black children look on.

The Great Migration and the Making of Modern America

by Davarian L. Baldwin

Explore the impact of the “Exodus from Dixie.”

Essay

A shirtless Black African royal holding a staff with two spear heads, wearing a red and blue tiered hat with fur flowing down the headpiece, gold armlets, bracelets, and anklets, and a blue loincloth with a long train.

The Catholic Church in Kongo

by John K. Thornton

Explore the history of Catholic conversion and syncretic practices in the kingdom of Kongo.

Essay

Detail from an 1805 broadside showing restraining devices used on enslaved peoples

Global Africans and Transatlantic Slaving to the United States

by Kwasi Konadu

Explore the origins of and predecessors to the transatlantic slave trade.

Essay

Map of the Kongo River.

Afonso and the Slave Trade

by John K. Thornton

Explore the origins and evolution of the slave trade in Kongo and Portugal.

Essay

A color print of Toussaint L'Ouverture, a Black soldier, wearing a Haitian cavalry uniform (black hat with a gold frill and white flower, blue jacket with gold trim and epaulets, white pants, and black boots) holding a sword atop a brown horse with a red and gold saddle.

Haiti and the Age of Abolition

by Marlene L. Daut

Understand the legacy of the Haitian Revolution and its global impact.

Essay

A photocopied cover of a curriculum catalog. At right, a black panther pouncing below the text "Black Studies Curriculum."

Black Studies: Its Origin and Place in the Twenty-First Century

by Abul Pitre

Develop an understanding of the birth and evolution of African American Studies, Black Studies, and other adjacent fields.

Essay

Front page of a newspaper, The Africo-American Presbyterian

African American Naming Conventions

by Claude A. Clegg III

Understand changes in nomenclature in the African diaspora.

Essay

Map of Africa in tan, with arrows in black, red, green, and yellow showing the spread of Christianity and Islam, Bantu migrations, and trade routes within and beyond the continent

Migrations in Ancient African History

from Exploring Africa, African Studies Center

Explore the spread of Bantu languages, Christianity, and Islam and trade routes throughout African kingdoms.

Thematic Map

Map of North America with routes on the Underground Railroad; The legend says that free states and territories are in green and slave states and territories are in tan. Underground railroad routes are in red, with arrows pointing north, west, and (from Georgia), south. The data is from the Atlas of African-American History and Politics.

The Underground Railroad in the Eighteenth Century

by Michael Siegel

Visualize the Underground Railroad in its earliest days through this map.

Thematic Map

Map of North America with routes on the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad in the Nineteenth Century

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the Underground Railroad in the antebellum US through this map.

Thematic Map