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

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

A map of the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Atlantic Ocean with arrows noting African emigration from the United States to Canada, Europe, African, and the Caribbean and South America after the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 (post-Revolution in red, post-War of 1812 in blue).

African-American Migrations Post-Revolutionary War and War of 1812

by Michael Siegel

Visualize the trends in migration following two key moments in early American history.

Thematic Map

Map of the East Coast of the United States featuring the sites of eight major maroon communities and nine revolts of enslaved people from New York City to the Louisiana bayous

Maroon Communities and Major Slave Revolts

by Michael Siegel, Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the major sites of marronage and uprising across the East Coast through this map.

Thematic Map

Map of Haiti showing key battle sites and selected towns noted with an inset map of the routes of Caribbean emigration from Haiti for enslaved, free, and slave-holding Saint Domingans before, during, and after the revolution

The Haitian Revolution, 1793–1809

by Michael Siegel

Visualize key events and trends before, during, and after the Haitian Revolution.

Thematic Map

Two maps of Africa identifying the territory of empires ca. 1000 BC–AD 1000 and ca. AD 1000–AD 1900, along with a timeline of these empires

Kingdoms and Empires in Africa, ca. 1000 BC–AD 1900

by Michael Siegel, Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the geography and chronology of African kingdoms and empires through this map.

Thematic Map

Color-coded map of Africa noting different vegetation zones

Vegetation of Africa

by Exploring Africa, Michigan State University

Visualize the varied vegetation zones of the African continent.

Thematic Map

A Black woman wearing a polka-dot dress and wearing an American flag pin on her right breast.

Ambrotype of African American Woman with Flag

1860s

This ambrotype features a woman believed to be a washerwoman for Union troops near Richmond, Virginia.

Primary Source

A watercolor showing enslaved people picking cotton with an overseer nearby

Painting of a Plantation

ca. 1860

Explore an artist’s depiction of enslavement.

Secondary Source

A Black man wearing a dark coat speaking into a bullhorn megaphone held in his left hand, while his right arm is outstretched with a clenched fist. A crowd looks on and raises their right fists in the air. There is a sign reading "Viva La Huelga" in the left midground.

Black Student Union Strike for Black Studies at San Francisco State College

1968

See the student protests that led to the first Black Studies department and gave rise to the field of African American studies.

Primary Source

Map of the southern United States from Texas to Maryland showing in red the main inland and seagoing routes of the internal movements of enslaved people, from New York and Philadelphia in the Northeast to Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Domestic Slave Trade, 1808–1865

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore data and geographical trends of the domestic slave trade in the nineteenth century.

Thematic Map

A handwritten document in cursive in Spanish

Juan Garrido’s Probanza

1538

Read the narrative of a Congolese man’s experience in Mexico with the Spanish conquistadors.

Primary Source

Map of the East Coast of the United States with modern state boundaries from New Hampshire to Georgia and red dots for key cities; callout boxes provide the year slavery was legalized along with African American population numbers for 1680 and 1740 for each state.

African Americans in the 13 Colonies, 17th–18th Centuries

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore the change in the African American population over time in the colonial era.

Thematic Map