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

A photograph with impressionist, multicolored mosaic mural of people on a subway train in the background, with beams holding up a subway station in the foreground of the photograph.

“New York in Transit”

by Jacob Lawrence

View Jacob Lawrence’s last public work, a mosaic mural in New York City's Times Square subway station.

Work of Art

A large tile mosaic mural of people in a boat.

“Great Waves of Immigration”

by Carmen Lizardo

Explore the history of Afro-Caribbean migration to the US through this mosaic, installed in the New York City subway system.

Work of Art

A Black man wearing a tan sweater and white pants in a power wheelchair, talking to a white man in a white hat, white shirt, jean shorts, white socks, and black boots, as another white man in a yellow shirt, khaki shorts, white socks, and sneakers looks on.

Both Black and Disabled: Intersectional Experiences

by Jenifer L. Barclay

Explore the history of stigmatization of, and resiliency among, Black disabled people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Essay

The Freedmen’s Bureau and African American Families

by Justene Hill Edwards

Understand the roles the Freedmen’s Bureau played in supporting African American families and communities.

Essay

Nichelle Nichols, a Black woman with white hair, wearing a black shirt, beaded necklace, and white round earrings. She is holding a small LEGO character of an astronaut in a white spacewalking suit, next to a large gold and blue ring on her finger.

“Nichelle Nichols: Woman on a NASA Mission”

by National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Explore Nichols’s role in diversifying the space shuttle program.

Video

A partially typed, partially hand-drawn map from All Souls Church toward the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington

March on Washington Route Map

1963

View one of the organizing documents for the 1963 March on Washington.

Primary Source

Map of Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma with towns pointed out.

The Exodusters and Black Towns, ca. 1900

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore an early phase of Black migration after the Civil War through this map.

Thematic Map

Two African American pioneer families in foreground with two children playing on left, two women and a small child near a covered wagon at center and two men drinking coffee around a campfire by a stream.

“Camping Time”

by John Coleman

View a depiction of Black migration during Reconstruction.

Work of Art

At left, a man with a simian face and rumpled clothing, and a dagger in his right pocket. He is holding a club with "A Vote" written on it. He is wearing a hat with a white ribbon reading "5 Points" and a Christian cross tucked into the ribbon. 2. At center, a tall man with a goatee. He has a CSA belt-buckle, a light-colored hat with a large brim and a black ribbon, and a pistol on his left hip. He holds a dagger with "The Lost Cause" written on the blade. At right, a shorter man in a three-piece suit.

The Betrayal of Emancipation

by Thomas J. Davis

Learn more about Black civil rights following Reconstruction.

Essay

A red brick church building with white steps. "Login Required" message is an overlay.

“The Birth of a New Nation”

1957

Read the sermon Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered after his visit to an independent Ghana.

Primary Source

Breakdancing at the Olympic Games

2024

See an example of breakdancing in performance at the Paris summer games.

Primary Source

A typed document on yellow-green paper

March on Washington Organizing Document

1963

Read instructions for a group of medical professionals ahead of the March on Washington.

Primary Source