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

Sheet music for the song "Steal Away"

“Steal Away to Jesus”

1872

Read the lyrics and listen to this spiritual, popularized by the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Primary Source

A wide-mouthed brown earthenware jar with two handles and writing inscribed on the surface.

Storage Jar

1858

View this example of David Drake’s masterful pottery.

Work of Art

A large shallow, round tray shaped basket made of reeds, rush and palmetto coiled and woven together. A faded purple string is woven through the basket on one side and knotted inside the basket.

Rice Fanner Basket

pre-1863

View this artifact of rice cultivation by enslaved people on the South Carolina coast.

Primary Source

A cream quilted bedcover with appliqued red diamonds, circles, and crosses and edges bound with red

Cream and Red Appliqued Quilted Bedcover

ca. 1850

View this work of African American quilting.

Work of Art

Front page of the newspaper Freedom's Journal, March 30, 1827

“Our Claims Are on America”

1828

Read this excerpt from an oration by Thomas Jennings on Black identity.

Primary Source

A man wearing a white shirt and pants begins a handstand as a band plays in the background and others look on.

Two Depictions of Capoeira

ca. 1835/2017

View how capoeira has persisted in the culture of Brazil over nearly two hundred years.

Primary Source

A still from a black-and-white film showing Black men and women, many in straw-boater hats with dark hatbands, marching in a parade. In the foreground is a clarinetist, followed by two American flag bearers marching at the head of the parade.

Juneteenth Flag-Waving Procession, Oklahoma

1920s

See an example of an early twentieth-century Juneteenth celebration in this silent film clip.

Video

Black and white print of Black men, women, and children reading the news of their emancipation.

The Union Army and Juneteenth

1865

Learn more about the origins of Juneteenth through this print.

Primary Source

The sign for The Crossroads, featuring a ring of three blue guitars (each facing a different direction) on the bottom and the highways 61 and 49 signs above.

Clarksdale: Myth, Music, and Mercy in the Mississippi Delta

by Shelley Ritter

Read about musician Muddy Waters, the blues, and the historical exhibits at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Essay

Photograph of a mural of Robert Johnson (a Black man holding a guitar while wearing a dark suit, white shirt, dark tie, and dark hat), painted in black and white and framed by wisps of smoke, on a purple wall.

Robert Johnson and the Rise of the Blues

by Elijah Wald

Read about Robert Johnson and the rise and evolution of blues music.

Essay

The Life and Work of Phillis Wheatley

with Krystal Mackie, Jeanette Providence, and Sandra Trenholm

Discover the eighteenth-century poet who was enslaved, became free, and built a lasting legacy.

Video

A scan of the sheet music for Jairus Lincoln's Hymn 17.

American Antislavery Writings

1737–1862

Listen to the words of nine antislavery activists, including Phillis Wheatley, David Walker, Jairus Lincoln, and Frederick Douglass, in poetry, oration, and song.

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