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

Map of the United States with arrows noting migration corridors from the South to the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

The Great Migration, 1900–1929

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Explore the first wave of the Great Migration through this map.

Thematic Map

Map of the United States with arrows noting migration corridors from the South to Northeast, Midwest, and West.

The Second Great Migration

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize the second wave of the Great Migration on this map.

Thematic Map

The cover of a conference program of green text on a black background reading [diagonally] "Black Studies: Paradox With a Promise" at left, and a large green question mark with "Who," "Where," "When," and "How" written in the mark. "Black Studies National Conference: Southeastern, U.S.A." at the top and "University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, N.C., March 18-21, 1975" at the bottom

First National Council for Black Studies Annual Conference

1975

Get a greater sense of questions and issues in the field of African American studies through this conference program.

Primary Source

A round stone tower next to a tree, flanked on all sides by stone walls

Great Zimbabwe

by Nancy Demerdash

Take a closer look at the kingdom of Zimbabwe and its greatest surviving architectural achievement.

Essay

Hidden History: John Rufus Gibson

with Samuel Collins III and Joan Marshall

Explore the life and legacy of a key figure in Texas Black history.

Video

A stylized terracotta sculpture of a seated man with an oversized and elongated head relative to their body, chin resting on the figure's knees. Damage to the figure's shins.

Nok Sculpture

500 BCE–500 CE

View this sculpture from ancient Nigeria.

Primary Source

Obverse of coin with half-length bust of Ezanas right, crowned, holding stick or scepter, flanked by two wheat stalks, and Greek letters around the outside, the whole in a beaded circle

Aksumite Coin

340–400

Examine this coin and its representation of ancient Ethiopia as a trading hub.

Work of Art

A map of the African continent with arrows referencing the migration of Bantu peoples and languages

“The Bantu Migration, 2000 BCE–1500 CE”

by Mark Cartwright

See the extensive migration of Bantu peoples on the African continent.

Thematic Map

Map of the African continent, with colored ovals recognizing approximate geographic locations and periods of kingdoms and empires.

“Ancient & Medieval Sub-Saharan African States”

by Mark Cartwright

Visualize the approximate locations of various kingdoms and empires, including Ghana, Mali, and Songhai.

Thematic Map

A black and white photograph of Nannie Helen Burroughs, a young Black woman, shown seated from the waist up, wearing a dark hat with a white feather and a white blouse

“How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping”

1900

Read Nannie Helen Burroughs’s address casting light on the importance of women organizing in Black institutions.

Primary Source

Wooden staff in the form of a kneeling female figure holding a stylized snake in an inverted U over her head, topped by a pair of opposing triangles in a bowtie or double-ax form. Female figure has white beads around her neck and staff is pigmented in red, blue, and white.

Yoruba osé Ṣàngó

Mid-20th Century

Take a closer look at an example of syncretic cosmologies.

Primary Source

Black and white portrait of Booker T. Washington, three-quarter length, seated, facing front

Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington: A Little-known Encounter

by Adele Alexander

Learn the critical differences in attitude and approach taken by Douglass and Washington, and their 1892 encounter at the Tuskegee Institute.

Essay