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

Five portraits of men (abolitionists in Brazil), below a portrait of Princess Isabel (wearing a blue dress with a white frill) and four shirtless Black men dancing next to a pole as a Black woman wearing a pink dress looks on.

Slavery and Freedom in Brazil

by Keila Grinberg

Explore the pervasive impact of slavery in Brazil, and the long fight to abolish the system of enslavement.

Essay

A typed act of Congress.

Maintaining the Freedmen’s Bureau

1866

Read the legislation that extended the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Primary Source

A blue tile mosaic mural with depictions of various historical figures

“Harlem Timeline”

by Willie Birch

Explore the history of Harlem through this work of art in the New York City subway system.

Work of Art

A train platform with, at center, a wrought-iron sculpture of a man wearing a suit and hat while holding a suitcase.

“Hear the Lone Whistle Moan” / “copacetic”

by Alison Saar

View two pieces paying homage to the Harlem Renaissance.

Work of Art

A tile mosaic in a subway station of drum majors in white uniforms dancing in formation.

“PARADE”

by Derek Fordjour

View an homage to historic parades through Harlem in this mosaic created in the New York City subway system.

Work of Art

A white tile mosaic mural of several Black people airborne above buildings.

“Flying Home: Harlem Heroes and Heroines”

by Faith Ringgold

View a fantastical homage to Harlem history through this work of art in the New York City subway.

Work of Art

Handwritten document in French headlined "Edit du Roi" [Edict from the King].

Louisiana Code Noir

1685

Read this excerpt from France’s original colonial slave code.

Primary Source

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

Four maps of the United States with net loss or gain in African American population by city or region.

Largest African-American Migrations, by Metropolitan Area, 1975–2000

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize demographic shifts in the African American population since the Great Migration.

Thematic Map

/ap-african-american-studies/unit-3/twentieth-century-black-migration/urban-rural-communities-1890-1930

African Americans in Urban and Rural Communities, 1890–1930

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize data that shows the impact of the Great Migration.

Thematic Map

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