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

Several men (mostly Black men) in striped jumpsuits sitting and standing. Several of the individuals have dogs sitting with them. Standing behind the prisoners are five (5) men in civilian clothes. In the background is a large tent and a small wooden building among trees. White text in a lighter colored rectangle at the bottom front margin reads "A North Carolina Convict Camp."

Postcard of a North Carolina Convict Camp

ca. 1910

View this publicly shared image of a camp of primarily African American prisoners.

Primary Source

A stained glass sign that reads “CITIZENS / SAVINGS / BANK”

Citizen’s Savings and Trust Company Clock

1920–2013

View this artifact of a financial institution founded for the purposes of growing Black wealth.

Duke Ellington, a Black man wearing a light colored jacket, white shirt, and dark tie, playing the piano with his right hand and conducting with his left as a Black man wearing a tuxedo plays guitar in the background.

“It Don’t Mean a Thing”

1943

Watch Duke Ellington and His Orchestra in performance.

Video

A photograph of a chemistry laboratory, with three lab benches in the foreground, midground, and background. Black men in white shirts, dark coats, and dark ties are working at each bench. In the right foreground, framed by a doorway behind him, is George Washington Carver, a mustachioed Black man wearing a dark coat and tie, looking down at another chemist's work.

George Washington Carver’s Laboratory

ca. 1902

Get a sense of the impact of HBCUs on science through the chemistry laboratory at the Tuskegee Institute.

Primary Source

Ten Black men and women sitting and standing while wearing dark suits or dresses. A small table with a dark tablecloth sits in the middle background.

The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University

1875

View a photograph of the Fisk Jubilee Singers just four years after their founding and first tour.

Primary Source

Anna Julia Cooper, a Black woman, wearing a black dress with a white center placket, sitting while holding a book.

“A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South”

1892

Read excerpts from Anna Julia Cooper’s book on the importance of Black women’s rights and recognizing their experiences.

Primary Source

An open-topped car with four passengers in a parade. The driver is a Black man with a dark jacket, white shirt, dark tie, and dark driver's cap. In the back seat, from left to right, is a Black man in a military uniform; a Black man wearing academic regalia; Marcus Garvey, a Black man, wearing a military uniform and holding a sword. Next to the car is a Black man wearing a dark jacket, white shirt, and striped tie. In the background are apartment buildings, where Black people are looking on at the parade.

Marcus Garvey in Harlem

1924

View another photograph of Garvey and an entourage, as captured by James Van Der Zee.

Primary Source

Two young Black men in long-sleeved T-shirts emblazoned the Omega Tau Psi crest across the chest, flanking a large crest for the fraternity, in front of five barrels full of canned and packaged food.

Student Life at North Carolina College

1964–1965

Understand the legacy of HBCUs and BGLOs in the twentieth century through these two photographs.

A sepia photograph of Gwendolyn Bennett, a young Black woman, seated, wearing a dark jumper over a white t-shirt.

“Heritage” by Gwendolyn Bennett

1923

Explore Gwendolyn Bennett’s vision of Africa in this poem.

Primary Source

A broadsheet advertisement (folded into four parts, with crease marks/breaks) entitled "From a Slave Cabin to Riches and a Benefactress to Her Race." Features images of glamorous Black women at the top left, top right, and bottom left corners, and a large building (presumably a department store) in the upper middle of the advertisement.

Advertisement for Madam C. J. Walker Products

ca. 1906–1950

Explore the impact of Madam C. J. Walker’s entrepreneurship through this advertisement.

Primary Source

A map of Philadelphia, PA, and Camden, NJ, color coded in green, blue, yellow, and red.

Home Owners’ Loan Corporation Map of Philadelphia and Camden

1937

View an example of the maps which would give rise to the term "redlining."

Primary Source

A typed title page of a book.

Establishing the Freedmen's Bureau

1865

Read the legislation creating the "bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands" amid the US Civil War.

Primary Source