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

A poster with a drawing of a Black aviator wearing a brown uniform and gray flight vest. Above the aviator is the phrase "Keep us flying!" in italics. Below is "BUY WAR BONDS" in a blue box.

“Should I Sacrifice to Live ‘Half-American?’”

1942

Read the letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Courier that spawned the Double V movement.

Primary Source

Cover page for "Le Code Noir ou Edit Du Roy," featuring a royal seal at the top of the page and a round stamp from the Bibliotheque National.

Louisiana Code Noir

1724

Read a revision to the Code Noir, developed following slave codes in English colonies.

Primary Source

President Barack Obama, standing wearing a black suit, white shirt, and striped gray and white tie, awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Maya Angelou, seated wearing a black dress, sparkly necklace and earrings, and sunglasses, as other honorees (including Sylvia Mendez) sit and look on.

Maya Angelou at the Library of Congress

1984

Listen to Maya Angelou read from her work, including her poem “Still I Rise,” and Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask.”

A color lithograph poster for the musical film Space is the Place featuring Sun Ra and the Arkestra. Sun Ra is depicted in the center of the poster wearing a headdress and collar resembling that of an Egyptian pharaoh. The headdress is topped by a large golden orb with long extensions on either side. On either side of Ra is a yellow and red flaming sun. Above and below him are the words [SUN RA / IN / SPACE IS THE PLACE] small planets are scattered among the lettering.

Poster for “Space is the Place”

1974

View an example of Sun Ra’s Afrofuturist art.

Primary Source

Metal of a shirtless man wearing shorts and holding a spear. His let wrist has a chain that has been broken.

Commonalities and Differences in Maroon Communities

with Ana Lucia Araujo

Understand how maroon communities emerged and sustained themselves across the African diaspora.

Video

Map of Pernambuco, Brazil, with ships off the coast and an inset depiction of Black men wearing white pants in a field.

The Palmares Quilombo

with Ana Lucia Araujo

Learn more about one of the most significant maroon communities in the Americas.

Video

Malcolm X, a bespectacled Black man, wearing a dark suit, dark patterned tie, and white shirt, with a large ring on his left finger. He is sitting in an upholstered chair or sofa and smiling with his head in his right hand (leaning on the armrest of the chair or sofa).

The Ballot or the Bullet Speech

1964

Read Malcolm X’s speech on methods to reach equality and the potency of both political activism and armed self-defense.

Primary Source

Printed copy of the Constitution.

Excerpts from the United States Constitution

1787

Read the three-fifths, transatlantic slave trade, and fugitive slave clauses, none of which explicitly referenced slavery or enslaved people.

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 circular seal of a woman with wrists in chains kneeling, with her plea above: "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"

Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?

ca. 1833

View this visual representation of a rallying cry for abolition among Black women.

Primary Source

The Roots in performance on stage at the House of Blues — band members include (left to right) a saxophonist, trumpeter, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, wearing a white shirt, jeans, sunglasses and a dark hat while holding a microphone), drummer (Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, behind the drum kit, wearing a black t-shirt), sousaphonist, and percussionist.

“Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”

2012

Watch a modern performance of a classic song from the Black Freedom struggle.

Video

Joe Louis, a Black man wearing a light colored cardigan sweater and white polo shirt, next to Fidel Castro, a bearded Latino man wearing a dark coat and smoking a cigar held in his left hand.

Joe Louis and Fidel Castro

1960

View a photograph from the boxer’s trip to Havana with a delegation of African Americans in business.

Primary Source