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

An engraving of a Black man identified as "Gopher John." wearing a feathered headdress and tunic. standing on a riverbank as two people paddle a canoe in the background

“Gopher John, Seminole Interpreter”

1863

View a depiction of this Seminole leader and interpreter.

Primary Source

Alain Locke, a Black man, wearing a white suit, vest, and shirt, and a dark tie.

“Negro Youth Speaks”

1925

Read an excerpt from Alain Locke’s book The New Negro, a cornerstone of the New Negro movement.

Primary Source

A wood sculpture, painted black, in the form of a standing female figure with arms at sides apart from torso, hands on hips, and feet and legs apart; on her head there is a double-ax motif.

Yorùbá Oshe Shango Ceremonial Wand

19th or 20th Century

View this contemporary piece honoring a traditional Yoruba god.

An engraving showing a hall with benches, a speaker at a rostrum in front and several Black men and women in formal wear looking for seats.

Emigration, Anti-Emigration, and Transatlantic Abolitionism

with Nemata Blyden

Learn more about the impact of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Dred Scott decision, and the Civil War on emigration.

Video

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

A Black Haitian general (wearing a pointed and feathered hat, dark coat with tails and epaulets, white pants, and dark boots) holding a book next to other troops, as a priest in formal robes and holding a staff looks above toward an image of God.

Preliminary Declaration from the Constitution of Haiti

1805

Read a translation of some of Haiti’s founding principles as an independent nation.

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

A silhouette head-and-shoulders portrait of Paul Cuffe, above a sailboat and within an octagon with the text "Captain Paul Cuffee, 1812."

The Nineteenth-Century Emigrationist and Anti-Emigrationist Movements

with Nemata Blyden

Explore the key figures, sites, and concepts of both the emigrationist and anti-emigrationist movements.

Video

A handwritten petition in cursive.

Arkansas Petition for Freedmen’s Rights

1869

Read a petition on behalf of formerly enslaved African Americans on indigenous territory requesting tribal citizenship and benefits.

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