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

A broadside shows multiple diagrams of a single ship seen from different views. The views illustrate hundreds of captive Africans laying down shoulder to shoulder on multiple layers of the ship.

Slavery and Abolition

1788, 1789

Explore primary sources that worked as propaganda tools for the anti-slavery movement.

Guided Readings

A certificate, with a seal at left reading "Lex in Tenebris" in Latin surrounding a schooner, a flying dove holding a piece of paper reading "Liberia," and a rising sun in the right of the seal. At right, palm tree leaves, with the signature of James Madison below.

American Colonization Society membership certificate

1833

Learn more about this document signed by James Madison.

Primary Source

A typed pamphlet

A Journal of the Proceedings in the Detection of the Conspiracy

1744

Read an excerpt from a 1741 revolt of enslaved people, free Black people, and “Some White People” in colonial New York.

Primary Source

A page from the typed New-York Weekly Journal newspaper.

Slave Revolt in the West Indies

1733

This newspaper article recalls a revolt of enslaved people on the Caribbean island of St. John.

Primary Source

Scan of a page from Phillis Wheatley's book of poems, 1773.

Phillis Wheatley’s poem on tyranny and slavery

1772

Take a deep dive into one of Wheatley's best-known poems.

Primary Source

Aged paper with text of different sizes and fonts, the top of which says, "178 Sugar and Cotton Plantation Slaves!"

Auction catalog of enslaved people from Louisiana

1855

Explore this primary source to learn about the process of buying and selling enslaved people in 1855.

Primary Source

Scan of a warrant for eight pounds and five shillings owed to soldier, Sharp Liberty. Signed "X"' by Liberty and J. Lawrence, treasurer.

An African American soldier’s pay warrant

1780

Learn more about this pay warrant issued to soldier Sharp Liberty for his service in the Continental Army.

Primary Source

1808 Engraving of the deck and hold of a slave ship illustrating how little space enslaved people had on board

The Middle Passage

1749

Scrutinize an image and a letter that address the experience of kidnapped Africans on a slave ship.

Primary Source

Scan of a letter from Nelson Allyn to his brother Joseph in Connecticut, dated September 25, 1831.

Nelson Allyn to Joseph Allyn

1831

Read a firsthand account of the retaliation against African Americans in North Carolina after Nat Turner’s Rebellion.

Primary Source

Scan of Dunmore's Proclamation as printed on December 6, 1775.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

1775

Learn more about the proclamation offering freedom to enslaved people who joined the British army.

Primary Source

Scan of a signed contract engaging a captain to oversee a set of men acting as a slave patrol, with manuscript accomplishment, signed by Obadiah Woodson and Horace L. Robards.

Slave Patrol Contract

1856

Explore an effort to enforce North Carolina’s slave codes in 1856.

Primary Source

Engraving showing a Black man in a coat, vest, white shirt, and bow tie and a Black woman wearing a patterned dress with a wide white collar, with earrings.

The Dred Scott Decision and Its Bitter Legacy

1800–1858

Dred Scott’s case before the US Supreme Court challenged the nation on slavery, citizenship, and state sovereignty.

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