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

Hidden History: John Rufus Gibson

with Samuel Collins III and Joan Marshall

Explore the life and legacy of a key figure in Texas Black history.

Video

Hidden History: Jessie McGuire Dent

with Tommie Boudreaux, Samuel Collins III, Diane Henderson, and Faye Williams

Explore McGuire Dent’s role in fighting racial discrimination and organizing the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

Video

Hidden History: African American Women During Reconstruction

with Rebecca Czuchry

Explore responses by Black Texan women to racial violence in the wake of the Civil War.

Video

“Dr. Charles Drew and Freedman’s Hospital”

1945

Explore a notable event in Black medical history captured in a newsreel.

Video

A black and white photograph of Nannie Helen Burroughs, a young Black woman, shown seated from the waist up, wearing a dark hat with a white feather and a white blouse

“How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping”

1900

Read Nannie Helen Burroughs’s address casting light on the importance of women organizing in Black institutions.

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.

“Nonviolence and Racial Justice”

1957

Explore Martin Luther King’s philosophy toward nonviolent resistance.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at a lectern. Login Required message is an overlay.

Why We Can’t Wait

1964

Read an excerpt from Martin Luther King’s 1964 book, focused on segregation in Birmingham prior to SCLC’s campaign there.

Primary Source

Mountain chart showing change over time in Black (single race, non-Hispanic or Latino), Multiracial Black (non-Hispanic or Latino), and Black Hispanic or Latino populations, in beige, green, and tan, respectively.

The Growing Diversity of Black America

2021

Explore changing demographics in the Black population over the course of the twenty-first century.

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

The interior of the Dexter Avenue Memorial Baptist church, with light streaming in through multicolored stained-glass windows.

Young Black adults less Protestant than their elders

2021

Compare generational statistics of religious affiliation among Black Americans.

Secondary Source

George Clinton, a Black man, wearing a bright red wig, dark blue vest, and multicolored shirt with skulls and crossbones, playing the keyboard as other musicians surround him.

Let’s Talk about “Black Panther” and Afrofuturism

with Steve Vasquez

Learn more about the history of Afrofuturism upon the release of the 2018 Marvel film.

Video