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

Map of Africa with bar charts for select countries noting emigration patterns from 1989 through 2002.

Immigrants from Selected African Countries, 1989–2002

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize African emigration to the United States at the end of the twentieth century.

Thematic Map

Nichelle Nichols, a Black woman with white hair, wearing a black shirt, beaded necklace, and white round earrings. She is holding a small LEGO character of an astronaut in a white spacewalking suit, next to a large gold and blue ring on her finger.

“Nichelle Nichols: Woman on a NASA Mission”

by National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Explore Nichols’s role in diversifying the space shuttle program.

Video

A partially typed, partially hand-drawn map from All Souls Church toward the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington

March on Washington Route Map

1963

View one of the organizing documents for the 1963 March on Washington.

Primary Source

A red brick church building with white steps. "Login Required" message is an overlay.

“The Birth of a New Nation”

1957

Read the sermon Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered after his visit to an independent Ghana.

Primary Source

Breakdancing at the Olympic Games

2024

See an example of breakdancing in performance at the Paris summer games.

Primary Source

A map of the southern states of the United States with bar charts for each noting population movement from other states (color-coded).

“African Americans Going South, 1995–2000”

by Michael Siegel and Rutgers Cartography

Visualize a phase of Black migration at the end of the twentieth century.

Thematic Map

A typed document on yellow-green paper

March on Washington Organizing Document

1963

Read instructions for a group of medical professionals ahead of the March on Washington.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson handing a pen to John Lewis as others look on.

Nonviolent Resistance and Civil Rights Activism

with Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Learn more about the impact of civil rights organizations on securing civil rights legislation and growing grassroots power.

Video

Martin Luther King Jr. in a dark suit and tie and white shirt, looking out from a balcony at the street below.

Essential Methods of the Major Civil Rights Organizations

with Hasan Kwame Jeffries

Learn more about the major civil rights organizations of the 1950s and 1960s and their typical day-to-day operations.

Video

A color photograph of a row of ten female Grandassa models with natural, afro-style hair wearing dresses made from brightly colored African-inspired motifs. Three men standing on a small podium behind the models are wearing patterned dashiki shirts. The dark blue wall behind them is covered with posters advertising Black theater performances, shows, and celebrations.

Naturally ’68 at the Apollo Theater

ca. 1968

View a photograph from a key convergence of artists and models amid the Black is Beautiful movement.

Primary Source

Scan of the first page of the report titled "Voting Restrictions in the 13 Southern States", featuring a map of the United States with 13 Southern states highlighted in red.

Voting restrictions for African Americans

1944

Investigate a pamphlet that documented cases of voter suppression in southern states written by a group of southern editors and writers.

Primary Source

Scan of a black and white photograph of a mix of Black men, women, and children and a few white men and women, some carrying American flags, walking through a town.

The Civil Rights Movement

by Taylor Branch

Read an essay taking a bird's-eye view of the Civil Rights Movement.

Essay