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

Approximately thirty-five Black boys and young men standing in a field, wearing striped prison jumpsuits and caps, with shackles linked to belts around their waists, and holding hoes.

“Juvenile Convicts at Work in the Fields”

1903

View a photograph of juvenile convict laborers.

Primary Source

Several men (mostly Black men) in striped jumpsuits sitting and standing. Several of the individuals have dogs sitting with them. Standing behind the prisoners are five (5) men in civilian clothes. In the background is a large tent and a small wooden building among trees. White text in a lighter colored rectangle at the bottom front margin reads "A North Carolina Convict Camp."

Postcard of a North Carolina Convict Camp

ca. 1910

View this publicly shared image of a camp of primarily African American prisoners.

Primary Source

An abstract painting of people in masks with oversized hands and feet.

“The Jungle (La Jungla)”

1942–1943

View this painting by Afro-Cuban painter Wifredo Lam.

Work of Art

Three of the San Francisco 49ers football team kneeling (right knee on ground, arms balanced on left knee) during the pregame performance of the national anthem, as their teammates, coaches, and staff stand, some with hats or hands on their left breast, behind them. The three Black men kneeling are wearing the 49ers uniform of red jerseys, gold pants (with red-white-red stripes along the leg), and either red or white socks.

San Francisco 49ers Protest

2016

View a contemporary example of sports as a platform for protest.

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.

Wooden staff in the form of a kneeling female figure holding a stylized snake in an inverted U over her head, topped by a pair of opposing triangles in a bowtie or double-ax form. Female figure has white beads around her neck and staff is pigmented in red, blue, and white.

Yoruba osé Ṣàngó

Mid-20th Century

Take a closer look at an example of syncretic cosmologies.

Primary Source

A stained glass sign that reads “CITIZENS / SAVINGS / BANK”

Citizen’s Savings and Trust Company Clock

1920–2013

View this artifact of a financial institution founded for the purposes of growing Black wealth.

Duke Ellington, a Black man wearing a light colored jacket, white shirt, and dark tie, playing the piano with his right hand and conducting with his left as a Black man wearing a tuxedo plays guitar in the background.

“It Don’t Mean a Thing”

1943

Watch Duke Ellington and His Orchestra in performance.

Video

Seven Black women with Afros raising their right fists.

Black Panther Women in Oakland, CA

1968

View an example of women organizing and protesting in the Black Panther Party.

Primary Source

A black-and-white photograph showing children preparing bags of food to be distributed through the Panther Free Food Program at the Black Panther Community Survival Conference in Oakland, California. Four Black children, two boys and two girls, are placing bags of puffed wheat cereal into brown paper grocery bags that have been organized in rows.

Black Panther Free Food Program

1972

View an example of the Black Panther Party's direct action in the community through food distribution.

Primary Source

A photograph of a chemistry laboratory, with three lab benches in the foreground, midground, and background. Black men in white shirts, dark coats, and dark ties are working at each bench. In the right foreground, framed by a doorway behind him, is George Washington Carver, a mustachioed Black man wearing a dark coat and tie, looking down at another chemist's work.

George Washington Carver’s Laboratory

ca. 1902

Get a sense of the impact of HBCUs on science through the chemistry laboratory at the Tuskegee Institute.

Primary Source

Ten Black men and women sitting and standing while wearing dark suits or dresses. A small table with a dark tablecloth sits in the middle background.

The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University

1875

View a photograph of the Fisk Jubilee Singers just four years after their founding and first tour.

Primary Source