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

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

From left to right: Fodé Lassana Diabaté, a Black man wearing a light-colored tunic and dark red shirt, playing the balafoon (a struck instrument similar to a xylophone); Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, a Black woman wearing a patterened cloth dress and red headscarf, singing with arms outstretched, and Chérif Keita, a Black man in a blue robe, smiling.

The Sunjata Story: Glimpse of a Mande Epic

with Fodé Lassana Diabaté, Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté, and Chérif Keita

Explore the story of Sunjata Keita through this performance.

Video

A map of the contiguous United States with circles of different sizes for Black population in metropolitan areas, colored in shades of red based on Black middle class percentage of the overall population.

The Black Middle Class Needs Attention Too

2020

Read excerpts and view charts from a report on the state of the Black middle class.

Secondary Source

Malcolm X, a bespectacled Black man, wearing a dark suit, dark patterned tie, and white shirt, with a large ring on his left finger. He is sitting in an upholstered chair or sofa and smiling with his head in his right hand (leaning on the armrest of the chair or sofa).

The Ballot or the Bullet Speech

1964

Read Malcolm X’s speech on methods to reach equality and the potency of both political activism and armed self-defense.

Primary Source

Carter G. Woodson, a Black man, wearing a dark jacket, white shirt (with a small collar), and polka-dotted tie (white dots on a dark fabric) with a tie bar or button.

“The Mis-Education of the Negro”

1933

Read the preface to Carter G. Woodson’s 1933 book.

Primary Source

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

A circular seal of a woman with wrists in chains kneeling, with her plea above: "Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?"

Am I Not a Woman and a Sister?

ca. 1833

View this visual representation of a rallying cry for abolition among Black women.

Primary Source

The Roots in performance on stage at the House of Blues — band members include (left to right) a saxophonist, trumpeter, keyboardist, guitarist, vocalist (Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, wearing a white shirt, jeans, sunglasses and a dark hat while holding a microphone), drummer (Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, behind the drum kit, wearing a black t-shirt), sousaphonist, and percussionist.

“Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”

2012

Watch a modern performance of a classic song from the Black Freedom struggle.

Video