In the early twentieth century, African Americans used photography to fight back against racist images and show the dignity, beauty, and everyday reality of Black life. Photographers like James Van Der Zee captured Harlem's Black community with pride, helping reshape how the world saw African Americans during the New Negro movement.

Why This Matters for the AP African American Studies Exam

This topic builds your skill at reading visual sources, which the AP African American Studies exam asks you to do often. Photographs are not neutral. They make arguments, and here the argument is that Black people deserved dignity and respect in a society that denied it through Jim Crow and racist stereotypes.

When you analyze a source like a Van Der Zee portrait, focus on:

What choices the photographer made (poses, clothing, props, setting)
What message those choices send about Black identity
How the image responds to the racist representations it was created to counter

You can also connect this topic to causation and continuity. Photography here is one response among many that African Americans developed during the New Negro movement to define themselves on their own terms.

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Key Takeaways

African American scholars, artists, and activists turned to photography to counter racist representations that justified Jim Crow segregation and mistreatment.
During the New Negro movement, Black photographers built a distinctive Black aesthetic rooted in the beauty of everyday Black life, history, folk culture, and pride in African heritage.
James Van Der Zee is best known for photographing Black Harlemites, especially the Black middle class, often using props and poses to capture personality and status.
Van Der Zee documented Black expression, labor, leisure, study, worship, and home life, highlighting the liberated spirit, beauty, and dignity of Black people.
Earlier, W.E.B. Du Bois curated the Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 Paris Exposition, which displayed more than 300 photographs along with charts and data, reaching a global audience.

Countering Racist Representations

Racist images of African Americans circulated widely through minstrel shows, caricatures, and stereotypes that portrayed Black people as inferior. These images were not just insulting. They were used to justify the mistreatment of Black people and to defend Jim Crow segregation.

Photography gave African American scholars, artists, and activists a way to push back. By creating their own images, they presented accurate, dignified portrayals of Black life and built a visual record that contradicted the lies told about them.

The New Negro Movement and a Black Aesthetic

During the New Negro movement, African American photographers worked to create a distinctive Black aesthetic. Instead of copying the degrading images in mainstream media, they grounded their work in:

The beauty of everyday Black life
Black history and folk culture
Pride in an African heritage

Their photographs captured scenes of labor, leisure, study, worship, and home life. The goal was to affirm Black identity and instill pride and self-determination in Black communities.

James Van Der Zee

James Van Der Zee is the photographer named in this topic, and he is best known for his images of Black Harlemites, especially the Black middle class. He often used props, including luxury items, and carefully chosen poses to capture the personalities of both everyday people and well-known figures like Marcus Garvey and Mamie Smith.

His work illustrated the qualities associated with the "New Negro." By showing Black expression, beauty, and dignity, his photographs recast how people around the world saw African Americans and served as a counter-narrative to racist depictions.

W.E.B. Du Bois and the 1900 Paris Exposition

Before the height of the Harlem Renaissance, W.E.B. Du Bois curated the Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 Paris Exposition. It displayed more than 300 photographs of African Americans along with dozens of charts and infographics in English and French, grounded in demographic, scientific, and sociological research.

The exhibit demonstrated the diversity and achievements of African Americans and was seen by a large international audience, extending the global reach of the New Negro movement's ideas.

Required Sources

These four Van Der Zee photographs are the required sources for this topic. Practice reading them as arguments about Black identity, not just as old pictures.

"Miss Suzie Porter, Harlem," 1915

A portrait of an individual woman in early twentieth century Harlem. Pay attention to how the pose and styling present her with dignity and personality, the kind of respectful individual portrait that racist media rarely offered Black subjects.

"Garveyite Family, Harlem," 1924

This image connects to Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and its message of Black pride, self-reliance, and pan-African identity. It shows how movement ideals showed up in family life and self-presentation.

"Swimming Team, Harlem," 1925

A group portrait of Black athletes that captures leisure, community, and achievement in Harlem. It documents a side of Black life beyond the literary and artistic work usually associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

"Couple, Harlem," 1932

An intimate portrait of a couple during the Great Depression. The styling and poses present Black love and everyday life with care and dignity at a time of economic hardship and segregation.

How to Use This on the AP African American Studies Exam

Using Sources Effectively

When you get a photograph like one of Van Der Zee's, do not just describe what you see. Explain the choices and their purpose:

Identify specific details: clothing, props, pose, setting, who is included.
Connect those details to the photographer's purpose of showing dignity and pride.
Explain how the image counters racist stereotypes of the time.

Making Connections

Tie photography to the larger New Negro movement. Photographers, writers, and artists were all working to define Black identity on their own terms during the nadir. Photography was one method among several.

You can also connect Van Der Zee's Harlem images to the Great Migration, since many of his subjects were part of the Black community that grew in northern cities as people moved from the South.

Common Trap

Do not treat photographs as simple records of "what happened." On the exam, credit comes from analyzing why the image was made and what argument it makes, not just summarizing the scene.

Common Misconceptions

"Photographs just show facts." These images were intentional. Van Der Zee used poses, props, and styling to send a message about dignity and status, so analyze the choices, not just the contents.
"Black photography started with the Harlem Renaissance." African Americans were using visual media to challenge racist representations earlier too. Du Bois's photo exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition came before the height of the Harlem Renaissance.
"Van Der Zee only photographed famous people." He is best known for everyday Black Harlemites, especially the Black middle class, alongside well-known figures like Marcus Garvey and Mamie Smith.
"The New Negro aesthetic was about imitating mainstream media." It was the opposite. Photographers deliberately built a distinctive Black aesthetic rooted in everyday Black life, folk culture, and pride in African heritage.

Vocabulary

The following words are mentioned explicitly in the College Board Course and Exam Description for this topic.

Term	Definition
African heritage	The cultural, historical, and ancestral connections to Africa and African traditions maintained by African Americans.
Black aesthetic	A distinctive artistic and cultural style created by African American artists that celebrated Black beauty, culture, and identity.
Black expression	Cultural, artistic, political, and social forms of communication and creativity produced by Black people.
folk culture	The traditional customs, beliefs, stories, and artistic practices of African American communities passed down through generations.
Jim Crow segregation	The system of racial segregation and discrimination laws that enforced the separation of African Americans from white Americans in the United States.
New Negro movement	An early 20th-century cultural and intellectual movement of African American writers, artists, and educators who challenged racist stereotypes and promoted Black history, culture, and self-determination.
racist representations	Dehumanizing or demeaning depictions of African Americans used to justify discrimination and mistreatment.
social change	Transformation in social structures, attitudes, and systems aimed at achieving greater equality and justice.
visual media	Forms of communication and expression that primarily use images, photographs, and visual elements to convey messages and meaning.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is AP African American Studies 3.12 about?

AP African American Studies 3.12 explains how African Americans used photography and visual media in the twentieth century to enact social change. The topic focuses on countering racist representations, building a New Negro aesthetic, and reading photographs as arguments about dignity, identity, and Black life.

How did photography support the New Negro movement?

Photography supported the New Negro movement by showing African Americans as dignified, modern, and self-defining. Instead of accepting racist images used to justify Jim Crow, Black photographers created portraits and scenes of everyday life that emphasized beauty, pride, labor, leisure, worship, and home life.

Who was James Van Der Zee?

James Van Der Zee was a photographer best known for portraits of Black Harlemites, especially the Black middle class. He used poses, props, clothing, and settings to capture personality and status, helping recast global perceptions of African Americans during the New Negro movement.

What Van Der Zee photographs are required sources?

The required sources are from James Van Der Zee's Portfolio of Eighteen Photographs, 1905-38: Miss Suzie Porter, Harlem; Garveyite Family, Harlem; Swimming Team, Harlem; and Couple, Harlem. Practice describing visual details and explaining what each image communicates about Black identity.

Why is W.E.B. Du Bois important to this topic?

W.E.B. Du Bois curated the Exhibit of American Negroes at the 1900 Paris Exposition. It included more than 300 photographs plus charts and data, showing African American diversity and achievement to an international audience before the height of the Harlem Renaissance.

How should I analyze photographs on the AP exam?

Describe the specific visual choices first: pose, clothing, props, setting, and who appears in the image. Then explain how those choices build dignity, pride, or self-definition and how the image responds to racist stereotypes or Jim Crow-era representations.