Black history education traces the Black intellectual tradition that started long before African American Studies became a college field in the late 1960s. Figures like Arturo Schomburg, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, and Carter G. Woodson documented Black history, culture, and achievement while pushing back against schools and institutions that taught Black inferiority.
Why This Matters for the AP African American Studies Exam
Black history education sits at the center of why this whole course exists, so it shows up across the exam in useful ways. You can use it to analyze sources that argue for self-education and cultural pride, to explain causation between racist schooling and the push for Black-led scholarship, and to trace continuity and change in how Black history moved from private archives and Black newspapers into schools and universities.
This topic also connects well to argument questions because the people here built evidence-based cases for Black humanity and achievement. Knowing how Schomburg, Du Bois, Hurston, and Woodson documented Black life gives you concrete examples to support claims about resistance, identity, and the roots of African American Studies as a discipline.
Key Takeaways
- New Negro movement writers and educators argued that American schools taught Black inferiority, so they urged African Americans to direct their own education and study Black history.
- The Black intellectual tradition started about two centuries before African American Studies became a formal field in the late 1960s, built by activists, educators, writers, and archivists.
- The African Free School (founded in the late 1700s in New York) educated children of enslaved and free Black people and helped prepare early Black abolitionist leaders.
- Arturo Schomburg's collection, donated to The New York Public Library, became the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
- W.E.B. Du Bois produced some of the earliest sociological surveys of African Americans, and Zora Neale Hurston documented African American culture and linguistic expression.
- Carter G. Woodson founded what became Black History Month and published many works chronicling Black history.
The New Negro Movement's Push for Black History Education
New Negro movement writers, artists, and educators saw a clear problem: United States schools reinforced the idea that Black people had made no meaningful cultural contributions and were therefore inferior. Their response was to urge African Americans to become agents of their own education and to study the history and experiences of Black people to guide future advancement.
They refused the claim that African Americans were people without history or culture. Instead, they built a body of literature and educational resources to prove otherwise. The early push to place Black history in schools meant the movement's ideas could reach Black students of all ages, not just college audiences.
A helpful example here is Carter G. Woodson's Journal of Negro History, founded in 1916, which published scholarly articles on African American history and culture. Treat this as an application of the movement's goals, not a required name to memorize for this topic.
The Black Intellectual Tradition Before African American Studies
African American Studies became a formal academic field in the late 1960s, but the intellectual work behind it started roughly two centuries earlier. Black activists, educators, writers, and archivists documented Black experiences and pushed back against narratives that erased or minimized African American history and culture.
The African Free School
Beginning in the late eighteenth century, the African Free School provided education to the children of enslaved and free Black people in New York. The school helped prepare early Black abolitionists for leadership, showing how education functioned as a tool for empowerment and organizing.
Arturo Schomburg and the Schomburg Center
Arturo Schomburg was a Black Puerto Rican bibliophile who collected books, manuscripts, and artifacts documenting the African diaspora. His collection included items like correspondence connected to Toussaint L'Ouverture, newspapers originally published by Frederick Douglass, and poems by Phillis Wheatley. After he donated it to The New York Public Library, the collection became the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, a major archive for studying the global Black experience.
W.E.B. Du Bois
W.E.B. Du Bois was a sociologist and activist whose research produced some of the earliest sociological surveys of African Americans. His work used real evidence to counter myths of Black inferiority and to show how systemic conditions, not personal failings, shaped African American life.
Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston was an anthropologist whose writings documented forms of African American culture and linguistic expression. Through fieldwork in Black communities, she recorded folklore, oral histories, and everyday speech, preserving cultural traditions that mainstream institutions ignored.
Carter G. Woodson
Carter G. Woodson, the son of formerly enslaved people, was a historian who founded what is now the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He created Negro History Week, which later became Black History Month, and published many works chronicling Black history from African origins through the early twentieth century.
Required Sources
"The Negro Digs Up His Past" by Arturo A. Schomburg (1925)
This essay appeared in Alain Locke's anthology The New Negro: An Interpretation. Schomburg argued that African Americans needed to recover and preserve their own history, challenging narratives that ignored Black contributions to world civilization. Placing the essay inside a key Harlem Renaissance anthology connected the search for historical knowledge directly to the cultural energy of the New Negro movement.
When you analyze this source, focus on Schomburg's purpose: he frames history as evidence of Black achievement and a foundation for pride and future advancement.
The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson (1933)
Woodson's book critiqued an education system that he argued trained African Americans to devalue their own people and culture while elevating white European achievements. He called for curricula rooted in African American history and designed to build self-reliance, leadership, and racial pride.
Key arguments to know:
- Schools often taught African Americans to look down on their own heritage.
- The system prepared Black students for subservient roles rather than leadership.
- African American history and achievements were largely missing from curricula.
- Real equality required independent thinking, self-knowledge, and pride in Black heritage.
Full text: https://www.jpanafrican.org/ebooks/3.4eBookThe%20Mis-Education.pdf
How to Use This on the AP African American Studies Exam
Using Sources Effectively
Both required sources are arguments, so identify the author's claim and purpose first. Schomburg argues for digging up and preserving Black history as proof of achievement; Woodson argues that mainstream schooling damaged Black students and needed to be redesigned. Tie each source to the larger goal of self-directed Black education.
Causation and Continuity
Be ready to explain why these figures did this work. The cause is schooling that taught Black inferiority. The continuity is a long tradition, from the African Free School to Du Bois and Woodson, that builds toward African American Studies in the late 1960s. Use the phrase "agents of their own education" to capture the throughline.
Evidence for Arguments
When a prompt asks about identity, resistance, or institution-building, these people are strong evidence. Schomburg's archive, Du Bois's surveys, Hurston's fieldwork, and Woodson's Black History Month each show African Americans creating knowledge and institutions to counter erasure.
Common Trap
Do not turn every Harlem Renaissance name into a required name for this topic. Langston Hughes and David Walker fit the broader story, but the figures tied directly to this topic are the African Free School, Schomburg, Du Bois, Hurston, and Woodson, plus the two required sources.
Common Misconceptions
- African American Studies did not begin in the 1960s. The academic field was formalized in the late 1960s, but the intellectual tradition behind it stretches back about two centuries earlier.
- Black history education was not only about pride. It was also a direct response to schools that taught Black inferiority, so it aimed to give students accurate knowledge and a foundation for advancement.
- Schomburg did not create a museum out of nowhere. His personal collection, donated to The New York Public Library, became the basis of the Schomburg Center, so the center grew out of one collector's archive.
- Carter G. Woodson is often reduced to "the Black History Month person." He also founded a major historical association and published many works of African American history, so his role was much broader than one celebration.
- Zora Neale Hurston was not only a novelist. For this topic, she matters as an anthropologist who documented African American culture and language through fieldwork.
Related AP African American Studies Guides
Vocabulary
The following words are mentioned explicitly in the College Board Course and Exam Description for this topic.Term | Definition |
|---|---|
abolitionists | Individuals who actively worked to end slavery and support the freedom of enslaved people. |
African American Studies | An interdisciplinary field of scholarly inquiry that analyzes the history, culture, and contributions of people of African descent in the United States and throughout the African diaspora. |
African Free School | An educational institution established in late eighteenth-century New York that provided education to children of enslaved and free Black people and prepared early Black abolitionists for leadership. |
agents of their own education | Individuals who take active control and responsibility for their own learning and intellectual development rather than passively receiving education. |
Black history | The study of the experiences, contributions, and achievements of African Americans throughout United States history. |
Black History Month | An annual observance founded by Carter Godwin Woodson to celebrate and recognize the history and contributions of African Americans. |
Black intellectual tradition | A historical movement of Black activists, educators, writers, and archivists in the United States who documented and analyzed Black experiences, beginning in the late eighteenth century. |
cultural contributions | The significant artistic, intellectual, and social achievements made by a group of people that shape society and culture. |
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. |
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture | A research institution at The New York Public Library founded on Arturo Schomburg's collection, dedicated to preserving and studying Black culture and history. |
sociological surveys | Systematic research studies examining the social conditions and characteristics of specific populations, such as W.E.B. Du Bois's early studies of African Americans. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is AP African American Studies 3.15 about?
AP African American Studies 3.15 examines Black history education and the long intellectual tradition that led to African American Studies as a formal academic field.
Why did New Negro movement educators promote Black history?
They argued that American schools often taught Black inferiority and ignored Black achievements. Teaching Black history helped students build self-knowledge, pride, and evidence-based challenges to racist narratives.
Who was Arturo Schomburg?
Arturo Schomburg was a Black Puerto Rican collector and writer whose archive documented the African diaspora. His collection became the basis of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Why is Carter G. Woodson important?
Carter G. Woodson founded a major organization for studying African American history, created Negro History Week, and wrote The Mis-Education of the Negro, which criticized schooling that devalued Black life and culture.
How does this topic connect to African American Studies?
It shows that African American Studies did not appear suddenly in the late 1960s. The formal field grew from a much older tradition of Black scholars, educators, archivists, and activists creating knowledge.
How is Black history education tested on the AP exam?
AP questions may ask you to analyze sources by Schomburg or Woodson, explain causation behind Black-led education, or use Black intellectual tradition as evidence for resistance and identity.