African American Society MidTerm1

Signification

A concept in cultural and literary theory referring to the process of creating meaning, symbols, or representations within a culture.

Self-Signification

The act of self-definition and asserting control over one’s identity and narrative, directly countering external racist stereotypes or misrepresentations

Sankofa

A West African (Akan/Ghanaian) concept and symbol represented by a bird reaching back to retrieve an egg from its back; it means "it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot"—learning from the past to build the future

Pan-Africanism

A global political, social, and cultural movement dedicated to unifying and strengthening the bonds between all people of African descent across the African continent and diaspora

Core Values of African Americans

Cultural values rooted in West African traditions and forged through survival and liberation struggles, including community solidarity, resilience, spirituality, extended family networks, and oral storytelling

Ethnic Notions

A term (also associated with Marlon Riggs’ famous documentary) referring to the pervasive caricatures, anti-Black stereotypes, and popular culture items used to dehumanize African Americans and justify racial oppression

Mammy

A racist caricature of an enslaved or free Black woman depicted as maternal, devoted to her white captors, asexual, and content in servitude

Sambo

A racist caricature depicting Black men as lazy, unintelligent, childlike, carefree, and inherently submissive

Brute

A violent, animalistic caricature of Black men fabricated during and after Reconstruction to justify racial terror, lynching, and segregation by framing Black men as threats to white society and women

Jezebel

A hyper-sexualized caricature of Black women created during slavery to justify their sexual exploitation and rape by white captors while denying them moral purity

Sapphire

A caricature depicting Black women as overly aggressive, domineering, loud, emasculating, and chronically angry

Pickaninny

A harmful caricature of Black children depicting them as unkempt, animalistic, subhuman, and insensitive to pain, often shown in dangerous or dehumanizing situations

Christopher Columbus

An Italian explorer whose 1492 voyage under the Spanish crown initiated widespread European colonization of the Americas, leading to the genocide of Indigenous populations and the establishment of the Transatlantic slave trade

Omar ibn Said

An educated Muslim scholar from West Africa (modern-day Senegal) who was enslaved in North Carolina and wrote a famous autobiography in Arabic in 1831 detailing his life and faith

Jarena Lee

The first authorized female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, who published an influential autobiography in 1836 detailing her religious calling and itinerant preaching

Denmark Vesey

A free Black carpenter and former enslaved person who planned a major slave rebellion in Charleston, South Carolina in 1822; the plot was leaked, leading to his execution and increased restrictions on Black gatherings.

Harriet Tubman

An iconic abolitionist, conductor on the Underground Railroad who led dozens of enslaved people to freedom, Civil War scout and spy, and women's suffragist.

Richard Allen

A prominent minister and activist who co-founded the Free African Society and founded the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Philadelphia in 1794, becoming its first bishop

David George

An enslaved man who became an early Black Baptist preacher, founding the Silver Bluff Baptist Church in South Carolina and later migrating to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone to establish congregations

Henry McNeal Turner

A prominent bishop in the AME Church, politician, and Pan-Africanist who advocated for Black emigration to Africa after the collapse of Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow

Andrew Bryan

An early Black Baptist minister who founded the First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Georgia in 1788 despite severe persecution from white authorities

David Walker

A radical Black abolitionist whose 1829 pamphlet, David Walker's Appeal, urged enslaved African Americans to actively resist and revolt against white tyranny

Abd Al-Rahman Ibrahima

A West African prince and Muslim military leader who was enslaved in Mississippi for nearly 40 years before securing his freedom in 1828 through international attention

Henry Highland Garent

An abolitionist minister and orator who gave the famous 1843 speech "An Address to the Slaves of the United States," openly calling for armed revolt against slaveholders

Maria Stewart

An pioneering African American abolitionist, feminist, and public speaker who became one of the first American women to deliver public political lectures to mixed-gender and racially integrated audiences in the early 1830s

Kongo-Angola

A Central African region that was a primary point of origin for millions of captives forcibly brought to the Americas during the Transatlantic slave trade, heavily influencing African American culture, spiritual practices, and music

Translatlatnic Slavery

The forced transportation of an estimated 12–15 million African people across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries, forming a central component of global trade and capitalism

1619

The year marking the arrival of the first recorded group of "twenty and odd" enslaved Africans at Point Comfort (Jamestown), Virginia, aboard a English privateer ship

White Lion

The English privateer ship that delivered the first recorded group of enslaved Africans to the Virginia colony in 1619

Mayflower

The English ship that transported Pilgrims to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620; often contrasted with the White Lion to illustrate dual origins in American historical narrative (freedom vs. slavery)

Enslavement and Resistance Strategies

The spectrum of actions taken by enslaved people to resist oppression, ranging from everyday resistance (feigning illness, breaking tools, slowdowns, preserving culture) to overt resistance (running away, sabotage, literacy, and violent rebellions)

Abroad Marriages

Marriages between enslaved individuals who lived on different plantations or farms owned by different slaveholders, requiring visits across property lines during off-hours.

Female Slave Work Network

Informal labor, solidarity, and care networks established by enslaved women to share domestic burdens, childcare, healthcare, herbal remedies, and emotional support across households

Code Noir

A 1685 decree issued by King Louis XIV of France regulating the conditions of slavery, religious duties, and slaveholder power in the French colonial empire.

Underground Railroad

A secret, informal network of clandestine routes, safe houses, conductors, and activists that assisted enslaved African Americans in escaping to free states, Canada, and Mexico.

Pointe Coupee Slave Rebellion

A planned 1795 slave revolt in Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, inspired by the French and Haitian Revolutions; the plot was exposed and brutally suppressed before it could fully launch.

Haitian Revolution

A successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection led by enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue against French rule, resulting in the elimination of slavery and the founding of the Republic of Haiti, the world's first free Black republic.

Modern Era

The historical period following the Middle Ages, marked by the rise of global trade, industrialization, nation-states, European colonialism, and the Transatlantic slave trade

The Great Compormise

An agreement at the U.S. Constitutional Convention that created a bicameral legislature (Senate and House of Representatives); tied closely to the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted three-fifths of the enslaved population for representation and taxation.

Fugitive Slave Act

Federal legislation (most notably in 1793 and 1850) that mandated the capture and return of escaped enslaved people across state lines, penalizing citizens who assisted escapees and endangering free Black people

Dred Scott Decision

A landmark Supreme Court ruling (Dred Scott v. Sandford) stating that Black people—enslaved or free—were not U.S. citizens and had "no rights which the white man was bound to respect," declaring the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

Civil War & Reconstruction

The American Civil War (1861–1865) fought over slavery and union, followed by Reconstruction (1865–1877), an era aimed at rebuilding the South, protecting Black civil rights, and reintegrating former Confederate states

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, declaring free all enslaved people in Confederate territories in rebellion against the United States.

Civil War Amendments (13th, 14th, 15th)

• 13th Amendment (1865): Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.

• 14th Amendment (1868): Granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

• 15th Amendment (1870): Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Plessy vs. Ferguson

A Supreme Court decision that upheld state racial segregation laws under the doctrine of "separate but equal," legally sanctioning the Jim Crow era

Five Pillars of Islam

The fundamental acts of worship in Islam: Shahada (faith), Salah (prayer), Zakat (almsgiving), Sawm (fasting during Ramadan), and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca)—practiced by many enslaved Africans in the Americas

Princess Shall Come Out of Egypt & Ethiopia

A biblical passage (Psalm 68:31) frequently cited by 18th- and 19th-century Black abolitionists and Pan-Africanists as proof of Africa's ancient glory and a divine promise of Black liberation and redemption (Ethiopianism)

Roll, Jordan, Roll

A famous African American spiritual song created by enslaved people, containing encoded messages about salvation, spiritual triumph, and escape via the Underground Railroad

Congo Square

An open space in New Orleans where enslaved and free Black people gathered on Sundays to socialize, trade, dance, and practice African music and spiritual customs, preserving West African cultural traditions

Vodou Themes

Core elements of Haitian Vodou, an Afro-syncretic religion blending West/Central African spiritual belief systems with Roman Catholicism, centering on community, ancestral veneration, healing, and spiritual resistance

LWA and Santos

In Vodou, Lwa are the spirits/deities that serve as intermediaries between humanity and the supreme creator; Santos are Roman Catholic saints paired with specific Lwa through syncretism to protect African spiritual practices under colonial rule.

Siststers of the Holy Family

A religious congregation of Black Catholic nuns founded in New Orleans in 1842 by Henriette Delille to educate enslaved and free Black people and care for the elderly

American Colonization Society (ACS)

An organization founded in 1816 by white elites that promoted the gradual emancipation of enslaved people on the condition that they be resettled ("repatriated") in West Africa, leading to the establishment of Liberia; opposed by most Black abolitionists