Unit 1 Basics - Afro History

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, events, and ideas from the lecture notes on the American Revolution, slavery, colonization, and race theory.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

British pledge of freedom to enslaved people who join the British side during the Revolutionary War; used to gain leverage from slaveowners.

Manumission

The act of freeing a slave; freeing an individual slave.

Elizabeth Freeman

Massachusetts court case that freed Elizabeth Freeman from slavery.

Quock Walker

Massachusetts court ruling freeing Quock Walker, contributing to abolitionist momentum.

1804 abolition in the North

By 1804 slavery was illegal in every Northern state (state-by-state laws).

Articles of Confederation

Weak central government; failed to unify the states, leading to inter-state confusion.

Boston Massacre

1770 incident where Crispus Attucks was the first killed; used as propaganda to rally support for independence.

Crispus Attucks

Black man killed in the Boston Massacre; often cited as the first martyr of the American Revolution.

Common Sense

1776 pamphlet by Thomas Paine arguing Britain should not own the colonies and that independence was necessary.

The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith's work advocating liberal capitalism, minimal government interference, and protection of property rights.

Declaration of Independence

1776 document declaring independence; notes a paradox: American freedom built on slavery and slave labor funded much of the economy.

American paradox

The United States professes freedom and equality while slavery persisted within the nation.

Columbian Exchange

Post-1492 transfer of goods, ideas, and diseases between the Americas and the Old World.

Smallpox

The largest killer of Indigenous populations during the Columbian Exchange.

Three colonial regions—Southern Colonies

Cash crops (e.g., tobacco) and chattel slavery.

Three colonial regions—New England Colonies

Religious Separatism; families established colonies.

Three colonial regions—Middle Colonies

Agriculture/bread basket; settled in part by Quakers who valued equality.

Jamestown, 1607

First permanent English settlement in Virginia.

John Rolfe

Cultivated tobacco; married Pocahontas to secure land and relations with Native communities.

Pocahontas

Married John Rolfe; symbolized a temporary alliance between settlers and some Native groups.

1619 Enslaved Africans arrive

Dutch ships bring enslaved Africans to Jamestown; enslaved people were bought for plantation labor by John Rolfe

Chattel slavery

Permanent, hereditary, race-based slavery; enslaved people considered property; justified by racism.

Racialization

Process by which racial categories are created and used to justify domination and slavery.

Curse of Ham

Biblical rationale historically used to justify enslaving Africans.

Scientific racism

19th- and early-20th-century view that ‘science’ certifies racial hierarchies and inherent differences.

Eugenics

Movement advocating the control of human reproduction to improve the genetic 'fitness' of a population.

Present race as a human construct

Modern view that race is a social construct, with science tracing all humans back to Africa.