AP African American Studies Unit 1

African American Studies

Combines an interdisciplinary approach with the rigor of scholarly inquiry to analyze the history, culture, and contributions of people of African descent in the United States and throughout the African diaspora.

Emergence of African American Studies

Emerged from Black artistic, intellectual, and political endeavors that predate its formalization as a field of study.

Lens for Understanding

Offers a lens for understanding contemporary Black freedom struggles within and beyond the academy.

Development of Ideas about Africa

Examines the development of ideas about Africa's history and the continent's ongoing relationship to communities of the African diaspora.

Civil Rights Movement Impact

Toward the end of the Civil Rights movement and during the Black Power movement in the 1960s and 1970s, Black college students entered predominantly white institutions in large numbers for the first time in American history.

Black Campus Movement

During the Black Campus movement (1965-1972), hundreds of thousands of Black students and Latino, Asian, and white supporters led protests at over 1,000 colleges nationwide, demanding greater opportunities to study the history and experiences of Black people.

Support for Black Students

Demanded greater support for Black students, faculty, and administrators.

Africa as Birthplace of Humanity

Africa is the birthplace of humanity and the ancestral home of African Americans.

Early African Societies

Examines developments in early African societies in fields including the arts, architecture, technology, politics, religion, and music.

Contributions of Early Africa

Documents early Africa as a diverse continent with complex societies that made enduring contributions to humanity.

Global Connections of Early Africa

These societies were globally connected well before the onset of the transatlantic slave trade.

Geographic Diversity of Africa

As the second-largest continent in the world, Africa is geographically diverse with five primary climate zones: desert, semiarid, savannah grasslands, tropical rainforests, and the Mediterranean zone.

Borders of Africa

Africa is bordered by seas and oceans (Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean) with five major rivers connecting regions throughout the interior of the continent.

Emergence of Early Societies

The proximity of the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean to the African continent supported the emergence of early societies and fostered early global connections beyond the continent.

Population Centers in Africa

Population centers emerged in the Sahel and the savannah grasslands of Africa for three important reasons.

Major Water Routes

Major water routes facilitated the movement of people and goods through trade.

Fertile Land

Fertile land supported the expansion of agriculture and the domestication of animals.

Sahel and savannah grasslands

Connected trade between communities in the Sahara to the north and in the tropical regions to the south.

Variations in climate

Facilitated diverse opportunities for trade in Africa.

Nomadic herders

In desert and semiarid areas, they moved in search of food and water, with some trading salt.

Sahel trade

People traded livestock.

Savannah grasslands cultivation

People cultivated grain crops.

Tropical rainforests trade

People grew kola trees and yams, and traded gold.

Bantu expansion

Triggered a series of migrations of people who spoke Bantu languages throughout the continent from 1500 BCE to 500 CE.

Technological innovations

Contributed to the population growth of West and Central African peoples.

Agricultural innovations

Included the cultivation of bananas, yams, and grains.

Bantu linguistic family

Contains hundreds of languages that are spoken throughout West, Central, and Southern Africa (e.g., Xhosa, Swahili, Kikongo, and Zulu).

Ethnic groups in Africa

Africa is home to thousands of ethnic groups and languages.

Genetic ancestry of African Americans

A large portion derives from communities in West and Central Africa that speak languages belonging to the Bantu linguistic family.

Complex societies in Africa

Several of the world's earliest complex, large-scale societies arose in Africa during the ancient era, including Egypt and Nubia.

Nubia

Was the source of Egypt's gold and luxury trade items, creating conflict between the two societies.

Twenty-fifth dynasty of the Black Pharaohs

Established by Nubia around 750 BCE, who ruled Egypt for a century.

Aksumite Empire

Emerging in eastern Africa around 100 BCE, it was connected to major maritime trade networks.

Ge'ez

The script developed by Aksum, still used as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Nok society

One of the earliest ironworking societies of West Africa, known for pottery and terracotta sculptures.

Aksum's significance

Became the first African society to adopt Christianity under the leadership of King Ezana.

Cultural significance of ancient societies

They exemplify African societies that adopted Christianity on their own terms, beyond colonial influence.

Ancient Africa

Significant in sacred and secular texts by African American writers to counter racist stereotypes.

Sudanic Empires

Also known as the Sahelian empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, they emerged from the seventh to the sixteenth century.

Ghana Empire

Flourished from the seventh to thirteenth centuries.

Mali Empire

Flourished from the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries and was ruled by Mansa Musa in the fourteenth century.

Songhai Empire

The last and largest of the Sudanic empires, flourishing in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries.

Trans-Saharan Commerce

Brought North African traders and facilitated the spread of Islam throughout West Africa.

Mansa Musa

Wealthy ruler of the Mali Empire who established it as a center for trade, learning, and cultural exchange.

Hajj

Mansa Musa's pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324 that attracted merchants and cartographers to trade gold.

Gold Mines

Renowned in ancient Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, contributing to their wealth and strategic trade locations.

Trade Routes

Connected trade from the Sahara to sub-Saharan Africa, influencing the political and economic development of the empires.

Griots

Prestigious historians, storytellers, and musicians in West African societies who maintained community history and traditions.

Centers of Learning

Housed in trading cities like Timbuktu, where a book trade and university flourished.

Cultural Exchange

Facilitated by Mali's wealth and trade routes, allowing for interactions across Africa and the Mediterranean.

Enslaved Africans

Majority transported to North America descended from societies in West Africa and West Central Africa.

Islam

Introduced to West Africa through trans-Saharan commerce and North African traders.

Political Claims

Demonstrated by mid-twentieth century research on the complexity of Africa's ancient societies.

Atlantic Trade

Shifted from trans-Saharan trade routes following Portuguese exploration, diminishing Songhai's wealth.

Gender in Griot Tradition

Played an important role in the storytelling and historical maintenance practices.

West African Societies

Had institutional and community-based models of education present in their early structures.

Learning Community

Flourished in Timbuktu, drawing scholars and professionals in various fields.

Political, Economic, and Religious Development

Shaped by the influence of gold and trade in the ancient West African empires.

Griots

African women and men who preserved knowledge of a community's births, deaths, and marriages in their stories.

Mande griots

Griots who have passed down oral traditions such as the Epic of Sundiata for centuries, celebrated today in Mali.

Epic of Sundiata

An epic that recounts the early life of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire, and preserves the early history of the Mande people.

Syncretic practices

Practices developed in early West and West Central African societies that blended Indigenous spiritual beliefs with introduced faiths.

Islam and Christianity in Africa

The adoption of these faiths by leaders of some African societies led to blending aspects of these faiths with Indigenous beliefs.

African diasporic religions

Religions that include spiritual practices traced to West and West Central Africa, such as veneration of ancestors and collective singing.

Oshe Shango

A ceremonial wand among the Yoruba in Nigeria, core to dances honoring the orisha Shango.

Shango

The orisha of thunder, fire, and lightning, and a deified ancestor from the Oyo kingdom.

Osain del Monte

An Afro-Cuban performance group illustrating the syncretism of Afro-Cuban religions.

Oya's Betrayal

A painting that depicts African spiritual practices through visual syncretism combining Yoruba oral traditions with Renaissance style.

Great Zimbabwe

A kingdom that flourished in Southern Africa from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, linked to trade on the Swahili Coast.

Shona people

Inhabitants of Great Zimbabwe who became wealthy from gold, ivory, and cattle resources.

Stone architecture of Great Zimbabwe

Known for providing military defense and serving as a hub for long-distance trade.

The Great Enclosure

A site for religious and administrative activities within Great Zimbabwe.

Conical tower of Great Zimbabwe

Likely served as a granary within the stone architecture of Great Zimbabwe.

Swahili Coast

Stretches from Somalia to Mozambique, named from the Arabic word for coasts.

Swahili Coast city-states

United by their shared language (Swahili, a Bantu lingua franca) and shared religion (Islam) between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries.

Portuguese invasion

The strength of the Swahili Coast trading states garnered the attention of the Portuguese, who invaded major city-states and established settlements in the sixteenth century to control Indian Ocean trade.

King Nzinga a Nkuwu

In 1491, he and his son Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I) voluntarily converted the Kingdom of Kongo to Roman Catholicism.

Kingdom of Kongo's conversion to Christianity

Strengthened its trade relationship with Portugal, leading to Kongo's increased wealth through trade of ivory, salt, copper, and textiles.

African Catholicism

A distinct form of Christianity that incorporated elements of local aesthetic and cultural traditions, emerging from the nobility's voluntary conversion.

King of Portugal's demand

Access to the trade of enslaved people in exchange for military assistance, as a result of the Kingdom of Kongo's conversion to Christianity.

Kongo nobles and the transatlantic slave trade

Participated in the transatlantic slave trade but were unable to limit the number of captives sold to European powers.

Largest source of enslaved people

Kongo, along with the greater region of West Central Africa, became the largest source of enslaved people in the history of the transatlantic slave trade to the Americas.

Enslaved Africans in the United States

About a quarter hailed from West Central Africa, many of whom were Christians before arriving in the Americas.

Naming children in Kongo

Common practice of naming children after saints or according to the day of the week on which they were born ('day names').

Christian names among early African Americans

Examples like Juan, João, and John have African origins and show how ideas and practices around kinship and lineage endured across the Atlantic.

Kinship in early West and Central African societies

Many societies were composed of family groups held together by extended kinship ties, forming the basis for political alliances.

Roles of women in West and Central African societies

Included spiritual leaders, political advisors, market traders, educators, and agriculturalists.

Queen Idia of Benin

Became the first iyoba (queen mother) in the Kingdom of Benin (present-day Nigeria) in the late fifteenth century.

Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba

Noted for her political and military leadership, comparable to Queen Idia.

Queen Idia

The first iyoba (queen mother) in the Kingdom of Benin who served as a political advisor to her son, the king.

Queen Njinga

Queen of the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba who engaged in 30 years of guerilla warfare against the Portuguese.

Guerilla warfare

A form of irregular warfare in which small groups use military tactics to fight a larger traditional military.

FESTAC

The Second World Black Festival of Arts and Culture, where Queen Idia's ivory mask was adopted as a symbol in 1977.

Legacy of Queen Idia

An iconic symbol of Black women's leadership throughout the African diaspora.

Legacy of Queen Njinga

Solidified her legacy as a skilled political and military leader throughout the African diaspora, leading to nearly 100 more years of women rulers in Matamba.

Ivory mask of Queen Idia

Designed as a pendant to inspire Benin's warriors, featuring elements that express her leadership significance.

Trade between West African kingdoms and Portugal

Grew steadily in the late fifteenth century for gold, goods, and enslaved people, bypassing trans-Saharan trade routes.

Population of sub-Saharan Africans in Iberian port cities

Increased due to Portuguese and West African trade, particularly in cities like Lisbon and Seville.

Roles of Africans in Mediterranean port cities

Included domestic labor, boatmen, guards, entertainers, vendors, and knights.

Portuguese colonization of Cabo Verde and São Tomé

Established cotton, indigo, and sugar plantations using the labor of enslaved Africans in the mid-fifteenth century.