African American Studies Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for African American Studies, covering key terms and definitions from the course notes.

African American Studies

An interdisciplinary field analyzing the history, culture, and politics of people of African descent, combining scholarly inquiry with a community-centered approach.

Black Campus Movement (1965-1972)

A series of protests led by Black students and their allies at over 1000 colleges nationwide, demanding culturally relevant learning opportunities and greater support for Black students, teachers, and administrators.

Sahara Desert

A nearly uninhabitable desert that takes up the northern 1/3 of the African continent.

Climate Zones of Africa

Desert, Semiarid, Savanna, Rainforest, and Mediterranean.

Major Rivers of Africa

Niger River, Congo River, Zambezi River, Orange River, and Nile River.

Bilad es Sudan

"Land of the black people"; most of the habitable part of Africa.

Bantu Expansion

A series of migrations of people who spoke Bantu languages throughout the African continent from 1500 BCE to 500 CE triggered by population growth and technological innovations.

Bantu Linguistic Family

A language family containing hundreds of languages spoken throughout West, Central, and Southern Africa (e.g., Xhosa, Swahili, Kikongo, and Zulu).

Egypt

An ancient society that emerged along the Nile River around 3000 BCE known for its advanced agriculture, hierarchical society, and polytheistic religion.

Nubia

An ancient society that emerged along the Nile River around 3000 BCE, south of Egypt, which was a major source of gold and luxury trade items for Egypt.

Kush

A Nubian kingdom that controlled Upper and Lower Egypt around 750 BCE, establishing the 25th Dynasty of Black Pharaohs.

Aksumite Empire

An empire in eastern Africa (present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia) that emerged around 100 BCE, connected to major maritime trade networks, developed its own currency and script (Ge'ez), and became the first African society to adopt Christianity.

Nok Society

An ironworking society in West Africa (present-day Nigeria) around 500 BCE, known for its terracotta sculptures of animals and people.

Sudanic Empires

Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Flourished from the seventh to the sixteenth century, renowned for their gold mines and strategic location at the nexus of multiple trade routes.

Mansa Musa

The wealthy and influential ruler of the Mali Empire in the fourteenth century, known for establishing the empire as a center for trade, learning, and cultural exchange, and for his famous pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324.

Griots

Prestigious historians, storytellers, and musicians who maintained and shared a community’s history, traditions, and cultural practices through oral tradition.

Religious Syncretism

The blending of aspects of introduced faiths (e.g., Islam or Christianity) with Indigenous spiritual beliefs and cosmologies.

Great Zimbabwe

The capital city of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, which flourished in Southern Africa from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, known for its large stone architecture and its role as a hub for long-distance trade.

Swahili Coast

The coastal region stretching from Somalia to Mozambique, characterized by city-states united by their shared language (Swahili) and religion (Islam), which connected Africa’s interior to Arab, Persian, Indian, and Chinese trading communities.

Kingdom of Kongo

A powerful West Central African kingdom that voluntarily converted to Roman Catholicism in 1491, strengthening its trade relationship with Portugal but also becoming a major source of enslaved people in the transatlantic slave trade.

Queen Njinga

Queen of the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba (present-day Angola) in the seventeenth century, known for leading armies into battle and engaging in guerilla warfare against the Portuguese to maintain sovereignty and control of her kingdom.

Queen Idia

The first iyoba (queen mother) in the Kingdom of Benin (present-day Nigeria) in the late fifteenth century, who served as a political advisor to her son, the king, and became an iconic symbol of Black women’s leadership throughout the African diaspora.