Main concepts (updated)

Griots

Oral historians/storytellers in West African societies who preserved history, genealogy, and traditions.

Bantu migrations

Movement of Bantu-speaking peoples across sub-Saharan Africa.

Mali Empire

Powerful West African empire built on trade.

Mansa Musa

Wealthy ruler of Mali known for pilgrimage to Mecca.

Transatlantic Slave Trade

Forced transportation of millions of Africans to the Americas.

Middle Passage

The brutal ocean journey transporting enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Olaudah Equiano

Formerly enslaved writer.

Stono Rebellion

Major slave rebellion.

Haitian Revolution

Successful slave revolution.

Maroon Communities

Communities formed by self-liberated enslaved people.

Reconstruction Era

Period after the Civil War focused on rebuilding the South and expanding rights.

Black Codes

Laws limiting Black freedom after slavery.

Sharecropping

Farming system where tenants gave part of crops to landowners.

Plessy v. Ferguson

Supreme Court case upholding segregation.

Booker T. Washington

Belief in vocational education and gradual progress.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Belief in immediate civil rights and higher education.

Ida B. Wells

Investigated lynching and fought racial violence.

Brown v. Board of Education

Supreme Court case ending legal school segregation.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

Youth-led civil rights organization.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Belief in nonviolent protest.

Malcolm X

Belief in Black self-determination and self-defense.

Black Panther Party

Organization promoting self-defense and community programs.

Black Arts Movement

Artistic movement connected to Black Power.

Queen Njinga

Central African leader who fought Portuguese colonization.

Phillis Wheatley

First published African American poet.

Nat Turner

Enslaved preacher who led major slave rebellion in 1831.

Harriet Tubman

Abolitionist who led enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

Frederick Douglass

Formerly enslaved writer and speaker against slavery.

Sojourner Truth

Activist who fought for abolition and women's rights.

David Walker

Black activist who wrote Walker's Appeal.

Maria Stewart

Political speaker and one of the first American women to give public political speeches.

Anna Julia Cooper

Scholar and activist who advocated for Black women's education.

Marcus Garvey

Pan-African leader who promoted Black pride.

Alain Locke

Writer and philosopher who wrote The New Negro.

Langston Hughes

Poet who celebrated Black identity through literature.

Zora Neale Hurston

Writer and anthropologist who preserved Black folklore.

Ella Baker

Organizer who helped build grassroots movements.

Fannie Lou Hamer

Voting rights activist who fought voter suppression.

Diane Nash

Student activist who helped organize sit-ins and Freedom Rides.

Alice Walker

Developed womanism.

Kimberlé Crenshaw

Developed intersectionality.