African American Studies Exam Review

Flashcards to review key concepts for Unit 1: Origins of the African Diaspora

What are the key characteristics of African American Studies?

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.

What are the origins of African American Studies and what does it offer?

African American Studies emerged from Black artistic, intellectual, and political endeavors that predate its formalization as a field of study. It offers a lens for understanding contemporary Black freedom struggles.

What is the focus of African American Studies regarding Africa?

African American Studies examines the development of ideas about Africa’s history and the continent’s ongoing relationship to communities of the African diaspora.

What developments led to the incorporation of African American Studies into US colleges and universities in the 1960s and 1970s?

Black college students entered predominantly white institutions in large numbers, leading to the Black Campus movement.

What were the key demands of the Black Campus movement?

The Black Campus movement (1965–1972) involved protests at over 1,000 colleges nationwide, demanding greater opportunities to study Black history and experiences, and greater support for Black students, faculty, and administrators.

How does African American Studies enrich the study of early Africa and its relationship to communities of the African diaspora?

Africa is the birthplace of humanity and the ancestral home of African Americans. It examines developments in early African societies in various fields such as arts, tech, politics, religion, and music.

How does African American Studies challenge misconceptions of early Africa?

Interdisciplinary analysis dispels misconceptions of early Africa as a place with an undocumented history and documents it as a diverse continent with complex societies.

What are the primary climate zones of Africa?

Africa is geographically diverse with five primary climate zones: desert, semiarid, savannah grasslands, tropical rainforests, and the Mediterranean zone.

What are the major bodies of water bordering Africa and its major rivers?

Africa is bordered by the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean, and has five major rivers: Niger River, Congo River, Zambezi River, Orange River, and Nile River.

How did the proximity of seas and oceans affect early societies in Africa?

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

Why did population centers emerge in the Sahel and savannah grasslands of Africa?

Major water routes facilitated the movement of people and goods, fertile land supported agriculture, and the Sahel/savannah grasslands connected trade between the Sahara and tropical regions.

How did variations in climate affect trade in Africa?

Variations in climate facilitated diverse opportunities for trade in Africa. Examples include herders trading salt in deserts and rainforest inhabitants trading gold.

What contributed to the population growth of West and Central African peoples?

Technological and agricultural innovations contributed to population growth of West and Central African peoples.

What is the Bantu expansion and what caused it?

Population growth triggered the Bantu expansion, a series of migrations of Bantu-speaking peoples from 1500 BCE to 500 CE.

How did the Bantu expansion affect the linguistic diversity of West and Central Africa?

Today, the Bantu linguistic family contains hundreds of languages spoken throughout West, Central, and Southern Africa.

What is the link between the Bantu expansion and the genetic heritage of African Americans?

The genetic ancestry of African Americans derives from communities in West and Central Africa that speak languages belonging to the Bantu linguistic family.

Describe the features of early complex societies in Africa such as Egypt and Nubia.

Egypt and Nubia emerged along the Nile River around 3000 BCE. Nubia was the source of Egypt’s gold and luxury trade items. Around 750 BCE, Nubia defeated Egypt and established the twenty-fifth dynasty.

Describe the features of early complex societies in Africa such as the Aksumite Empire.

The Aksumite Empire (present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia) emerged around 100 BCE and was connected to major maritime trade networks. It developed its own currency and script (Ge’ez).

Describe the features of early complex societies in Africa such as the Nok society.

The Nok society (present-day Nigeria) emerged around 500 BCE and is known for its pottery and terracotta sculptures.

What is the cultural and historical significance of Aksum?

Aksum became the first African society to adopt Christianity under King Ezana. Its script, Ge’ez, is still used as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

How did African American writers use ancient Africa to counter racism?

African American writers emphasized the significance of ancient Africa to counter racist stereotypes.

How did research on Africa's ancient societies influence African political claims?

Research demonstrating the complexity and contributions of Africa’s ancient societies underpinned Africans’ political claims for self-rule and independence from European colonialism.

What were the periods during which the Sudanic empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai flourished?

Ghana flourished in the seventh to thirteenth centuries, Mali flourished in the thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, and Songhai flourished in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries.

How did gold and trade shape the political, economic, and religious development of the ancient West African empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai?

The Sudanic empires were known for their gold mines and strategic location at the nexus of trade routes from the Sahara to sub-Saharan Africa.

How did Islam spread throughout West Africa?

Trans-Saharan commerce brought North African traders, scholars, and administrators who introduced Islam to the region and facilitated its spread throughout West Africa.

How did the shift in trade routes affect Songhai?

Trade routes shifted from trans-Saharan to Atlantic trade, diminishing Songhai’s wealth.

How did Mali's wealth contribute to its power?

Mali’s wealth and access to trans-Saharan trade routes enabled its leaders to crossbreed powerful North African horses and purchase steel weapons.

Where did the majority of enslaved Africans transported to North America come from?

The majority of enslaved Africans transported directly to North America descended from societies in West Africa and West Central Africa.

What was the significance of Timbuktu in Mali?

In Mali, a book trade, university, and learning community flourished in Timbuktu, which drew scholars to the city.

Who were the Griots?

Griots were prestigious historians, storytellers, and musicians who maintained and shared a community’s history, traditions, and cultural practices.

How did syncretic practices develop in early West and West Central African societies?

Leaders adopting Islam or Christianity resulted in their subjects blending aspects of these faiths with Indigenous spiritual beliefs and cosmologies.

How were syncretic practices brought to the Americas?

Africans blended local spiritual practices with Christianity and Islam, carrying these syncretic religious practices to the Americas.

How did African spiritual practices survive in the African diaspora?

Spiritual practices that can be traced to West and West Central Africa, such as veneration of the ancestors, divination, healing practices, and collective singing and dancing, have survived in African diasporic religions.

What was the function and importance of Great Zimbabwe’s stone architecture?

Great Zimbabwe offered military defense and served as a hub for long-distance trade. The Great Enclosure was a site for religious and administrative activities.

What does Great Zimbabwe symbolize?

The stone ruins remain an important symbol of the prominence, autonomy, and agricultural advancements of the Shona kings and early African societies such as the kingdom of Zimbabwe.

How did geographic factors contribute to the rise of city-states on the Swahili Coast?

The Swahili Coast linked Africa’s interior to Arab, Persian, Indian, and Chinese trading communities.

What cultural factors united the Swahili Coast city-states?

Between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries, the Swahili Coast city-states were united by their shared language (Swahili) and shared religion (Islam).

How did political factors contribute to the fall of the Swahili Coast city-states?

The Portuguese invaded major city-states and established settlements in the sixteenth century to control Indian Ocean trade.

How did the adoption of Christianity affect economic and religious aspects of the Kingdom of Kongo?

The Kingdom of Kongo’s conversion to Christianity strengthened its trade relationship with Portugal, leading to Kongo’s increased wealth.

What was the nature of Christianity in Kongo?

A distinct form of African Catholicism emerged in Kongo that incorporated elements of Christianity and local aesthetic and cultural traditions.

How did the Kingdom of Kongo’s political relations with Portugal affect its participation in the transatlantic slave trade?

The King of Portugal demanded access to the trade of enslaved people in exchange for military assistance.

What role did Kongo play in the transatlantic slave trade?

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.

How did the Kingdom of Kongo’s Christian culture influence early generations of African Americans?

Many West Central Africans were Christians before they arrived in the Americas.

What is the significance of Christian names among early African Americans?

Christian names among early African Americans also have African origins and exemplify ways that ideas and practices around kinship and lineage endured across the Atlantic.

Describe the function of kinship.

Many early West and Central African societies were composed of family groups held together by extended kinship ties, and kinship often formed the basis for political alliances.

What roles did women play?

Women played many roles in West and Central African societies, including as spiritual leaders, political advisors, market traders, educators, and agriculturalists.

What was Queen Idia's leadership role?

Queen Idia served as a political advisor to her son, the king, in the Kingdom of Benin.

What was Queen Njinga's leadership role?

Queen Njinga became queen of the kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba.

Compare the political and military leadership of Queen Idia of Benin and Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba.

Queen Idia relied on spiritual power and medicinal knowledge to bring victories to Benin. Queen Njinga engaged in guerilla warfare against the Portuguese.

What is the legacy of Queen Idia of Benin's leadership?

An ivory mask of Queen Idia’s face was adopted as the symbol for FESTAC (Second World Black Festival of Arts and Culture).

What is the legacy of Queen Njinga of Ndongo-Matamba's leadership?

The strength of Queen Njinga’s example led to nearly 100 more years of women rulers in Matamba.

Why did Africans go to Europe and Europeans go to Africa before the onset of the transatlantic slave trade?

for golds, goods, and enslaved people. African kingdoms increased their wealth and power through slave trading, which was a common feature of hierarchical West African societies. African Elites traveled to the Mediterranean port cities for diplomatic, educational, and religious reasons.

How did trade between Portugal and West Africa affect populations in both regions?

Portuguese and West African trade increased the presence of Europeans in West Africa and the population of sub-Saharan Africans in Iberian port cities.

How did early forms of enslaved labor by the Portuguese shape slave-based economies in the Americas?

The Portuguese colonized the Atlantic islands of Cabo Verde and São Tomé, where they established plantations using the labor of enslaved Africans.

What was the impact of Portuguese colonization and slave labor on economies in the Americas?

These plantations became a model for slave labor-based economies in the Americas.