African American Studies - Unit 4: Movements and Debates Vocabulary

Flashcards for African American Studies Unit 4, focusing on Movements and Debates. These cards cover key vocabulary, concepts, and figures discussed in the lecture notes.

Négritude

A political, cultural, and literary movement of the 1930s through 1950s that started with French-speaking Caribbean and African writers protesting colonialism and the assimilation of Black people into European culture.

Negrismo

A movement that emerged in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean at the same time as the négritude movement, embraced by Black and mixed-race Latin Americans, celebrating African contributions to Latin American music, folklore, literature, and art.

Black Freedom Movement

A period of transnational activism from the mid-1940s to the 1970s, marked by the Civil Rights movement and the Black Power movement.

Black Power Movement

Heightened Black consciousness and racial pride in the United States and abroad.

Pan-African Flag

A unifying symbol to connect people of African descent across the globe, created by Marcus Garvey in 1920.

G.I. Bill of 1944

A race-neutral gesture of gratitude toward American veterans returning from the Second World War, providing funds for college tuition, low-cost home mortgages, and low-interest business startup loans.

Redlining

Practice of withholding mortgages to African Americans and other people of color within a defined geographical area under the pretense of “hazardous” financial risk posed by those communities

Civil Rights Movement Methods

Nonviolent forms of civil disobedience, including marches, sit-ins, litigation, economic boycotts, and the use of mass media.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Ended segregation and prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, and religion.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Outlawed discriminatory barriers in voting.

Gloria Richardson

First woman to lead a civil rights organization outside of the South, the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee, based in Maryland.

Black Panther Party for Self-Defense

A revolutionary Black Power organization inspired by Malcolm X’s arguments; the Party’s Ten-Point Program called for freedom from oppression and imprisonment, and access to housing, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities.

Black is Beautiful Movement

Emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as African Americans embraced Black beauty and well-being and sought to strengthen their connections to Africa, rejecting notions of inferiority and conformity to mainstream standards of beauty.

Nation of Islam (NOI)

Founded in Detroit in 1930, blending basic beliefs and practices of Islam with mythology and Black Nationalist ideology.

Black Power

A movement that promoted self-determination, defended violence as a viable strategy, and strove to transform Black consciousness by emphasizing cultural pride.

Intersectionality

A framework for understanding the distinct experiences of Black women through the interactions of their social, economic, and political identities with systems of inequality and privilege.

Interlocking Systems of Oppression

Describes how social categories (e.g., race, gender, class, sexuality, ability) are interconnected, and considers how their interaction with social systems creates unequal outcomes for individuals

Congressional Black Caucus

A group of Black members of Congress that promotes the growth of Black political power by supporting Black candidates in national, state, and local elections, and lobbying for reforms in healthcare, employment, and social service programs.

Hip-Hop

A culture born out of collaboration and artistic creativity among young Black and Latino community members in the 1970s, rooted in New York City’s Bronx borough.

Soul Train

A program created by Don Cornelius in 1971 to provide a popular African American dance program modeled on American Bandstand

Self Defense

Revolutionary Black Power organization that called for freedom from oppression, and imprisonment, and access to housing, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities, the party’s calls for violent resistance to oppression resulted in armed conflicts and the FBI waged a campaign against the Black Panthers as a threat to national security

African American Music

Has been used since their ancestors first arrived in the Americas, African Americans have drawn from African-based musical and performative elements, improvisations, call and response, syncopation, storytelling and the fusion of music with dance as the foundation for sounds, expressions, and interpretations developed in African American music

Afrocentricity

Describes approach that highlights the experiences, perspectives, and aesthetics of Black people by placing Africa and the achievements of people of African descent at the center of history, celebrated pride in African heritage

Arms for defense

Revolutionary Black Power organization (Black Panther Part), cites second amendment to promote arms in self-defense and call for resistant oppression

Afrocentricity

An approach that highlights the experiences, perspectives, and aesthetics of Black people by placing Africa and the achievements of people of African descent at the center of history. This approach emerged alongside the movements in the 1960s to establish the field of African American Studies and to celebrate pride in African heritage.

New political foundation

The long tradition of African cultural production by connecting contemporary writers and artistis to their forerunners.

Womanist

Builds upon earlier forms of Black women's activism through opposition to racism in the feminist community and sexism in black communities

Afrofuturism

A movement that reimagine black pasts, such as a past without oppression, and envisions afrocentric futures using technology and science.