AFRCNA 0031: intro to africana studies midterm

Africanization

high proportion of Africans in the Americas changed the culture, language, labor, & genetics of the area

Creole

American-born person, initially any race but came to mean American-born Africans

Nathan Hare

founder of the first Black studies department at the San Francisco State College (1968)

triangular trade

trade pattern in which enslaved Africans were traded from Africa to the Americas -> the Americas sent sugar, tobacco, & cotton to Europe -> Europe sent textiles, rum, and manufactured goods to Africa

Treaty of Tordesillas

agreement that divided the world between Portugal and Spain; Spain had a sphere of influence over most of the Americas but Portugal got control of Brazil & West Africa, so Spain couldn't participate in the slave trade themselves; majority of slaves went to Brazil and Portugal already had a colony in Angola; Portuguese had control on both sides of the slave trade

San Francisco State College

founded first Black Studies Department in 1968 in response to student protests which began in 1966; through the longest student strike in US history, students of different backgrounds founded the Black Studies department and other colleges across the country followed suit

Maroons

Communities of runaways established in places where it would be hard to be captured, such as mountains, swamps, and forests

sex ratio

more enslaved males than females in the Caribbean & Brazil but in N America, the ratio was more balanced, allowed N American slave populations to sustain themselves through reproduction; in the British Colonies, the birth rate was higher than the death rate, so more creoles in the US than in the rest of the Americas

Divination

ways of seeking guidance from the supernatural; in Candomble, 16 separate nuts are cast on an Ifa Divination tray, the patterns they lay in represent sayings (odus) which create stories that answer problems

Haitian Revolution

only successful slave rebellion in human history (completely eradicated slavery in Haiti); established the 2nd republic in the Western Hemisphere (after US); led by General Toussaint L'Overture; caused France to give up its endeavors in the New World

Mansa Musa

most famous ruler of Mali who led a pilgrimage to Mecca in 1324-1325, where he passed out gold and goods to everyone he met

South Carolina/Georgia Sea Islands

where Gullah developed (a language developed by African Americans), swampy rice plantations so enslaved people were mostly left to their own devices and were able to develop their own cultures

Nubia

(2250 B.C.E.) kingdom south of Egypt, along Nile River; kingdom of Kush developed within Nubia

Sugar

major cash crop that drove slavery, required lots of labor, also caused a high mortality rate because growing & refining sugar was dangerous; the first cultivation of sugar happened off the coast of West Africa through Portuguese slave labor and they repeated it in the Americas because it was very profitable; caused large plantations and little work for masters

Diaspora

dispersal/movement of specific peoples into other societies (often but not always involuntary) at once or over time

African diaspora

main source was Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

racialization of slavery

Slavery was not initially bound by color in the Old World; people of all races were enslaved, but eventually enslaved Africans became the only enslaved population as indigenous peoples died off and were granted some rights and indentured servitude declined; laws were made to define slavery by racial lines

Resistance

occurred in many ways, including running away and creating maroon communities; open rebellion, such as Haitian Revolution, Stono Rebellion, Nat Turner's Rebellion, etc.; everyday resistance (most common way), which included breaking tools, feigning illness or stupidity, working slowly and was the least risky way to rebel

Palmares

largest and longest lasting maroon community in the Americas, existed in Brazilian mountains from 1605 to 1695

Sahel

the savanna grassland immediately to the South of the Sahara desert, Great African kingdoms emerged in the region because of the Trans-Saharan trade; control of the region meant control of Trans-Saharan trade

Kingdom of Ghana

first major empire of the Savanna, located in modern-day Mali, provided goods for the Trans-Saharan trade, converted to Islam, emerged around 4th century C.E.

Atlantic Islands (off African coast)

first location of sugar cultivation by Portuguese, plantations there were very profitable so they moved them to the Americas

Griot

musical/verbal artisans; teachers, advisors, spokespersons, historians, ceremony participants, warriors, ambassadors, witnesses, etc.; very important to Mande culture

Sundiata

first emperor/founder of Kingdom of Mali (1235-1255)

cotton gin

caused cotton production in the US to take off in the 1800s and become a major cash crop/motivator for slavery, enslaved people in Upper South were transported to Deep South

Trans-Saharan trade

caused development of major African kingdoms in Sahel region, including Mali & Ghana

Kingdom of Mali

2nd major Savanna empire (behind Ghana), converted to Islam, founded by Sundiata, established in 1235 C.E. from state of Kangaba

Olaudah Equiano/G. Vassa

wrote first slave narrative (1789), tried to prove that African-Americans could be educated, contributed to Abolitionist movement in Britain, provided first detailed description of Middle Passage, tried to prove the horrors of slavery

Stono Rebellion

rebellion in SC of enslaved Africans who were trying to make it into Spanish Florida for freedom, some escaped to Florida while some were captured

Africanisms

coined by Melvile Herskovits, features of language or culture regarded as characteristically African, ways in which African culture influenced the Americas and created New World African-American cultures

Toussaint L'Ouverture

general and leader of Haitian Revolution, powerful strategist, former slave, died in 1803 before Haiti gained independence

Middle Passage

journey of slave ships across the atlantic ocean, took 60 to 90 days; ships were crowded & disgusting, people died of illness & malnutrition

Nat Turner

led massive rebellion in VA in 1831, unsuccessful but one of the major US revolts

Cotton

major cash crop in US (after invention of cotton gin) in 1800s; caused forced migration of enslaved people from Upper South to Deep South cotton plantations

Jamestown

first area where Africans were sent to the British colonies (in 1619), 12 years after the colony's founding

Asiento

contracts between Spain and other countries who could bring slaves through the slave trade

Rice

major US cash crop in SC and GA, huge plantations in swampy areas, enslaved people had more ability to create their own cultures because the masters were not always there

Public transcript

facade enslaved people showed to slave owners because they would be punished for acting unhappy

Tobacco

cash crop in US South, drove slavery to N. America

Bahia

brazilian region with massive African influence, still practices Candomble

Hidden transcript

true self shown to family and friends and other enslaved people in private

Trans-Atlantic Trade

largest forced migration in human history; 200,000 Africans to Europe, 12 million to Americas; many enslaved people came from W. Africa, esp. West Central Africa; main source of African diaspora

Engenhos

sugar plantations in Brazil

Cape Coast

central Africa, home to 17th century fort which held enslaved Africans, known for role in Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

Harriet Jacobs

first woman to write a slave narrative, wrote about the ways enslaved women were subjected to sexual advances & assault by the masters with no recourse

Mutiny on the Amistad

Africans from Sierra Leone, shipped to Cuba, then shipped to somewhere else, but they took control of the ship and forced 2 crew members to sail them to Africa, caught off the coast of NY and tried for murder, released and sent back to africa, one of the only cases of succesful mutiny

Timbuktu

famous center of learning in the Kingdom of Mali

Candomblé

a New World Diasporic religion in Brazil derived from the worship of mostly Yoruba deities (Nigeria and Benin)

Yoruba

culture of Nigeria and Benin which inspired New World traditions, such as Candomble

1494

treaty of tordesillas

Orishas

lesser divinities than the High God, mediators between humans and Olurun (High God); each responsible for an element of nature & human nature; equated to Catholic saints

Syncretism

the blending of 2 separate sets of traditions & beliefs; in the New World, African cultural traits were equated/likened to European cultural traits

1619

first documented arrival of Africans in the British Colonies, happened near Jamestown, VA

David Walker

wrote an anti-slavery pamphlet encouraging violence against those involved with slave trade, mentioned retribution for slave owners, used Christianity to show hypocrisy of slave owners, "kill or be killed," targeted by slave owners because of radical ideas

Melville J. Herskovits

anthropologist, African culture continually influenced African-American culture throughout the Americas, coined Africanisms (traits in the New World that came from Africa)

1831

Nat Turner's Revolt in VA, one of the major slave rebellions in the US

Frederick Douglass

born around 1818, escaped slavery in 1838, discussed dehumanizing nature of slavery, great orator and went on a speaking tour of Europe while he was a fugitive, taught himself to read, mentions differences between urban and rural slavery

1791-1804

Haitian Revolution (Haiti declared independence January 1, 1804), only successful slave rebellion in human history (completely eradicated slavery in Haiti)

Quilombo

maroon community in Brazil, tended to be in forested mountains

Missouri vs. Celia

enslaved women were "unrapable" by their owners because they were seen as property, they had no way to get repercussions for sexual assault

Code Noir

French laws used to regulate slavery

E. Franklin Frazier

sociologist, African-American cultures were American-born and mostly influenced by what they experienced in the Americas

Siete Partidas

Spanish laws used to regulate slavery

Great Dismal Swamp

swamp between VA and NC, maroons established communities there because it was easy to hide in the swamp (not easily accessible)

Great Zimbabwe

example of established African civilization, built a wall around the city, thought to have been the capital of a great kingdom

Louisiana Purchase

After the Haitian Revolution, France decided to give up its influence in the New World and sold Louisiana to the US. Though the US helped the French fight the Haitians, they actually benefited from France's loss in the Haitian Revolution, doubled the size of the US at the time

Plantation monocrop agriculture

initially people had smaller farms, but the Portuguese started to grow sugar in a plantation-style with large tracts of land; farmers switched from growing multiple crops to focusing on one crop, which required a lot more land and a lot of labor (drove enslavement), changed demographics because small white farmers were replaced by enslaved Africans

kalunga

a large body of water that separates the world of the living and the world of the dead (in Kongo Cosmology)