AFAM NOTES UNIT1

Black campus Movement

Hundreds of thousands of black students, Latino , Asian , and white supporters led a protest at over 1,000 colleges demanding greater opportunities to study the history and experience of black people and greater support for black students , faculty and administrators

what is African American Studies ?

Analyze the history of, culture + contributions of people of African descent in the US throughout the African Diaspora

How did African American Studies Emerge?

Black artistic , intellectual, and political endeavors and offers a lens for understanding black freedom struggles

2 Black Intellectuals

Carter G Wilson and W.E.B Du Bois

What did Carter G Woodson do?

Founds Association for study of negro life and history

What did W.E.B Du Bois do?

Promoted study of black history

What was Sweatt V. painter (1950)?

Desegregated graduate programs in universities

5 primary climate Zones in Africa

Desert(Sahara),Semiarid (Sahel), Savannah grassland , Tropical Rainforest, and Mediterranean

5 major rivers in Africa

Niger, Congo , Zambezi, Orange ,and Nile River

Major seas in Africa

Red and Mediterranean Sea

Major oceans in Africa

Atlantic and Indian Ocean

Which seas and ocean supported the emergence of early societies?

Red , Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean

Which climate zone led to the growth of population

Semiarid(Sahel) and Savanah grassland

How did the desert and semiarid climate facilitate opportunities?

Herders were nomadic and trading salt

How did the Savanah grassland climate facilitate opportunities ?

Cultivated grain crops

How did Sahel climate facilitate Opportunities?

Trade of livestock

How did the tropical rainforest climate facilitate opportunities?

Grew kola trees , yams , and traded gold

What caused the expansion of the Bantu empire?

Technological innovations and agricultural innovations that led to population growth and a series of migration of people who spoke Bantu languages

What were the effects of the Bantu expansion?

Bantu-speaking people’s influence spread , Africa is now home of thousands of ethnic groups and languages and a large portion of genetic ancestry of African Americans derives from communities in Africa that spoke languages belonging to Bantu family

What was 2 of the worlds earliest complex ,large scale societies that arose in Africa during the ancient era ?

Egypt and nubia

What led to the conflict of Egypt and Nubia ?

Nubia was the source of egypt’s gold and luxury items

Who won between Egypt and Nubia?

Nubia defeated Egypt and establish 25th dynasty of the black pharaohs and ruled Egypt for a century

Aksumite Empire (Eritrea and Ethiopia)

Emerged in E. Africa and Red Sea connected the empire to major maritime trade from Mediterranean and Roman Empire to India

What is Aksumites Currency and script?

Ge’ez

NOK society

Earliest Iron working Society

What is NOK society known for?

Thier pottery , naturalist TERRACOTTA sculptures of animals and people

Which society was first to adopt Christianity under the leadership of King Ezana?

Aksumite

What was Ge’ez sizes for?

The main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

What happened in the late 18th century?

African-American writers emphasize significance of ancient Africa in their secular text

What happened in the mid 20th century?

Research demonstrating Africans political claims for self and independence from European colonialism

What were the three Sudanic empires?

Ghana Mali ,Shanghai

What was Ghana, Mali, Songhai renowned for?

Gold mines, and strategic location at multiple trade routes

When did Ghana flourish?

7th to 13th century

What did the Songhai empire discover?

The new word / the America’s

When did Mali flourish?

13th -17th century

When did Songhai flourish?

15th to 16th century

Who was the ruler of Mali?

Mansa musa in 14th century

What led to the interest of merchants and cartographers?

Mali’s wealth and mansa musa’s hajj

What did W.African Empires house?

Centers of learning in trading cities

How did Mali house a center of learning in trading cities?

Book trade , university+ learning communities flourished in Timbuktu which drew astronomers , mathematicians, architects and jurists to the city

Who were griots?

Historians , story tellers and musicians who maintained and shared community’s history , traditions and cultural practices

How did gender play a role in Griot tradition?

African women and men preserved knowledge of a community’s birth, deaths and marriage in their stories

What did the adoption of Islam(in Mali and Songhai or Christianity (in Congo ) often result in?

bending of these introduced faiths with indigenous spiritual beliefs and cosmologies

What percentage of Africans who were religious arrived in North America ?

¼ Christian and ¼ Muslims

Examples of spiritual practices

Veneration of the ancestors, divination , healing practices, collective singing and chancing

Louisiana Voodoo

syncretic religious practices that blends African spiritual traditions with Roman Catholicism

Oshe Shango

Ceremonial wand among the Yoruba in Nigeria and was a core element of dances honoring the orisha(deity) shango

Shango

Orisha of thunder , fire, and lightning/ monarch of the oya kingdom

What were the 3 features of the oshe shango ?

Handle , 2 stone axes (characteristic of shango’s lighting bolt), and a female figure typically carrying the axes on her head

What was Oya’s Betrayal ?

African spiritual practices through a visual SYNCRETISM/ combines Yoruba traditions with renaissance style and frustrates a war among the orisha’s oya,ogum, and shango

What was an Ogun?

God of war , iron , tech and labor

What was a Oya?

Storm , winds , last breath , rebirth , change , gatekeeper or the cemetery

What was a Shango ?

The god of thunder , lightning and fire

When did the Kingdom of Zimbabwe Flourish ?

12th- 15th century

What was Great Zimbabwe known for ?

Large stone architecture, which offered military defense and served as a hub for long distance trade

What was the Great enclosure?

Site for religious and administrative activities in Zimbabwe

What was the conical tower ?

Served as a granary in great Zimbabwe

What was the stone Ruins ?

Remains an important symbol of the prominence autonomy and agricultural advancements of the Shano kings and early African societies such as the kingdom of Zimbabwe

What was the Swahili coast ?

Stretched from somalia to Mozambique and its coastal location of its city-states linked Africans interior to Arabs, Persians , Indian and Chinese trading communities

What happen to the Swahili coast btwn the 11th - 15th century?

Unified by their shared languages (Swahili , a Bantu lingua Franca ) and a shared religion ( Islam )

What did the strength of the Swahili coast trading states lead to ?

attention of the Portuguese, who invaded major city- states and established settlements in the 16th century to control Indian Ocean trade

Who converted West Central African Kingdom of Kongo to Roman Catholicism?

King Nzinga and his Nzinga Mbema (Afonso)

What was the result of kongo’s conversion to Christianity ?

Strengthen its trade relationship with Portugal and led to an increase of kongo’s wealth and Portugal demanded access to trade of enslaved ppl in exchange for military assistance

What did Kongo’s Nobles do ?

Participate in the transatlantic slave trade but were unable to limit the number of captives sold to European powers

What did Kongo and other greater regions of west central Africa become ?

Largest source of enslaved ppl in the history of transatlantic slave trade to the americas

How did kongo’s Christian culture influence early generations?

Many Africans were Christians before they arrived in America and they practice naming children after saints or according to the day of the week

What is kinship ?

Often farmed the basis for political alliances

What was women’s roles in West and Central African societies ?

Spiritual leaders , political advisors, market traders , educators, and agriculturalist

Who was Queen Idia

First Iyoba (mother queen) in the kingdom of Benin ( president - day Nigeria ) and served as a political advisor to her son , the king

What did the ivory mask of queen ida represent?

Designed as pendant to be warm to inspire Benin’s warriors and included features that express the significance of queen India’s leadership

Which people became the first group of enslaved to arrive in America ?

People from the kingdom of Ndongo

Who was queen Njinga?

Queen of the kingdom of Ndongo and matamba ( president day Angola)

What did both queens Idia and Njinga do?

Both led armies into battle

What did Queen idia rely on?

Spiritual power and medicinal knowledge to bring victories to Benin

What did Queen Njinga engage in?

30 years of guerrilla warfare against the Portuguese / participated in the slave trade to increase wealth and political influence and expand matamba’s military

What was Queen India’s legacy ?

Became an iconic symbol of black women’s leadership and her mask was adopted as the symbol for FESTAC( second world black festival of arts and cultures )

What was Queen Najima’s Legacy?

skilled , political ; and military leader throughout the African diaspora and led to 100 more years of women rulers in matamba

What was the Nobility’s Voluntary conversion?

Allowed Christianity to gain mass acceptance

Where did African kingdoms gain an increase of wealth and power?

Through slave trade / passing through the trans-Saharan trade routes

What did Portuguese and African trade lead to ?

Increase presence of Europeans in west Africa and the population of sub Saharan Africans in Liberia port cities (Lisbon + Seville )

Who were African Elites ?

Ambassadors and children of rivers who traveled to Mediterranean port cities for diplomatic , educational and religious reasons

What were types of jobs people in the African elites did ?

Domestic labors to Boatmen , guards , entertainers, vendors and knights

What was established as a result of Portuguese colonizing the Atlantic island of Cabo verde and São Tomé

Cotton , indigo , sugar plantations

What did Chafari D’ El - Rey ( The King’s Foutain ) illustrate?

Presence of Africans and the range of roles they played in urban Iberian port cities and shows the interchange btwn African and European societies well before the height of the transatlantic slave trade