African American Studies Review

Flashcards covering key concepts and figures in African American history, from the origins of the diaspora to the Civil Rights Movement.

The Bantu expansion (1500 BCE-500 CE) involved what geographic movement?

W & C Afr → S Afr w/ iron tools & agriculture

Sudanic Empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhai) .

controlled gold & trans-Saharan trade

Mansa Musa’s hajj (1324) .

displayed wealth → attracted Euro interest

The Swahili Coast was a .

E Afr trade network → connected to Indian Ocean commerce

The Kingdom of Kongo .

adopted Christianity → Portugal alliance → slave trade

Portuguese Atlantic colonies .

established plantation slavery model

Afr Am Studies = interdisciplinary .

challenges stereotypes about AfAm

Unique Afr identities were forged by .

Islam/Christianity + indigenous beliefs

Timbuktu was an .

Islamic scholarship center → attracted global intellectuals

Griots were .

oral historians → preserved history → Epic of Sundiata

Nok sculptures (500 BCE) are the .

earliest evidence of complex W Afr society

Great Zimbabwe featured .

stone architecture → religious/admin center

The Queen Mother Mask was a .

symbol at FESTAC 1977 → Afr womanhood

Aksumite coins & Ge'ez script are .

evidence of early Afr civilization

African Catholicism is .

art blending Christian imagery + Afr aesthetics

The SFSU Black Student Strike (1968) involved a .

5-mo protest → 1st Black Studies program

The Black Campus Mvmt (1965-72) involved .

student protests → Afr Am Studies depts

King Nzinga Mbemba's letters were to the .

Portuguese king protesting slave trade

Queen Njinga led a .

30 yrs guerrilla war vs. Portuguese → protected refugees

Syncretic religions were .

Indigenous + Christian/Muslim → cultural preservation

Religious ceremonies provided .

strength for rebellions (Stono 1739)

The Transatlantic Slave Trade saw .

12.5M Africans forced → Americas (5% to US)

Key regions of the Slave Trade were .

Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Angola

The 3-stage journey of the Slave Trade involved .

capture/coastal dungeons → Middle Passage (15% mortality) → final passage/sale

After the 1808 import ban there was a .

domestic slave trade → 1M+ Afr Americans moved from Upper → Lower South

Brazil saw .

5M enslaved Africans → preserved traditions (capoeira, congada)

Spanish Florida served as a .

haven for escaped slaves → St. Augustine & Fort Mose (1st free Black town)

The Creole Mutiny (1841) involved .

Madison Washington → took over slave ship → secured freedom in Bahamas

The Haiti Revolution (1791-1804) was the .

only successful slave revolt → 1st Black republic → refugees → US

The Louisiana Purchase was caused by the .

Haiti Revolution → Napoleon sold territory → expanded US slavery westward

Maroons were .

self-liberated communities → Great Dismal Swamp, Palenques (Spanish America), Quilombos (Brazil)

Black Seminoles were a .

distinct mixed-heritage group → fought alongside Seminoles → 2nd Seminole War

The Underground RR was a .

covert network → helped ~30,000 reach freedom

Partus sequitur ventrem involved .

child's status follows mother → perpetuated racial slavery → commodified reproduction

Hypodescent & one-drop rule .

assigned mixed-race people "inferior" status → limited multiracial id

Queen Njinga & Mose demonstrated .

African military expertise → slave revolts

The German Coast Uprising (1811) was led by .

Charles Deslondes → 500 enslaved people → marched toward New Orleans

Black women's resistance .

fought attackers, used abortifacients, infanticide, escape → preserved dignity

Harriet Jacobs' Incidents was the .

first published narrative by enslaved woman → exposed sexual exploitation

Maria W. Stewart was the .

1st Black woman to publish political manifesto → pioneered public speaking

Indigenous enslavement of Afr Americans involved .

adopted chattel slavery → racial hierarchy

Photography as resistance was used by .

Douglass (most photographed man of 19C) & Truth → controlled self-representation

Spirituals .

expressed hardship & hope → double meanings → coded messages → preserved African heritage

African musical elements included .

call & response, polyrhythms, improvisation → influenced American genres

Slave narratives .

humanized enslaved → advanced abolition → political tools

Daily resistance .

maintained dignity & agency

La Amistad Revolt (1839) saw .

Sengbe Pieh → successful takeover → Supreme Court granted freedom

Churches served as .

gathering spaces → information exchange → political organizing

Walker's Appeal challenged .

Radical resistance .

Nat Turner & Denmark Vesey led .

religious-inspired rebellions → harsher laws against Black communities

Enslaved Texans informed of freedom → now federal holiday → Freedom Days tradition

Juneteenth (June 19, 1865) .

National Urban League (1910) .

Helped migrants → housing, jobs, education → community support

Transportation & information .

Railway -> Black Press (Chicago Defender) -> facilitated migration

Rural -> urban transition means .

Maintaining Southern culture -> adapted to urban environment -> formed communities

NACW (1896) -> "Lifting as we climb" meant .

education, civil rights, community service

WEB Du Bois .

Double consciousness -> experiencing both Black & American identities -> internal conflict

"The Color Line" : Du Bois .

Racism = central 20th century problem -> systemic segregation & discrim.

Black Arts Movement, .

Art as political tool -> celebrated Black identity -> rejected Eurocentric standards

African American music .

Preserved Afr traditions (call & response, improv)

Nation of Islam.

Black Nationalism Islamic beliefs -> self-sufficiency Malcolm X key before 1964