AP AAS Unit 2 Study Guide

🌍 Early African Presence & Atlantic World

First Africans in America
→ Enslaved and free Africans who arrived in Spanish, then English colonies beginning in the 1500s.

Atlantic Creoles
→ Multilingual Africans familiar with European culture who navigated Atlantic trade, labor, and diplomacy.

African Conquistadores
→ Africans who joined Spanish expeditions and military campaigns in the Americas.

Juan Garrido
→ Free African conquistador who fought with Cortés and introduced wheat to Mexico.

Estevanico
→ African explorer and translator who guided Spanish expeditions in North America.

Free Skilled Workers
→ Free Africans who earned wages through skilled trades like carpentry or blacksmithing.

Enslaved Laborers
→ Africans forced into unpaid labor under chattel slavery.

🚢 Slave Trade & Forced Migration

Middle Passage
→ Brutal transatlantic voyage that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas.

Three-Part Journey (Triangular Trade)
→ Trade system linking Europe, Africa, and the Americas.

Charleston, South Carolina
→ Major port of entry for enslaved Africans in British North America.

Enslaving Nations
→ European empires that profited from the capture and sale of Africans.

Nine African Regions
→ Key areas in West and Central Africa where enslaved Africans were taken.

Coastal States
→ African kingdoms that controlled access to Atlantic trade.

Monetary Incentives
→ Profit motives driving African and European participation in the slave trade.

Long-Term Instability
→ Political and social disruption in Africa caused by slave trading.

🧠 Culture, Identity & Community

Ethnic Groups
→ African communities sharing language, culture, and traditions.

Cultural Contributions
→ African influences on food, language, music, religion, and labor systems.

Faith Traditions
→ Blending of African spiritual practices with Christianity.

Spirituals
→ Religious songs expressing hope, resistance, and coded messages.

Gullah
→ Creole language and culture formed by enslaved Africans in coastal South Carolina and Georgia.

Pottery and Quilt Making
→ Artistic traditions preserving African cultural knowledge.

African Instruments
→ Instruments that shaped American music traditions.

Rhythmic and Performative Elements
→ Emphasis on rhythm, movement, and call-and-response.

American Blues
→ Musical genre rooted in African American spirituals and work songs.

🌱 Labor Systems & Plantation Life

Rice Cultivation
→ Plantation agriculture based on African expertise in wet-rice farming.

Gang System
→ Labor system grouping enslaved workers under supervision.

Specialized Trades
→ Skilled labor performed by enslaved artisans.

Work Songs
→ Rhythmic songs coordinating labor and expressing resistance.

Gender Roles
→ Different labor and social expectations for enslaved men and women.

Enslaved Women
→ Faced forced labor, family separation, and sexual exploitation.

⚖ Slavery, Law & Power

Hereditary Racial Slavery
→ Permanent slavery passed through the mother based on race.

Concept of Race
→ Social construct used to justify enslavement.

One-Drop Rule
→ Defined anyone with African ancestry as Black.

Slave Codes
→ Laws controlling enslaved people’s behavior and movement.

SC 1740 Slave Code
→ Laws passed after the Stono Rebellion to restrict Black autonomy.

U.S. Constitution
→ Protected slavery through compromises like the Three-Fifths Clause.

Free States
→ States where slavery was legally banned.

Black Suffrage
→ Right of African Americans to vote.

Dred Scott Case
→ Supreme Court ruling denying Black citizenship and congressional power over slavery.

🔥 Resistance & Revolts

Resistance
→ Actions taken to oppose or survive slavery.

Daily Resistance
→ Subtle acts like slowing work or preserving culture.

Uprisings
→ Organized revolts against slavery.

Stono Rebellion (1739)
→ Largest colonial-era slave uprising in South Carolina.

La Amistad
→ Slave ship rebellion leading to a Supreme Court victory for Africans.

Second Middle Passage
→ Forced internal migration of enslaved people in the U.S.

🌴 Maroons & Global Resistance

Maroons
→ Escaped enslaved people who formed independent communities.

Maroon Communities
→ Settlements resisting colonial control.

Great Dismal Swamp
→ Major maroon refuge in the eastern U.S.

Palenques and Quilombos
→ Maroon settlements in Latin America and Brazil.

Maroon Wars
→ Conflicts between maroons and colonial governments.

🌎 Atlantic World & Abolition

Brazil
→ Received the largest number of enslaved Africans.

Capoeira
→ Afro-Brazilian martial art developed under slavery.

Haitian Revolution
→ Successful slave revolt that ended slavery in Haiti.

Santo Domingo
→ French colony that became Haiti.

Abolition of Slavery
→ Legal ending of enslavement.

Latin American Abolitionism
→ Movements ending slavery across Latin America.

🇺🇸 Expansion, Removal & Conflict

Louisiana Purchase
→ U.S. land expansion that extended slavery westward.

Trail of Tears
→ Forced removal of Indigenous nations.

Five Indigenous Nations
→ Major Southeastern tribes displaced by U.S. policy.

Seminoles
→ Indigenous group allied with Black communities.

Black-Indigenous People
→ Individuals of African and Indigenous descent.

✊🏾 Black Political Thought & Abolition

Black Nationalism
→ Emphasis on racial pride and self-determination.

Integrationists
→ Advocated equality within American society.

Anti-Emigrationists
→ Opposed relocating Black Americans outside the U.S.

American Colonization Society
→ Promoted resettlement of free Blacks to Africa.

📚 Abolitionist Movement & Leaders

Abolitionist Movement
→ Organized effort to end slavery.

Abolitionist Activists
→ Individuals working to abolish slavery.

Moral Suasion
→ Appealing to conscience to oppose slavery.

Radical Resistance
→ Support for direct action against slavery.

Pamphlets
→ Printed abolitionist materials spreading ideas.

Underground Railroad
→ Secret network aiding escape from slavery.

Harriet Tubman
→ Led enslaved people to freedom.

Fugitive Slave Acts
→ Laws requiring return of escaped enslaved people.

🖊 Literature, Media & Gender

Slave Narratives
→ Firsthand accounts of enslavement.

Slave Narratives by Women
→ Exposed sexual violence and gendered oppression.

African American Literary Genres
→ Spirituals, narratives, protest literature.

Photography
→ Tool used by Black leaders to shape public image.

Poetry and Photographs
→ Documented Black resistance and identity.

🗣 Key Figures

Frederick Douglass
→ Formerly enslaved abolitionist who used writing and photography to demand equality.

Sojourner Truth
→ Abolitionist and women’s rights activist.

⚔ Civil War & Emancipation

Black Contributions to the Union
→ Military service and labor supporting Union victory.

Enslaved Southerners
→ Undermined the Confederacy by fleeing and aiding Union forces.

Anti-Black Violence
→ Racial violence during and after the Civil War.

Emancipation Proclamation
→ Freed enslaved people in Confederate states.

13th Amendment
→ Abolished slavery nationwide.

Juneteenth
→ Celebration of emancipation in Texas.

Freedom Days
→ Local celebrations marking the end of slavery.