AP African American Studies - Unit 1 Notes

What is African American Studies?

  • African American studies combines an interdisciplinary approach with scholarly inquiry to analyze the history, culture, and contributions of people of African descent in the U.S. and throughout the African Diaspora.

  • Emerged from Black artistic, intellectual, and political movements, growing into a formalized field of study.

  • Aids in understanding contemporary Black freedom struggles within and beyond academia.

  • Examines the development of ideas about Africa’s history and the continent’s ongoing relationship to communities of the African diaspora.

  • Perceptions of Africa have shifted over time, from misleading notions of a primitive continent to recognition of Africa as the homeland of powerful societies and leaders.

Incorporation of African American Studies in US Colleges and Universities (1960s-1970s)

  • Toward the end of the Civil Rights movement and during the Black Power movement in the 1960s and 1970s, Black college students entered predominantly white institutions in large numbers.

  • Black Campus movement (1965–1972): Protests at over 1,000 colleges demanding opportunities to study Black history and experiences and greater support for Black students, faculty, and administrators.

Reframing Misconceptions About Early Africa

  • Africa is the birthplace of humanity and the ancestral home of African Americans.

  • Early African societies brought about developments in fields including the arts, architecture, technology, politics, religion, and music.

  • Interdisciplinary analysis dispels notions of Africa as a place with an undocumented or unknowable history, affirming early Africa as a diverse continent with complex societies that were globally connected well before the onset of the Atlantic slave trade.

1.1 Vocabulary

  • interdisciplinary approach

  • misleading notions

  • Black Campus Movement (1965-1972)

  • birthplace of humanity

The African Continent: A Varied Landscape

  • Second-largest continent with geographic diversity and five primary climate zones: desert (e.g., the Sahara), semiarid (e.g., the Sahel), savanna grasslands, tropical rainforests, and the Mediterranean zone.

  • Bordered by seas and oceans (Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean) with five major rivers (Niger River, Congo River, Zambezi River, Orange River, and Nile River).

  • Proximity to the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean supported the emergence of early societies and fostered early global connections.

Impact of Africa’s Varied Landscapes

  • Population centers emerged in the Sahel and the savanna grasslands due to:

    1. Major water routes facilitating the movement of people and goods through trade.

    2. Fertile land supported the expansion of agriculture and domestication of animals.

    3. Connection of trade between communities in the Sahara to the north and in the tropical regions to the south.

  • Variations in climate facilitated diverse opportunities for trade:

    • Desert and semiarid areas: nomadic herders traded salt.

    • Sahel: traded livestock.

    • Savannas: cultivated grain crops.

    • Tropical rainforests: grew kola trees and yams and traded gold.

1.2 Vocabulary

  • geographically diverse

  • climate zones

  • Sahara

  • Sahel

  • savanna grasslands

  • Niger River

  • Congo River

  • Nile River

  • domestication

  • nomadic

  • kola trees and yams

Population Growth and Ethnolinguistic Diversity

  • Technological innovations (e.g., the development of tools and weapons) and agricultural innovations (e.g., cultivating bananas, yams, and cereals) contributed to the population growth of West and Central African peoples.

  • Population growth triggered the Bantu Expansion (1500 BCE to 500 CE).

Linguistic Diversity and Genetic Heritage

  • Bantu-speaking peoples’ linguistic influences spread throughout the continent.

  • Today, the Bantu linguistic family contains hundreds of languages spoken throughout West, Central, and Southern Africa (e.g., Xhosa, Swahili, Kikongo, Zulu).

  • Africa is the ancestral home of thousands of ethnic groups and languages. A large portion of the genetic ancestry of African Americans derives from Western and Central African Bantu speakers.

1.3 Vocabulary

  • Population growth

  • W & C Africans

  • Bantu Expansion

  • Bantu linguistic family

  • African ethnolinguistic diversity

Africa’s Ancient Societies

  • Several of the world’s earliest complex, large-scale societies arose in Africa during the ancient era, including Egypt, Nubia (Kush/Cush), and Aksum in East Africa and the Nok society in West Africa.

  • Egypt and Nubia emerged along the Nile River around 3000 BCE. Nubia was the source of Egypt’s gold and luxury trade items, which created conflict between the two societies. Around 750 BCE, Nubia defeated Egypt and established the 25th dynasty of the Black Pharaohs.

  • The Aksumite Empire (present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia) emerged in eastern Africa around 100 BCE. The Red Sea connected the empire to major maritime trade networks. Aksum developed its own currency and script (Ge’ez).

  • The Nok society (present-day Nigeria) emerged around 500 BCE and is one of the earliest iron-working societies of West Africa. They are best known for their terracotta sculptures, pottery, and stone instruments.

  • Aksum became the first African society to adopt Christianity under the leadership of King Ezana. Ge’ez, its script, is still used as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Cultural and Historical Significance

  • From the late 18th century onward, African American writers emphasized the significance of ancient African societies in sacred and secular texts to counter racist stereotypes.

  • In the mid-20th century, scholarship demonstrating the complexity and contributions of Africa’s ancient societies underpinned Africans’ political claims for self-rule and independence from European colonialism.

1.4 Vocabulary

  • complex societies

  • Nubia

  • 25th dynasty of Black Pharaohs

  • Aksumite Empire

  • maritime trade

  • Ge’ez

  • Nok

  • terracotta sculptures

  • African ethnolinguistic diversity

  • Ethiopian Orthodox Church

  • countered racist stereotypes

  • King Ezana

The Sudanic Empires: Ghana, Mali, Songhai

  • The Sudanic empires (Ghana, Mali, and Songhai) flourished from the 7th to the 16th century.

  • Ancient Ghana, Mali, and Songhai were renowned for their gold mines and strategic location at the nexus of trade routes.

  • Trans-Saharan commerce brought North African traders, scholars, and administrators who introduced Islam to the region.

  • Songhai was the last and the largest of the Sudanic empires. Following Portuguese exploration along the western coast of Africa, trade routes shifted from trans-Saharan to Atlantic trade, diminishing Songhai’s wealth.

Mali’s Wealth and Power

  • In the 14th century, the Mali Empire was ruled by Mansa Musa, who established the empire as a center for trade, learning, and cultural exchange.

  • Mali’s wealth enabled its leaders to crossbreed powerful North African horses and purchase steel weapons.

  • Mansa Musa’s hajj in 1324 attracted the interest of merchants and cartographers.

Connection to Early African Americans

  • The Sudanic empires in West Africa stretched from Senegambia to the Ivory Coast and included regions of Nigeria.

  • The majority of enslaved Africans transported directly to North America descended from societies in West Africa and West Central Africa.

1.5 Vocabulary

  • Sudanic empires

  • Ghana Empire

  • Mali Empire

  • Songhai Empire

  • gold mines

  • nexus of trade routes

  • Trans-Saharan commerce

  • Islam

  • Hajj in 1324

  • Diminishing wealth

  • Mansa Musa

West African Learning Traditions

  • West African empires housed centers of learning in their trading cities. In Mali, Timbuktu flourished as a center of learning.

  • Griots were prestigious historians, storytellers, and musicians who maintained and shared community history and traditions.

  • Gender played an important role in the griot tradition.

1.6 Vocabulary

  • Mali’s book trade and universities

  • Timbuktu

  • Griots

  • female Griots

Indigenous Cosmologies and Religious Syncretism

  • The adoption of Islam or Christianity by leaders of some African societies resulted in subjects blending aspects of these faiths with indigenous spiritual beliefs and cosmologies.

  • Africans who blended indigenous spiritual practices with Christianity and Islam brought their syncretic religious and cultural practices to the Americas.

  • Spiritual practices that can be traced to West Africa include:

    • veneration of ancestors

    • divination

    • healing practices

    • collective singing and dancing

  • Examples of West African spiritual practices in African diasporic religions: Voodoo; Vodun, in Haiti; Regla de Ocha-Ifa (once known as santería), in Cuba; and Candomblé, in Brazil.

1.7 Vocabulary

  • syncretic religious practice (blended)

  • Islam in Mali and Songhai

  • Christianity in Kongo

  • indigenous spiritual beliefs

  • cosmologies

  • African America ancestors: 25% Christian, 25% Muslim

  • veneration of the ancestors

  • divination

  • Voodoo in Haiti, Cuba, Brazil

  • Vodun

  • Regla de Ocha-Ifa

  • Candomblé

Culture and Trade in Southern and Eastern Africa

  • The Kingdom of Zimbabwe and its capital city, Great Zimbabwe, flourished in Southern Africa from the 12th to the 15th century.

  • Great Zimbabwe is best known for its large stone architecture, which offered military defense and served as a hub for long-distance trade.

  • The stone ruins remain an important symbol.

  • The Swahili Coast stretches from Somalia to Mozambique. The coastal location of its city-states linked Africa’s interior to Arab, Persian, Indian, and Chinese trading communities.

  • Between the 11th and 15th centuries, the Swahili Coast city-states were united by their shared language (Swahili) and shared religion (Islam).

  • The strength of the Swahili Coast trading states garnered the attention of the Portuguese, who invaded major city-states and established settlements in the 16th century to control Indian Ocean trade.

1.8 Vocabulary

  • Kingdom of Zimbabwe

  • Great Zimbabwe

  • Swahili Coast trade

  • Shona people

  • gold, ivory, & cattle resources

  • large stone architecture

  • Swahili Coast

Portuguese Ships Arrive on West African Coasts

  • The Portuguese, using Arab and Chinese technology, emerged as the first great sea voyagers from Western Europe and found immense sources of wealth in West Africa during the late 15th century (1400s).

  • The Portuguese incorrectly assumed that sub-Saharan African people lived in primitive unorganized societies, but realized their assumptions were false after early attempts at invasion failed.

  • African Kingdoms realized an opportunity to increase wealth by bypassing centuries-old trade with Arabs along trans-Saharan routes and get better deals from the Portuguese.

  • The Wolof Empire in modern Senegal was the first Kingdom to sustain a complex relationship with Portugal. Wolof sent ambassadors to Portugal, who were well received and sometimes knighted.

  • The Wolof also started to trade enemies that they had captured in battle, leading to the first auctions of enslaved people in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon in 1444.

  • Portugal's most significant moment came when they first met the Akan people of modern Ghana called El Mina (the mine) (today called Elmina).

  • The Portuguese began buying humans from Benin and trading them to the Akan people at Elmina, who were always short on labor in their own kingdom. This was the key to unlocking access to Elmina’s gold for Portugal.

  • The powerful Obas (Kings) of Benin were open to Portuguese trade, but in 1514, they decided to shut down Portuguese access to the slave trade.

Sao Tome

  • In 1485, Portugal made the uninhabited African island of São Tomé an official colony and developed a new system for sugar production.

  • At their new colony, Portugal developed a system of sugar production on a massive scale for this first time in history, based solely on human-trafficking of West Africans organized in massive plantations.

  • The Europeans continued to colonize the New World for one purpose, they found more land to model the São Tomé sugar experiment.

Context for 1.9 & Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

  • Portuguese sea voyagers

  • Trading partners increase wealth by bypassing trans-Saharan trade

  • Wolof Empire

  • Knighted

  • Lisbon

  • Akan people

  • Elmina

  • Gold Trade

  • Kingdom of Benin

  • São Tomé sugar production

  • “Racialized” slavery

West Central Africa: The Kingdom of Kongo

  • To Kongo, the arrival of the foreign Portuguese ships was as shocking as it was for the Inca and Aztecs in the Americas.

  • In 1491, King Nzinga a Nkuwu (João I) and his son Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I) voluntarily converted the powerful West Central African Kingdom of Kongo to Roman Catholicism.

  • The Kingdom of Kongo’s conversion to Christianity strengthened its trade relationship with Portugal, leading to Kongo’s increased wealth.

  • As a result of the Kingdom of Kongo’s conversion to Christianity and subsequent political ties with Portugal, the king of Portugal demanded access to the trade of enslaved people in exchange for military Assistance.

  • The leaders of Kongo had no way of knowing that all of world history was about to change and that the sugar trade was about to explode.

  • Kongo’s nobles participated in the slave trade, but they were unable to limit the number of captives sold to European powers when the volume of human trade quickly grew out of control.

  • About a quarter of enslaved Africans directly transported to what became the United States hailed from West Central Africa. Many West Central Africans were Christians before they arrived in the Americas.

1.9 Vocabulary

  • Kingdom of the Kongo

  • Roman Catholicism

  • Kongo’s converts to Christianity

  • Kongo’s increased wealth

  • African Catholicism

  • Portugal demands enslaved

  • Kongo unable to limit slave trade

  • Kongo/Cent. W. Afr: largest source of enslaved people

  • West African Christians before America

  • Nzinga Mbemba (Afonso I)

Kinship and Political Leadership

  • Many early West and Central African societies were comprised of family groups held together by extended kinship ties.

  • Women played many roles in West and Central African societies, including spiritual leaders, political advisors, market traders, educators, and agriculturalists.

  • In the late 15th century, Queen Mother Idia became the first iyoba (queen mother) in the Kingdom of Benin (present-day Nigeria) and served as a political advisor to her son, the king.

  • In the early 17th century, Queen Njinga became queen of Ndongo-Matamba (present-day Angola) and engaged in 30 years of guerilla warfare against the Portuguese to maintain sovereignty and control of her kingdom.

  • Queen Idia became an iconic symbol of Black women’s leadership throughout the diaspora in 1977 when an ivory mask of her face was adopted as the symbol for FESTAC (Second Festival of Black Arts and Culture).

1.10 Vocabulary

  • extended kinship ties

  • women's roles in West Africa

  • Kingdom of Benin

  • Ndongo-Matamba

  • ivory mask of Queen Idia

  • FESTAC

  • Queen Mother Idia

  • Queen Njinga

Global Africans

  • In the late 15th century, trade between West African kingdoms and Portugal for gold, goods, and enslaved people grew steadily, bypassing the trans-Saharan trade routes.

  • African elites traveled to Mediterranean port cities for diplomatic, educational, and religious reasons.

  • In the mid-15th century, the Portuguese colonized the Atlantic islands of Cabo Verde and São Tomé, where they established cotton, indigo, and sugar plantations using the labor of enslaved Africans.

  • By 1500, about 50,000 enslaved Africans had been removed from the continent to work on Portuguese-colonized Atlantic islands and in Europe. These plantations became a model for slave-based economies in the Americas.

1.11 Vocabulary:

  • All of this vocabulary can be found in “Context for 1.9”