Af Am History 201 Exam 1

Seasoning

"Disciplinary process intended to modify the behavior and attitudes of slaves and make them effective laborers" Get slaves accustomed to working in the plantation system. Received new names Learned new languages.

Lucy

'Lucy' is a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species. She lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago. She was dug up in Hadar, Ethiopia in 1974. She was named after the Beatles song "Lucy in the sky with diamonds". She also walked upright.

What led to the change from white indentured servants to black chattel slavery?

1.). Increasing production of sugar in the British Caribbean colonies created a larger demand for Africans. 2). White indentured servants found better opportunities in British North America. 3). British took control of the slave trade became more economical. 4.)1676: Bacon's Rebellion -The uprising convinced the colonies' elite that continuing to rely on white agricultural laborers, who could become free and get guns, could have repercussions. -Switching to Black slave labor- lowered the risk of class conflict. -Result: White Americans associated both their freedom from class conflict as well as their prosperity with denying freedom to people of African descent.

Taung Child

3-year-old child's skull found in 1924.it was among the first early human fossils to be found in Africa. it wasn't just the human-like teeth that made this skull remarkable. The find represented the first evidence for bipedal walking in an early human. Much like in humans, the hole through which the spinal cord threaded was located toward the bottom of the skull

Vodou

A religion of West African origin practiced chiefly in Haiti and other Caribbean countries, based on animism, magic, and elements of Roman Catholic ritual, and characterized by belief in a supreme God and a large pantheon of local and tutelary deities, deified ancestors, and saints, who communicate with believers in dreams, trances, and ritual possessions

Stono Rebellion

A slave rebellion that began on 9 September 1739, in the colony of South Carolina. It was the largest slave uprising in the British mainland colonies, with 42-47 whites and 44 blacks killed.

Abolition

Abolitionists employed all manner of strategies to persuade the American public and its leadership to end slavery. Most famous of all abolitionist activities was the Underground Railroad, a network of assistance and safe houses for runaway slaves Activists used the press to spread the abolitionist message Still other abolitionists felt that violence was the only way to end slavery Emancipation proclamation 1863 13th Amendment ended slavery

Nonvoilent resistance

Achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, or other methods, without using violence.

Kingdom of Mali

After the destruction of the Kingdom of Ghana, the Black Kingdom of Mali emerged in 1235. Unlike Ghana, Mali's kings (Mansas) embraced the Muslim religion, They adopted Islam. Began to decline by 1550. Weakended by incursions of the Songhay, attacks from Mossi, and malicious designs of the Portuguese.

Santeria

An Afro-Cuban religion that originated in what is today Nigeria and Benin in West Africa.Santeria includes the worship of the Orisha "head guardians," and religious beliefs of the Yoruba and Bantu people in Southern Nigeria, Senegal and Guinea Coast. These are combined with elements of Roman Catholicism. It is a result of the Caribbean slave trade (Cuba, Haiti, Brazil)

Matrilineal descent

An individual is considered to belong to the same descent group as her or his mother. The tracing of descent through the female line

Patrilineal descent

An individual's family membership derives from and is traced through his or her father's lineage

Anthony Johnson

Anthony Johnson was the first prominent black landholder in the English colonies. Johnson arrived in Virginia in 1621 aboard the James. In addition to being a landowner, Anthony Johnson was also a slaveholder.

Indentured servants

As indentured servants- Blacks and Whites lived together, ate together, and slept together

Slavery after the American Revolution

At least on paper, slavery was abolished north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 further entrenched slavery in the South

Which countries imported the most slaves?

Brazil - 4 million British Caribbean - 2 million French Caribbean - 1.6 million

Slave Codes (continued)

By 1705, The Virginia General Assembly declared: "All servants imported and brought into this Country...who were not Christians in their native Country...shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion... shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resist his master...correcting such slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction...the master shall be free of all punishment as if such accident never happened"

3 divisions of slaves in the Caribbean

Creole - Born in the Americas Old African - Has been in the Americas for awhile, but originally from Africa. New African - Just arrived.

Black Philosophers from 18th to 20th centuries

David Walker Booker T. Washington Sojourner Truth Anna Julia Cooper Maria Stewart Ida B. Wells Henry Highland Garnet Mary Church Terrell Frederick Douglas W.E.B Du Bois Mary Ann Shadd Cary Carter G. Woodson Alain Leroy Locke Marcus Garvey Zora Neale Hurston Charles S. Johnson E. Franklin Frazier

Homo Erectus

Early African Homo erectus fossils are the oldest known early humans to have possessed modern human-like body proportions with relatively elongated legs and shorter arms compared to the size of the torso. These features are considered adaptations to a life lived on the ground, indicating the loss of earlier tree-climbing adaptations, with the ability to walk and possibly run long distances

Justifying racism - Hamitic Myth

Europeans needed a way to categorize and explain the unfamiliar lands, peoples and practices they encountered. Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren...blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. God enlarge Japhet, and let him dwell in the tent of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant (Gensis 9:27).

Jamestown

First African Americans in North America 1619: 20 odd African arrived in Jamestown VA Status was ambiguous. Not slaves as we know it today, but not free

Fort Mose

First all Black settlement in North America The Spanish oversaw the construction of the fort and surrounding homes, which was actually owned by black residents. Owned property, had businesses and churches. Served as a "safe house" for runaway slaves that could make it until 1763, when the entire region was turned over to the English

Slavery in early British North America Colonies

From the start white elites treated Africans differently. "Africans brought to the southern colonies were immediately relegated to a subordinate status to indentured servants. Because they were Black, conspicuously different, and could not blend in with Native Americans and White indentured servants who were almost physically indistinguishable from the settlers

Features of Plantation Slavery

House slaves and field slaves. Given shoes yearly. Food was scarce. Terrible living conditions for field slaves who worked day and night.

Homo Sapiens

Humans. During a time of dramatic climate change 200,000 years ago, Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. Like other early humans that were living at this time, they gathered and hunted food, and evolved behaviors that helped them respond to the challenges of survival in unstable environments.

The Hamitic Myth Condundrum

If the Hamitic Myth argues that Blacks are to be enslaved, less intelligence, and savages, Than who exactly built the pyramids?

What roles did education play in the development of African studies?

It played a major role. The nature and intensity of racism at predominantly white colleges and universities made African Americans revel in their African heritage and culture. It was inevitable that the absence of Africans in America in the university curriculum would become a burning issue and demand.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

Legalizing the recapture of slaves and authorizing state and federal court systems to return slaves from one state to another. For slave owner- it upheld it's constitutional right to reclaim their property. For slaves- it upheld that they were property and escaping to the North, would not guarantee their freedom.

Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa, fourteenth century emperor of the Mali Empire, is the medieval African ruler most known to the world outside Africa. His elaborate pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in 1324 introduced him to rulers in the Middle East and in Europe. His leadership of Mali, which included all or parts of the modern nations of Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad, ensured decades of peace and prosperity in Western Africa.

Features of northern urban slavery

Many slaves living in cities worked as domestics, but others worked as blacksmiths, carpenters, shoemakers, bakers, or other tradespeople. Often, slaves were hired out by their masters, for a day or up to several years. Sometimes slaves were allowed to hire themselves out. Urban slaves had more freedom of movement than plantation slaves and generally had greater opportunities for learning. They also had increased contact with free black people, who often expanded their ways of thinking about slavery.

Kingdom of Ghana

More than 44 kings ruled Ghana by the year 300 A.D. It spanned a territory encompassing Mali, Guinea, the Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania. Ghanaians were agricultural and traditional people. Gold was the principal commodity. Expert skilled workers. in 1077 Kumbi, the capitol fell to Muslim invaders.

Nat Turner

Nat Turner was the leader of a violent slave rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in 1831. About 55 white men, women and children died during Turner's rebellion.While Turner hid away, white mobs took their revenge on the blacks of Southampton County. Approximately 100 to 200 African Americans were killed after the rebellion

Why African slaves?

Native Americans were the first to be enslaved. They were dying too quickly from diseases like smallpox, Had extensive knowledge of the lands, which made it easier for them to escape. Africans had extensive knowledge of agriculture. They were Immune to diseases Unfamiliar to the landscape so they couldn't escape

Middle Passage : How many?

No less than 12.5 million Africans were captured. Roughly 15% died during the Middle Passage. 11 million survived

Did racism lead to slavery?

No, racism was used to justify slavery

Slavery In Africa

Not a permanent condition. Work for a set amount of time. Slaves could buy freedom. Masters had obligations to protect slaves. Status did not extend to children. Could occupy positions of importance and power. Often had living standards similar to their master. African slavery was not the dehumanizing, brutal and endless condition it would become in the US.

Paddy Rollers

Organized groups of white men who monitored and enforced discipline upon black slaves in the antebellum U.S. southern states. Slave patrols' function was to police slaves, especially runaways and defiant slaves.

Race

Race is often conceptualized as genetic boundaries between groups of people. Different physical traits such as dark skin correlate to geographical location and not to genetic boundaries. The genetic variation between so-called different races is less than 0.5%.

What is African American Studies?

Resulted from the Civil Rights Movement "African American studies may be defined as a field of study that systematically treats the past and present experiences, characteristics, achievements, issues, and problems of Black citizens of the US who are of African origin and background" First formal academic program in Black Studies was established in 1968. Leaders and scholars come from- Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Black nationalist movements

The compromise of 1850

Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished.

Chattel Slavery

Slaves were actual property who could be bought, sold, traded or inherited.

Kingdom of Songhay

Sunni Ali conquered and incorporated most of the cities and kingdoms of the former Mali empire including Timbuktu and Jenne. These two cities were renowned educational centers. The University of Sankore was located in TImbuktu. Songhay became the most dominant and revered empire in West Africa. The establishment of schools, colleges, and universities and resurrection of Black learning were the significant contributions that the Songhay empire made to African peoples.

Dredd Scott Decision

The Court held that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, could not be American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court, and that the federal government had no power to regulate slavery in the federal territories acquired after the creation of the United States

Polygamy

The practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time.

Hominids

The term hominid refers to a member of the zoological family Hominidae. Hominidae encompasses all species originating after the human/African ape ancestral split, leading to and including all species of Australopithecus and Homo. While these species differ in many ways, hominids share a suite of characteristics that define them as a group. The most conspicuous of these traits is bipedal locomotion, or walking upright.

The Middle Passage

The time from when slaves were loaded on to ships until they arrived in the New World. On average it took 2 to 3 months to go from Africa's West Coast to Caribbean Islands. Slave ships are called Slavers Number of passengers depended on how tightly packed the captain wanted the ship. Enslaved peoples died of disease, malnutrition, depression and suicide. Resistance was common

Homo Habilis

This species, one of the earliest members of the genus Homo, has a slightly larger braincase and smaller face and teeth than in Australopithecus or older hominin species. But it still retains some ape-like features.

Role of Africans in the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Traded slaves for guns from Europeans Used guns to conduct more raids and start wars with neighboring groups to capture more slaves. Africans were reluctant to sell own people- except criminals.

Agricultural Revolution

a period of agricultural development between the 18th century and the end of the 19th century, which saw a massive and rapid increase in agricultural productivity and vast improvements in farm technology. Tools that helped included plows, drills, machines(combined harvester)

Hunting and gathering communities

any group of people that depends primarily on wild foods for subsistence. all peoples were hunters and gatherers. hunting or trapping big game, hunting or trapping smaller animals, fishing, gathering shellfish or insects, and gathering wild plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, tubers, seeds, and nuts.

Violent Resistance

black panthers

Prigg vs Pennsylvania

court held that the Federal Fugitive Slave Act precluded a Pennsylvania state law that prohibited blacks from being taken out of Pennsylvania into slavery, and overturned the conviction of Edward Prigg as a result.

Slave Codes

laws that defined the status of slaves By 1640- laws were put in place to prevent Black people from having guns and preventing conversion to Christianity. Under slave codes, being Christian no longer protected people of African descent from enslavement. By 1750- slavery was fully recognized and sanctioned in all American colonies.

Polyandry

polygamy in which a woman has more than one husband

Bacon's Rebellion

popular revolt in colonial Virginia in 1676, led by Nathaniel Bacon. High taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against special privileges given those close to the governor, Sir William Berkeley, provided the background for the uprising, which was precipitated by Berkeley's failure to defend the frontier against attacks by Native Americans

Slavers

ships that carried the slaves

The Myth of the Negro Past

study done by Melville Herskovits , which was a refutation of Frazier's thesis of the destruction of African American culture. It affirms African musical and cultural retentions by Black Americans in spite of slavery and the antebellum period.

Animism

the belief that all things have a spirit or soul, including animals, plants, rivers, mountains, stars, the moon, and the sun.Animists offer sacrifices, prayers, dances, or other forms of devotions to these spirits in hopes of blessing upon areas of life (crops, health, fertility, etc.) or for protection from harm. An example would be

What is racialism?

the belief that the human species is naturally divided into distinct biological categories called "races"

What is racism?

to think you are superior to another race.

Fredrick Douglas

was an eminent human rights leader in the anti-slavery movement and the first African-American citizen to hold a high U.S. government rank.

Olaudah Equiano

was born in what is now Nigeria. Kidnapped and sold into slavery in childhood, he was taken as a slave to the New World. As a slave to a captain in the Royal Navy, and later to a Quaker merchant, he eventually earned the price of his own freedom by careful trading and saving. As a seaman, he traveled the world. Coming to London, he became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade, an involvement which led to him writing and publishing "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African" (1789) a strongly abolitionist autobiography. The book became a bestseller and, as well as furthering the anti-slavery cause, made Equiano a wealthy man

Franklin Frazier

was especially productive and prolific in the sociological study of African American life, conditions, and experiences. He was an integrationist. He believed that blacks must fully and successfully adopt and practice White middle-class values and culture if the ultimate assimilation is ever to be achieved. His work contributed to the academic development of African American studies.