Unit 1 ORIGINS & ANCIENT AFRICA
Who founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and what was its main goal?
Carter G. Woodson; to promote the study and preservation of Black history
What was the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and what was its main purpose?
The forced transport of Africans to the Americas to provide enslaved labor
What was the purpose and significance of the 13th Amendment?
It abolished slavery in the United States (except as punishment for crime)
What was the significance of Brown v. Board of Education in U.S. history?
It ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional and ended legal school segregation
How did African American Studies challenge traditional historical narratives in U.S. colleges?
It centered Black experiences and corrected Eurocentric/limited versions of history by including Black voices and interdisciplinary analysis
What does “African diaspora” refer to, and what historical process caused it?
The global spread of African people, mainly due to the transatlantic slave trade and migration
How did slave codes affect the daily lives of enslaved Africans in the Americas?
They restricted movement, labor, behavior, and legal rights to maintain control
How did the 14th Amendment expand the definition of citizenship in the U.S.?
It granted citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection
What is civil disobedience, and how was it used in the Civil Rights Movement?
Nonviolent law breaking used to challenge unjust laws and segregation
What was the Harlem Renaissance?
A cultural movement celebrating Black art, music, and literature in the 1920s–1930s
What was the Black Campus Movement, and what did it demand?
Student-led protests demanding Black Studies programs and representation in universities
Why is the “Second Middle Passage” significant in understanding slavery in the U.S.?
It describes the forced internal slave trade that separated families and relocated enslaved people within the country
Why were Black Codes created after the Civil War, and what was their purpose?
To restrict African American freedom and maintain control over labor and movement
What role did SNCC play in the Civil Rights Movement?
It led student activism and grassroots organizing for civil rights
What was the Great Migration?
Movement of millions of African Americans from the South to the North and West for better opportunities
How did W.E.B. Du Bois contribute to the development of African American scholarship and civil rights?
He was the first Black Harvard PhD, studied Black history, and helped found the NAACP
How did Olaudah Equiano’s narrative contribute to the abolition movement?
It gave a firsthand account exposing the brutality of slavery and the slave trade
How did sharecropping continue economic inequality after slavery ended?
It trapped Black farmers in debt through unfair labor agreements
What was the main message of Malcolm X’s “Ballot or the Bullet” speech
African Americans should demand rights immediately through voting or stronger action
What is redlining?
A discriminatory practice that denied housing loans to Black families
Why did the meaning and use of the word “Black” change during the 1960s?
It shifted from negative meanings to a symbol of pride, identity, and resistance
How did enslaved Africans resist slavery beyond physical rebellion?
Through cultural preservation, escape, work slowdowns, and maintaining traditions
How did the end of Reconstruction lead to both legal and extra-legal systems that continued limiting African American political and economic power in the South?
It led to the rise of Jim Crow laws (legal segregation and voting restrictions like literacy tests and poll taxes) and racial violence (like lynching and intimidation), which together reversed many Reconstruction gains and maintained white supremacy.
Why were Black women’s roles in the Civil Rights Movement often overlooked, and what impact did they actually have?
They were underrecognized due to sexism, but they led major grassroots organizing and activism
How did civil rights activism expand beyond legal change into economic and social justice goals?
Through movements addressing housing, poverty, education, and grassroots organizing led by multiple groups including women and students