Roles/Contributions
What export did many African women contribute to their economy?
What is Agriculture?
On the West African coast, women often wore gri-gris and later fetiches (amulets), practices that blended spirituality with daily life. Which expanding religion influenced the use of fetiches?
What is Islam?
Women helped keep this alive by sharing stories, running markets, and leading rituals.
What is culture?
The agricultural work that women did was depended on by members of society. Many women who became enslaved worried about what their absence from this work would mean. Name one thing that their absence might cause/affect:
What is?
Children would not be fed
Agricultural exports, that were vital to their society’s economy, would drop
On the Gold Coast, women ran the evening markets where “wares, gossip, food, and friendship” was shared. What was one thing Wilhelm Muller described about these markets that highlighted the community present?
What is?
“They strengthen their memories"…
"Repeat old stories"
"Young people and children listen...with avid ears and absorb it in their hearts.”
Europeans believed African women were “naturally” suited to endure pain and childbirth, while in Africa women’s childbirth practices often included rituals and abstinence. What stereotype did Europeans impose?
What is that childbirth came easily and naturally to African women?
This African region’s communities relied on waterways for both transport and food, where women were equally responsible for managing canoes and agricultural work.
What is the Upper Guinea Coast?
After pregnancy, many African couples practiced abstinence which could last up to a year. What did this practice help ensure for families?
What is?
Child living past infancy
Spacing between children
According to Morgan, the trauma of enslavement reshaped women’s roles, which cut them off from networks of memory and tradition. What effect did slavery have on women's identities?
What is?
Slavery disrupted family/community roles
Redefined women's identities through forced labor/separation