Foundations of African American Studies
What movement in the 1960s and 1970s led to the creation of African American Studies programs in U.S. colleges?
The Black Campus Movement
Name one of Africa’s five major climate zones.
Desert, semiarid (Sahel), savannah, tropical rainforest, or Mediterranean
Name one of the three Sudanic (Sahelian) empires.
Ghana, Mali, or Songhai
What is the name for West African storytellers and oral historians?
Griots
Which queen of Ndongo and Matamba fought Portuguese colonization for over 30 years?
Queen Njinga
What was the first college to establish a Black Studies department?
San Francisco State College (1968)
What major migration spread languages and technologies across Africa between 1500 BCE–500 CE?
The Bantu expansion
Which ruler of Mali became famous for his wealth and pilgrimage to Mecca?
Mansa Musa
The oshe Shango ceremonial wand is associated with which West African people?
The Yoruba
What Queen Mother of Benin became a symbol of Black women’s leadership and was represented on an ivory mask?
Queen Idia
African American Studies is an __________ field that examines history, culture, and contributions of people of African descent.
Interdisciplinary
What are two major rivers that supported settlement and trade in early Africa?
Examples: Nile, Niger, Congo, Zambezi, Orange
What type of commerce connected West Africa with North Africa and Europe?
Trans-Saharan trade
What does the Nok civilization’s terracotta sculpture reveal about early African societies?
They were complex, artistic, and technologically advanced.
Which West Central African kingdom voluntarily converted to Christianity in 1491?
The Kingdom of Kongo
Name one way African American Studies connects early African history to African American identity today.
It shows how early African societies shaped modern diasporic culture and identity.
How did Africa’s geography influence trade and settlement?
Rivers, fertile land, and trade routes linked diverse societies and cultures.
What city in Mali became a major center for learning, trade, and scholarship?
Timbuktu
What term describes the blending of African spiritual practices with Islam and Christianity?
Syncretism
What does the painting Chafariz d’El-Rey illustrate about Africans in Europe during the 1500s?
Africans held diverse roles, from nobles to laborers, in European cities like Lisbon.
What three types of sources do students analyze in African American Studies to understand perspectives and context?
Historical, artistic, and literary sources
What does the word “diaspora” mean in the context of this unit?
The dispersion of people of African descent across regions and continents
How did Portuguese exploration affect the Songhai Empire?
Trade routes shifted from trans-Saharan to Atlantic routes, weakening Songhai
What 2020 artwork by Harmonia Rosales reimagines African cosmology through a Renaissance lens?
Oya’s Betrayal
What does the endurance of African cultural traditions across the Atlantic demonstrate about African-descended peoples?
Resistance, resilience, and cultural continuity