History
When did the Transatlantic Slave Trade end in the United States?
1808
This author wrote an autobiography, detailing his life prior to, during, and after he is shipped to the Caribbean and sold into slavery, becoming a major figure in British abolitionism and whose work helped secure passage of the British Slave Trade Act 1807, which abolished the slave trade in Britain.
Olaudah Equiano
What was the name of the first known African American literature?
Bars Fight- Lucy Terry, 1773
This cultural movement was characterized African-American intellectualism and creative expression through music, dance, art, literature, theater, politics, and scholarship, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. Though this movement encompassed African-Americans in multiple urban areas in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, it originated from and primarily centered New York City.
The Harlem Renaissance
What is the name for the genre of literature written by fugitive or former enslaved Black people?
Slave narrative
How long did the US Civil War last for?
5 years (1861-1865)
Who was the first published African American poet in the U.S.?
Phillis Wheatley
What was the name of the first African American work of fiction that was published in the U.S.?
Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black- Harriet E. Wilson (1859)
The African-American-led art movement created mew cultural institutions and conveyed a message of Black pride, expanding from the accomplishments of the Harlem Renaissance and aligning with the goals and aesthetics of the Civil Rights Movement/Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.
Black Arts Movement (BAM)
W.E.B. du Bois' 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches is considered a cornerstone work in what field?
Sociology
This period of time after the Civil War is characterized by the legal, social, and political challenges of the abolition of slavery, the addition of three amendments to the US Constitution to grant citizenship and equal civil rights to newly freed slaves, and attempts by former Confederate states to impose poll taxes and literacy tests to intimidate and prevent African Americans in the South from voting.
Reconstruction Era
This author is a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. Though mainly known for his poetry, he was also a noted playwright, short story writer, novelist, and non-fiction writer. From 1942 to 1962, as the Civil Rights Movement picked up, he also wrote an in-depth weekly opinion column in a leading Black newspaper, The Chicago Defender.
Langston Hughes
This is the first of three autobiographies written by a famed abolitionist and former slave during his time in Lynn, Massachusetts. It became a bestseller and was influential in promoting the cause of abolition.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave- Frederick Douglass, 1845
When did the Civil Rights Movement begin?
1954
When did jazz poetry begin gaining popularity in the US?
After World War II
This holiday commemorates the day that enslaved Black people in Texas were informed of the enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, almost a month after the Civil War had ended, marking the end of slavery in the United States.
Juneteenth (June 19th)
This author is considered a pillar in Black feminist theory whose work is critically acclaimed for addressing the harsh consequences of racism in the United States and the Black American experience. The first Black editor for Fiction at Random House, Monmouth University has celebrated her life and legacy every February for the past seven years.
Toni Morrison
Maya Angelou, who was known for her chronological autobiographical series, wrote her first memoir detailing her life up to 1944, when she was aged 17.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (1969)
This cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. it addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning Black futures that stem from Afro-diasporic experiences.
Afrofuturism
Which celebrity has helped promote African-American literature through her eponymous book club?
Oprah Winfrey (Oprah's Book Club)
Which Supreme Court ruling resulted in the desegregation of the US public school system?
Brown v Board of Education
This author and civil rights activist has garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. An influential figure and orator, his 1953 novel Go Tell It On the Mountain has been ranked by Time Magazine as one of the top 100 English-language novels.
James Baldwin
In 1982, Alice Walker became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for this novel.
The Color Purple (1982)
During the Reconstruction Era, and later the Great Migration, what type of weekly or monthly media was made specifically with an African-American audience in mind?
Newspapers (the Black press)
Where does Walter Mosley mainly set his best-selling historical mysteries featuring private investigator Easy Rawlins?
The Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California