Black Intellectuals & Origins
Known as the "Father of Black History," he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 and established Negro History Week in 1926.
Who is Carter G. Woodson?
This expansive grassland zone in Africa served as a critical trade route connecting sub-Saharan region to the north.
What is the Savanna?
Located in the Nile Valley, this kingdom (also called Nubia) was both a rival and closely interconnected neighbor to ancient Egypt.
What is Kush?
Trans-Saharan trade networks across West Africa were primarily driven by the exchange of these two valuable commodities.
What are Gold and Salt?
Famous West African city that became a global center of Islamic scholarship, manuscript production, and higher learning.
What is Timbuktu?
This Black intellectual pioneered sociological research on Black life and argued that Black history was central to understanding global democracy and human rights.
Who is W.E.B. Du Bois?
This semi-arid transition zone connects the Sahara Desert to the Savanna grasslands.
What is the Sahel?
Ancient West African culture famous for its early ironworking techniques and distinctive terracotta sculptures.
What is the Nok culture?
This early West African empire built its initial power on a strict monopoly of the gold trade.
What is Ghana?
These West African oral historians, musicians, and advisors preserved genealogies, history, and cultural heritage through song and storytelling.
What are Griots (or Jalis)?
Occurring between 1965 and 1972, this movement driven by student activism led to the formal incorporation of African American Studies into higher education.
What is the Black Campus Movement?
Starting around 1500 BCE, this major movement reshaped the demography, languages, and technologies of Sub-Saharan Africa.
What is the Bantu Expansion?
The female rulers of Meroë in the Kingdom of Kush were known by this title.
What is Candace (or Kentake)?
Famous ruler of Mali whose 1324 pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca demonstrated the empire’s vast wealth to Europe and the Middle East.
Who is Mansa Musa?
Located in Timbuktu, this major educational institution hosted extensive manuscript libraries and scholars from across the Islamic world.
What is the University of Sankore?
The primary reason AP African American Studies starts with early African history is to challenge this type of narrative that Black history began with enslavement.
What is a Eurocentric narrative?
Pioneered early in West Africa by groups like the Nok culture, this key technology allowed for superior agricultural tools and defense.
What is ironworking (or metallurgy)?
Under King Ezana in the 4th century CE, this Red Sea empire adopted Christianity as its state religion and minted gold and silver coins.
What is Aksum (or Axum)?
Rising to power in the 15th century under Sunni Ali and Askia Muhammad, this became the largest of the West African Sudanic empires.
What is Songhai?
This famous 1375 European map visually depicted Mansa Musa holding a gold coin, illustrating West Africa's wealth to Europe.
What is the Catalan Atlas?
African American Studies is defined as this type of academic field that analyzes the history, culture, and contributions of people of African descent.
What is an interdisciplinary field?
These four major river systems served as high-volume trade and transit corridors across the African continent.
What are the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi (or Senegal) Rivers?
These massive stone obelisks were built by the Aksum Empire to serve as royal burial markers.
What are stelae?
He founded the Mali Empire prior to its expansion under Mansa Musa.
Who is Sundiata Keita?
Written script developed by the Empire of Aksum in Horn of Africa.
What is Ge'ez?