African Explorers in America (Lesson 2.1)

African Explorers in America (Lesson 2.1)

• Free and enslaved Africans traveled with European explorers to the Americas in the 16th century.
• These Africans, known as ladinos, were familiar with Iberian culture.
• Ladinos were part of a generation called Atlantic creoles, acting as intermediaries before widespread chattel slavery.
• Their knowledge of languages, cultures, and business practices gave them social mobility.
• Ladinos played a role in European powers' claims on Indigenous lands.
• Black involvement in colonization stemmed from Spain's early role in the slave trade.
• Africans participated in Spanish exploration groups, claiming land in La Florida (Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia).
• Africans held diverse roles in 16th-century American colonization, including conquistadors (seeking freedom), laborers in mining and agriculture, and free skilled workers.
• Juan Garrido, a conquistador from the Kingdom of Kongo, was the first known African to arrive in North America (Florida, 1513).
• Estevanico (Esteban), an enslaved African healer from Morocco, explored Texas and the Southwest (1528) and was killed by Indigenous groups.

Departure Zones in Africa & the Slave Trade (Lesson 2.2)

• More people came to the Americas from Africa than any other region in the 19th century due to the slave trade.
• Nearly half of Africans brought to the U.S. landed in Charleston, South Carolina.
• Portugal, Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands controlled the slave trade.
• Senegambia and Angola were the primary departure zones, each with about a quarter of the captives.
• Diverse West and Central African ethnic groups (Wolof, Akan, Igbo, Yoruba) formed African American communities.
• Muslim and Christian influences were present in regions that supplied a large proportion of enslaved people to the US.
• Cultural practices, languages, and beliefs varied widely across African American communities.

Freedom, Enslavement, and Resistance (Lesson 2.3)

• Africans were marched from inland areas to the Atlantic coast, then forced into crowded, unsanitary dungeons.
• The Middle Passage (across the Atlantic) lasted up to three months, causing immense suffering and death.
• 15% of captive Africans died during the Middle Passage.
• Africans faced beatings, torture, sexual assault, disease, and malnourishment on slave ships.
• Survivors were then quarantined, resold, and relocated in the Americas.
• The process often took years.
• European trade with Africa destabilized many African societies by introducing guns and leading to warfare, creating wealth for coastal areas and impoverishing inland regions.
• African societies suffered losses in their workforce, leaders, families, and cultural traditions.
• Enslaved Africans documented their experiences in slave narratives and poetry.
• Slave narratives served as historical accounts, literary works, and political texts, aiming to end slavery and advocate for inclusion.

Architecture and Iconography of a Slave Ship (Lesson 2.4)

• Slave ships maximized profit by carrying as many enslaved people as possible.
• Diagrams of slave ships often only showed half the actual passenger capacity.
• White and Black antislavery activists highlighted the inhumane conditions of slave ships to raise awareness.
• Black artists repurposed slave ship imagery to process trauma and honor ancestors.
• Over 12.5 million Africans were forced onto more than 36,000 voyages over 350 years.
• Enslavers commodified enslaved people, treating them as anonymous, homogenous, and replaceable commodities.
• Africans resisted deracination, commodification, and enslavement aboard ships by staging hunger strikes, jumping overboard, and revolting.
• Resistance made the slave trade more expensive and dangerous and led to changes in ship design.
• The 1839 Mende revolt aboard the Amistad, led by Sengbe Pieh (Joseph Cinque), resulted in the Supreme Court granting the captives their freedom.

Slave Auctions and the Domestic Slave Trade (Lesson 2.5)

• Enslavers used law and white supremacy to control enslaved people.
• Enslaved people who resisted sale at auction faced harsh punishments.
• African American writers used various genres (personal stories, poetry) to counter enslavers' claims and advance abolition.
• The U.S. government banned the transatlantic slave trade in 1808, leading to an increase in the domestic slave trade.
• This "Second Middle Passage" forcibly relocated enslaved African Americans from the upper South to the lower South (millions).
• The demand for laborers, particularly agricultural laborers, drove this migration.
• This was the largest forced migration in American history.

Labor, Culture, and Economy (Lesson 2.6)

• Enslaved people performed various tasks (domestic, agricultural, skilled) in urban and rural areas.
• Roles varied by enslaver preference.
• Some enslaved people were bound to institutions instead of individuals.
• Enslaved Africans brought valuable skills, including craft skills, agriculture, and medicinal practices.
• These skills were exploited by enslavers but were also used by enslaved people to survive, create culture, and build community.

Slavery and American Law (Lesson 2.7)

• The U.S. Constitution references slavery without using those terms (ex. Article 1 & 4), and the term "slave" first appears in the 13th Amendment.
• Slave codes defined chattel slavery as a race-based, inheritable, lifelong condition.
• Codes restricted freedom of movement, congregation, and weapon possession, and regulated clothing.
• Slave codes emerged throughout the Americas, including in French and Spanish colonies.
• Slave codes enforced racial divisions, restricting opportunities for Black people while providing opportunities for White people.
• Free states also had codes that limited opportunities for African Americans.
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) ruled that Black Americans were not citizens and could not sue.
• Reconstruction Amendments overturned the Dred Scott decision.

The Construction of Race & the Reproduction of Status (Lesson 2.8)

• Partus sequitur ventrem (17th-century law) defined a child's status based on the mother's status.
• This created hereditary racial slavery, ensuring enslaved status passed from enslaved mothers to their children.
• Partus invalidated Black claims to their children.
• Partus made childbirth and children a commodity.
• The concept of race is not based on clear biological distinctions, although phenotype contributes to racial identity.
• During slavery, racial categories were defined by law, regardless of phenotype or biology.
• The "one-drop rule" classified people with any African ancestry as Black.

Creating African American Culture (Lesson 2.9)

• African American art blended African, European, Indigenous influences.
• Art forms like pottery and quilts served as mediums for storytelling and memory.
• Music incorporated African rhythms, call-and-response, and biblical themes into Christian hymns.
• Musical elements from Senegambia influenced blues culture.
• Enslaved Africans developed creole languages like Gullah.
• Spirituals (sorrow songs, jubilee songs) expressed hardships and hopes of enslaved people, used for communication and resistance.

Black Pride, Identity, and the Question of Naming (Lesson 2.10)

• The U.S. banned international slave trading in 1808, altering the makeup of the African American population to more individuals born into slavery than those directly from Africa.
• Debates arose over the classification and naming of African Americans.
• The American Colonization Society advocated sending free Black people to Africa.
• African Americans rejected "African" to emphasize their American identity, and adopted names like Afro-American, African American, and Black.

The Stono Rebellion & Fort Mose (Lesson 2.11)

• St. Augustine (Florida) became the Americas’ longest continuously occupied settlement.
• Enslaved people in Georgia and the Carolinas sought refuge in Spanish Florida.
• Fort Mose was the first free Black town in the U.S., led by Francisco Menedez.
• The Stono Rebellion (1739), led by Jemmy, aimed to reach Spanish Florida for freedom.
• South Carolina passed strict slave laws following the rebellion.
• British forces destroyed Fort Mose.

Legacies of the Haitian Revolution (Lesson 2.12)

• The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) was the only successful enslaved revolt to overthrow a colonial government.
• It transformed Saint-Domingue into the independent nation of Haiti.
• High cost of the conflict to France led Napoleon to sell the Louisiana Territory to the U.S.
• U.S. used land for expanding slavery.
• The Haitian Revolution inspired other rebellions and movements for freedom throughout the African diaspora.
• The Revolution inspired anxieties about revolt in the U.S., leading to the Alien and Sedition Acts.

Resistance and Revolts in the United States (Lesson 2.13)

• Enslaved people resisted slavery through slowing work, breaking tools, stealing food, and attempting to escape.
• Religious services and churches provided community support and often facilitated resistance strategies (communication, organizing).
• Revolts were driven by a need to end ongoing suffering under slavery.
• The earliest known slave revolt in the U.S. occurred in 1526 (Santo Domingo).
• The German Coast Uprising (Louisiana Revolt of 1811), led by Charles Delondes, was one of the largest in U.S. history.
• The Creole mutiny (1841), led by Madison Washington, was an example of a revolt that resulted in freedom for many.
• Religion inspired resistance by many individuals.

Black Organizing in the North (Lesson 2.14)

• The free Black population grew in the U.S. in the 1700s and early 1800s.
• Free Black communities established mutual-aid societies, schools, businesses, and churches.
• Black women activists fought for both abolition and women's rights, anticipating key political debates in African American politics.
• Maria W. Stewart was an important activist who gave early public addresses.

Maroon Societies and Autonomous Black Communities (Lesson 2.15)

• Maroon communities formed across the African diaspora in remote areas to escape enslavers.
• Communities developed unique African-based languages and cultural practices.
• Maroon communities faced risks, but provided shelter and refuge for escaped enslaved.
• Examples include those in the Great Dismal Swamp and among Indigenous groups, palenques in Spanish-speaking regions and quilombos in Brazil.

Diasporic Connection: Slavery and Freedom in Brazil (Lesson 2.16)

• Brazil received more enslaved Africans than any other location in the Americas (around 5 million).
• Enslaved Africans worked in various industries (sugar, coffee, gold, cattle).
• African cultural traditions were preserved in Brazil, including capoeira and congada.
• Brazil abolished slavery by 1888.

African Americans in Indigenous Territory (Lesson 2.17)

• The Cherokee, Seminole, Chickasaw, Creek, and Choctaw tribes adopted slavery, often to assimilate with White Americans.
• The Indian Removal Act (1830) forced a land swap, leading to the Trail of Tears.
• The Seminole tribe had a more complex relationship with Black communities, offering protection and refuge, sometimes adopting them as kin.
• The Seminoles resisted relocation violently (Second Seminole War, 1835-1842). Black Seminoles allied with the Seminole tribe to fight against relocation.
• After the Trail of Tears, slavery became more rigid in other Indigenous nations.

Debates About Emigration, Colonization, and Belonging in America (Lesson 2.18)

• The American Colonization Society (ACS) aimed to send free Black people to Africa.
• Emigrationists sought new homes in Haiti, West Africa, and Latin America.
• The ACS created Liberia in 1821, but it was not always successful or welcomed.
• Many abolitionists and African Americans thought emigration was a problematic solution.
• African Americans wanted full citizenship and equality in America.
• Fugitive Slave Acts increased the risk for those escaping slavery, leading some to seek refuge in England and Ireland.

Black Political Thought & Radical Resistance (Lesson 2.19)

• Radical activists advocated for the overthrow of slavery through direct action (violence in some cases).
• Radical activists rejected the strategy of moral suasion.
• Published accounts aimed to motivate resistance through violence and advance abolition.
• There is a long history of Black writers and activists challenging the idea of American ideals (being based on a lie, the freedom of enslaved people).

Legacies of Resistance in African American Art & Photography (Lesson 2.21)

• Photography was a tool for African American leaders to counter stereotypes.
• Sojourner Truth used photography to document her activism and raise funds for her cause.
• Photos of formerly enslaved African Americans demonstrated Black achievement and potential.
• Contemporary Black artists continue to build on Black aesthetic traditions, incorporating historical and gender perspectives.

Gender and Resistance in Slave Narratives (Lesson 2.22)

• Sexual violence against enslaved women was common.
• Enslavers defended this violence through harmful stereotypes.
• Enslaved women resisted in various ways, including fighting back, using traditional knowledge in herbal remedies.
• Infanticide and other means were used as a method of resistance against enslavers.
• Slave narratives by enslaved women reflected relevant gender norms, focusing on domesticity, family, and the constant vulnerability to sexual abuse.
• Slave narratives by men emphasized manhood and autonomy.

The Civil War & Black Communities (Lesson 2.23)

• Thousands of free and enslaved African Americans joined the Union Army.
• Black soldiers served in unequal conditions but expressed pride in serving the Union and ending slavery.
• Anti-Black violence during and after the Civil War targeted Black soldiers and citizens.
• Irish immigrants sometimes rioted against Black communities during the war..

Freedom Days: Commemorating the Ongoing Struggle for Freedom (Lesson 2.24)

• The Emancipation Proclamation (1863) freed enslaved people in 11 Confederate states.
• Legal enslavement ended with the 13th Amendment in 1865.
• Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved people in Texas learned of their freedom.
• Juneteenth recognizes the long struggle for freedom and continues to be celebrated today.