unit africa english

8/12/2019 Unit Africa English

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/unit-africa-english 1/16

Africaq Influence in the Americas--six key conceptsI

ffieligioru

West Africans developed complex religions based on oral tradition, ancestor

worship, musical rituals, and spirit possession by a variety of gods. Islam, a

very different faith based on one god and a holy book, was introduced byArab invasions in 1050, Both were well established in West Africa when

European contacts began in the 1400s.

mu,slc

The Yoruba-speaking people of today's Nigeria created a sacred music

tradition using drums and call-and-response singing. Subtly shiftingp atterns, polythythms (different rhythms overlapping and synchroni zng)and melodic conversations between the three drums are highlydeveloped in this tradition.

Ef,*fi+

^*EHslave trade

The Atlantic slave trade, begun in 1505,became

bigbusiness. by the

1600s. Europeans armed self-serving African kings, who were able toprovide very large numbers of captives for sale as slaves. People were held

in grim coastal forts, then loaded onto filthy, crowded ships where one inten perished. The trade was outlawed by the major European powers by1815.

M{conomicpresence

European colonialists introduced modern plantations producing a singlecrop for export. Enslaved Africans cultivated the crops, loaded the boats,

and worked in the skilled trades. These ten million Africans and their

descendants created the agricultural wealth of the Americas. Today the100 million persons of African descent in our hemisphere participate inevery kind of work, but are largely excluded from economic power anddecision-making positions.

ffiU

culrural

survival &innovation

The influence of African culture is widespread in the Americas. A dramaticexample is the survival of the West African religions in modem practicessuch as Cuban Santeria and HaitiarrVodun (Voodoo). The sacred drumsalso inspired Camaval and party rhythms --the salsa, samba, and hip-hop oftoday. African influences are also widespread in language and folklore.

ffifreedomstruggle

Africans resisted slavery fiercely. The island colonies experiencedperiodic and bloody slave revolts, some of which won limited goals. Thegreatest of these rebellions was that of Haiti, declared a free republic in1804. Escaped Blacks built hundreds of small communities in the bush,while untold others committed daily acts of defiance'

p. pasmanick @Lss4



Aspects of culture: religion

When Portuguese traders first reached West Africa tn 14L5,

the region already had a rich religious and artistic heritage.

The holy city of Ife (in present-day Nigeria) was at its height,

producing fine sculpture, while the new city of Benin,

founded in 1350, was already creating its remarkable

metalwork.

West Africa was a huge and complex area of rival kingdoms

and hundreds of tribes. Native religions varied greatly, yetshared certain basic beliefs in common: ancestor worship,

use of song, drums and dancing in religious ritual, and the

possession of the worshipper by the god. Their deities are

often variants of the Yoruba pantheor , & family of mythic

figures like the Greek or Viking gods. Some of these

religions used pictographic writing to record theirphiliosophy.

Conquering Moslem Berber tribes began introducing Islam

to West Africa around 1050. Islam remained a powerful

force even when indigenous kingdoms such as the Songhai

regained political confrol from the Arabs. Islam was, and is,

a monotheistic (one God) religion with its own holy book

and an austere and disciplined lifestyle.

Christianity, present in North Africa from its earliest years,

was a tradttional religion only in Ethiopia. Ethiopia also had

Black Jews (Falashim). Neither religion was to be a major

factor in West Africa until this century, when Christian

missionary schools became widespread'p.pasmanick@ 1ee4



The musical genius ofWest Africa

Of the many African musical forms, one of the most excitingand long-lasting has been the rhythms of the batd,two-headed drums played in Yoruba religious ceremonies.

The batd rhythms are extremely complex, demanding solidrhythm, fierce concentration, and an excellent memory to

keep track of the patterns which change many times for each

aspect of each deity.

Batd music is pglytythmic because it can be played and feltin 414 or 6/8 time. The dynamic relationship between four

and six provides rhythmic excitement and may contribute to

the trance state desired by the worshippers.

The songs are prayers or hymns to the orishas, the deities of

the Yoruba pantheon, such as E1egu6, keeper of thecrossroads and Ochfn, goddess of love and rivers. Intricate

dances ate a key part of the orisha ceremonies.

The overall result is a compelling, challenging music that

can stand on its own terms with the great religious musical

traditions of humanity, and which gave rise to the brilliantmusical innovations of people of African descent in the

Americas.

P. Pasmanick @ 1994



ffi [f, Slave forts and the fMiddle Passage'

As the colonies expanded and demand for slaves grew in

the Americas, slavers developed commercial relations withpowerful local kingdoffis, well-armed with Europeanmuskets, who could supply their war captives as slaves. TheAtlantic slave frade became big business.

Dozens of forts were hurriedly constructed by variouscountries to handle the gteater numbers of new slavesawaiting shipment. These forts were often built near major

rivers which offered easier access to the interior of thecontinent. A surviving fort, Elmina on the Gold Coast, justwest of present day Accra, typifies the repellant dungeonsthat held millions of Africans as they awaited the ships.

The Atlantic crossing, known as the middle passage,claimed the lives of many captive Africans--typically l}voof the cargo. While most deaths were due to the filthy and

overcrowded conditions, many Africans perished indesperate shipboard revolts; others threw themselves overthe side or starved rather than submit to slavery.

The Atlantic slave trade, while lucrative, was very risky. Itwas also under increasing politcal and moral pressure. By1815 the major European slaving countries had outlawedthe trade, but continued to practice slavery andslave-smuggling for decades more.

P. Pasmanick @ 1994



Economic impact ofAfricans in the Americas.

Sparylh colonists began importingAfrican slaves as earlyas 1505. Disappointed by meager gold production, tG

spanish introduced sugar cane. By 1650,-suga.r productsbecame a very profitable business. portuguese gra ztl, andlater the island colonies of England, Holland, and France,competed with the Spain to dominate the sugar frade. Allof these countries imported slaves, and people of Afri candescent soon greatly outnumbered the Europeans.

Laboring on plantations raising sugar cane, coffee, cotton,or rice for export, Africans, first as slaves and later aswage laborers, produced the wealth that made thedevelopment of the Americas possible. Black workersquickly turned their talents to skilled trades such ascarpentry, metal work, teachin g, rctailing, and all of themany jobs that plantation society needed to survive andprosper.

As these societies grew more complex, people of mixedAfrican and European descent, often called mulattos orcreoles, formed a social group that in some countriesbecame wealthy and powerful.

The 100 million people of African descent living in theAmericas today participate in every sort of economic

activity. But they are not well represented among thosehaving the greatest responsibility and power. Despite theiressential contribution to the economy of the hemisphere,they have yet to attarn economic justice.

P. Pasmanick @ 1994



Afro-caribbean freedom struggles

Throughout world history, people have bravely defied

cruelest and strongest of enemies, and the Africans ofCaribbean were relentless in their resistance to slavery.

Africans fought to avoid capture. They fought on the slaveships. A successful shipboard revolt was led by Cinque in Mayof 1839, and Cinque and his companions were eventually ableto return to Africa.

Thebeautiful islands of the Caribbean were the scene of bloodyrevolts. Takey of Antigua (1,736), Cudjoe of Jamaica (1739),

Fedon of Grenada (1797) and Bussa of Barbados (1816) are justa few of the fighters who struck back against the slave system.

Escaped slaves known as marrones or maroons formedhundreds of communities throughout the Americas. The largestwas Palmares, in Pernambuco, Brazrl, which had a populationof 20,000 by 1690. Other marrones ended up mixing withisolated indigenous (Indian) communities, as in the case of theBlack Caribs of Saint Vincent and the Seminoles of Florida.

The supreme example of African resistance began in August1791 with the rebellion of the Haitians. Led first by Boukmanand later by the remarkable Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Blackpopulation of Haiti seized the coutrtry, abolished slavory, and

formed the first Caribbean republic in 1804. Whether engaged

in nation-building or in individual acts of defiance andsabotage, the African peoples of the Americas maintained a

commitment to freedom and dignity that all humanity can be

proud of.

the

the

P. Pasmanick @ 1994



Name and date

label FloridaCuba HaitiJamaica

Puerto Rico& others;

notelanguage

religionsmusic

export crops

show wherepeople ofAfricandescent are

mostnumerous

show majorriver systems

draw traderoutes

labelterritory ofYorubas

Senegalese

Kongos

identifv

-

countries

and languages

spoken there

Use these maps to show what you know about the African presence inthe Caribbean. Write in the margins, or attach another sieet. (Jse thesidebar phrases to get you thinkiig--you are not expected to answereverything.

Central America and the Caribbean

Use the timelines and the main ideas sheet to show what else you know.

P. Pasmanick @1994



Name and date

.IVrite a few sentences about these aspects of African history.

.Try to show your understanding of where each aspects fits inthe 'tbig picture'r of how people came to the Americas..If you prefer, discuss several aspects in more depth..fJse lined paper if you prefer.

ffiAfricanreligioru

@mtuicand art

[f,ld'+

-HEKslave trade

fi,{*ffiJ,\\+e.-economicpresence

FR

Vculruralsurvival &innovation

freedomstruggle

P. Pasmanick @1994



Name and dato

Use these three blank timelines to show what you know about the historyAfrican presence in the Americas Choose a few important events for eathem more or less correctly by date

worldevents

firise andfall ofAtlantb slove trade



Htd+

^HHKslave trade

Fig. 8. Destinations of the Atlantic slave trade, 1451-f600. Fig. by UW Cartographic Lab' Data from Table 33'

Fig. 9. Destinatiors of the Atlantic slave trade, 1601-1700. Fig. by UW Cartographic Lab. Data from Table 84.

Atlantic Slave Trade, The-A Cerrsus

Philip D. CurtainUniv-ersity of Wisconsin Pness ldadison 1969



Htd+

trade

Fig' 14' Destinations of the Atlantic slave trade, 1701-1810. Fig. by uw cartographic Lab. Data from Table 65.

Fig' 17' Destinations of the Atlantic slave kade, l81l-70. Fig. by uW Cartographic Lab. Data from Table 6iI.

Atlantic Slave Trade, Th ; C.ensusPhilip D. CurrainUniversity of Wisconsin hess }vladison 1969



COMPARISONS WITH TATIN AMERICA

Slavery in Spanish and Pornrguese colonies was regulated by a code of laws that stretched back to Roman traditions and hadbeen- influenced by Church jurists. Instead of allowing considerable local autonomy, as the British did, the lberian crownsregulated overseas affairs with a paternal hand. Slaves were numbered among the monarch's subjects, not si,npfv

o..ia ..Aropeny.to be disposed of as the owner'wished. The Church, accepting slavery as a labor system, zealously e*drJisea trei,ofas guardian of public morals to insure that slaves were treated ai truman beings. Not oniy was missioniry actirity inlnse,but human rights were upheld.

As a result, white women on the northern continent weremore influential within the social structure, and thus in a

position to prevent widespread miscegenation. In Brazil,more European men had children by female slaves, and weremore ready to acknowledge their offspring. Ultimately, it ishard to gauge how frequently the mixture ofraces occurredin the United States hcause of the social sanctions against it.Another difference between the American continents wasthat in the United States, despite notable exceptions,slaves were largely confined to agricultural labor, while inLatin America they were needed in skilled trades. In thenorth, these trades were mostly filled by whites and oftenrigidly segregated to preclude comperition, a practice thatw-orsened as abolition gained ground and after the collapseof Reconstruction.

The Caribbean

Scholars are intrigued by the geat dispariry between slaveryon the English islands of the Caribbean and slavery in thLEnglish provinces of the North American maintand. Carib_bean slavery, after the discovery ofthe value ofsugar around1650, became one of the most brutal systems of servitudeknown to history. The death rate of blacks was enorrnous, asthe grossest and most avaricious of Englishmen were at-tracted to the quick wealth and wild living style the islandsthen offered. By 1680, almosr all the 40,000 slaves inBarbados worked for some I 75 planten, and by 1700, in theWest Indies, six major islands held some 270,000 blackslaves under the control ofa few hundred whites.

Wherever possible these overcrowded warrens spurredrevolt. In Jamaica alone, there were six major uprisingsbetween 1650 and 1700.

Of the English mainland colonies, South Carolina appeanto have been closest in economy and style to Barbadoi andJamaica. By 1700, as rice became an important crop andadventurers moved from the West Indies to develop it, blackscomprised a majority of the population.

Slavery, of course, developed differently over time andspace, a fact often overlooked in the passions with which the peculiar institution has been attacked and defended. Forexample, in Virginia in the seventeenth century, slaverydeveloped slowly, whites consistently outnumbring blacksby 6 and 7 to l. White slaveholders often worked besideblacks and encouraged their mastery of trades to bettercontribute to the self-sufficient life sryle then prized inVirginia. However, skilled slaves were the most rcbellious,the most able to plot, forage, and escape successfully, a factorthat contributed to restrictions on the trades blacks couldpursue and to limitations on manumission and the liberties offree blacks. It was these mobile blacks who stunnedVirginia with the skill and intensity of the planned prosser

uprising of 1800.

Many historians argue that the Latin American system wasfar more humane than that of the British colonies. While

North American slaves were rarely given their freedom,manumission was a common practice in Latin countries,favored by both law and social approval. While NorthAmerican jurists ruled that preventing the separate sale offamily members would tamper with owne rs property rights-putting property higher than slave marriage-the SouthAmerican church insisted that slave unions be sacramental-ized, and Latin law forbade the separate sale of husband,wife, and children under the age of 10. While North Ameri-can courts refrained from interfering in the master's nearlyabsolute power over his slaves, South American justice tookan active role. Slave crimes were prosecuted in court, and ifa slave was murdered the case was often tried as if the victim

had been a free citizen. Mistreatment could not only cost themaster fines but win freedom for the slave. Finally, SouthAmerican slaves could own property and were guaranteedtimes in which they could work for themselves.

In retrospect, North American slaves were consistentlyregarded as objects, with both laws and customs pushingthem deeper and deeper into the role of thing, whereaiSouth American societies made some effort to protect theslave's humanity.

The conclusion that l-atin American slavery was morehumane has been disputed, however. Certain historianspoint to the fact that in Brazil, the largest importer of slavesto the south, the death rate was much higher than in theUnited States, as were suicides, and that there was also

intense dehumanization, many slaves be ing forced by ownersto wear masks, a practice rare in the United States. Thesehistorians also cite the frequency of L,atin American slaveresistance, which sometimes took the form of wholesaleinsurrections. In the 1550s, forexample, there were frequentoutbreaks of violence in Cartagena (Colombia). During theseventeenth century, similar upheavals occurred in Bahiaand Rio de Janeiro, despite the fact that blacks in these areas

enjoyed a relative measure of well-being at that time. It maybe suggested in reply that greaterwell-being, and the sharpersense of human rights it gave to the slaves, would encouragerebellion, whereas slaves who were absolutely suppressed

would be unlikely to revolt.

One factor enhancing Brazil's reputation for humane

slavery was the emergence of a mulatto class which, afteremancipation, rose to a respectable and fairly secure placein Brazilian society, while in the United States mulattoeswere defined out of the white world as bearers of blackblood. A major cause of this exclusion was that blacks werealways aminority in the English mainland colsnis5-nsys1more than 2O7o of the overall population of what was tobecome the United States-while in Brazil, Europeans(especially European women) were always in the minority.

Negro Almanac, The. 5th editionIJarry A . Ploski andJames WilliamsGale Research, Deroit l9g9



Af,riconreligioru

Nsibidi and AnaforunnaIdeographic Writing Systems

-Nsibidi symbolize ideas on several levels of discourse. First, there

were signs most people knew, regardless of initiation or of rank in

the Ngbe Society, signs representing human relationships, commu-

nication, and household obiects (which themselves were in some

instances used as material-ideographs):38

wor'd, spccch meeting, oongres:

:,x++*@@minor, looting4lass:

911 ryDmF'# @tablc sA for drint and meat:

o y e 3 f U l lit ee yd1 En .6-v .r& AEeL iolmcy, voyaging, bacls:

AfroCuban men, who were able to scale down ceremonial drums to

equivalent obiects only inches high when occasions for disembling

their religion through miniaturization arose, were indeed the

spiritual descendants of men and women who could coniure love

within enlacements, separate and drive a wedge between curves to

indicate divorce or hate, and let a simple small cross, symbolizing theintersection of two points of view, multiply, in intensity of exposi-

tion, until it came to designate a congress or a full+cale meeting. As

the signs prolifented in all their variations, they came to resemble

a rast musical score.

- Secondly, t}ere were serious signs of danger and extremity, the dark signs, and these were often literally shaded:3e

rVT=ead body nsiEidi mirror 'all this country belongs to me r'prevant danger

r & J-*copard slcin Lillcr's svord death of a friend f,og your son spcar point

*,?+){.an being floggcd murder wcapon murdcter's machctc murdcrcr detaincd

Flash of the spirit- Aaican andAfrican American ArtandPhilosophy

RobertI{anis Flercher

Random House,I'IY 1983



ffiReligiorx

Ideographs of the Edo speakers (Benin City)

ighi-gag, that divides the

day, is a simple cross design

with circles. Is meaning: are

many: the transmission ofmess:rges to and from the

other world, sharing offood

among the deities, dlocation

ofritud time, detection ofphysicd ailmenr, and the

division of earttrly and

spiritual realms.

Some say dgrin descended

from heaven to earth on a

chain. The spears, swords,

and artows indicate his

abiliry to open the Path

or clear the road

Divine Inspirarion-From Benin to BahlaPhyllis GalindoUniversity of New Mexico Pless, Albuquoque 1993

The diamond pattern of

beaury and the domed fan are

for Ol6kin, god of harmony,

wealth and children. The

lighming &ns and bow and

anow suggesr E irrg6 flsago),

deiry of thunder.

The large circle represenc

Ori obu , the creator, while

the perpendicular line ending

in rwo circles suggess man's

inability to thwan God's

power. Ogur, deiry ofmetal

and war, is represented bv

three spears, ana 6totun is

depicted as the large fuh.



Bibiliography

The African-A NovelHarold CourlanderHenry Holt, NY 1967

The Atlantic Slave Trade-A CensusPhilip D. CurainUniversity of Wisconsin Press Madison 1969

Divine Horesemen-The Voodoo Gods of HaitiMayaDerenDell Publishing, NY 1970

Divine Inspiration--From Benin to BatriaPhyllis GalindoUniversity of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque 1993

Flash of the Spirit- African and African American Art and PhilosophyRobert Harris FlercherRandom House, NY 1983

Historia General de Puerto RicoFernando Pic6Ediciones Huracdn, PR 1986

The Making of the African Diaspora in the Americas, l44l-l9O0YincentBakpea Thompson7

Many Thousands Gone-African Americans from Slavery to FreedomVirginiaHamiltonAlfred A. Ikropf,I.If 1993

The Mddle Passage

Herbert S. Klein

Princeton University Press 1978

My Name is Not AngelicaScott O'dellDell Yearling Book I{Y 1989

The Negro Almanac, 5th editionHarry A. Ploski and James WilliamsGale Research, Detroit 1989

Slave Ships and SlavingGeorge Francis DowKennicat Press, Pr Wash. NY 1927

The Slaves

Susanne VerefiG.P. Putnam's sons I.IY 1978

Uncommon MarketTheEd. Henry A. Gemery and Jan S. HogendornAcademic Press, l.IY 1979

unit africa english

Documents