African American Studies

African American Studies

Examine African culture and narratives leading up to the slave trade (e.g., Mansa Musa, slavery in Africa) and the influence of African culture in the social, political, and economic development of slavery in the United States for both the enslaved and the colonists.

Analyze the justifications and ramifications of slavery between 1619 and 1860.

Differentiate between African American life and cultural contributions through 1860.

Evaluate the roles of African Americans during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Analyze the rise of Jim Crow and its effects on the life experiences of African Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Trace the cultural contributions made by African Americans to the arts post- Reconstruction.

Analyze the conditions and contributions of African Americans during the Great Depression and World War II.

Analyze the successes and challenges of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

Debate the issues confronting contemporary African Americans in the continuing struggle for equality.

Analyze the geographical, historical, economic, cultural, political, and scientific life of African people prior to European exploration.

Analyze the economic, political, geographical, and social reasons for focusing the slave trade on Africa (e.g., the role of Africans, Europeans, colonists, etc.).

Assess the role of geography on the growth and development of slavery.

Analyze the economic and cultural impact of the slave trade on Africa and the colonies.

Identify and explain the Middle Passage as one of the largest forced migrations in human history.

Analyze the economic, social, religious, and legal justifications for the establishment and continuation of slavery (e.g., 3/5th Compromise, Fugitive Slave Act, Dred Scott, etc.).

Identify and evaluate the various ways Africans in Americas resisted slavery (e.g., Haitian Revolution, Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Prosser, etc.).

Analyze the role slavery played in the development of nationalism and sectionalism (e.g., Bleeding Kansas, proslavery vs. anti-slavery debate, etc.).

Assess the development of the abolitionist movement and its impact on slavery and the nation (e.g., John Brown and the raid on Harper's Ferry, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, David Walker, Maria Stewart, etc.).

Compare and contrast African American urban and rural communities in the North and the South.

Analyze the African American family in antebellum America.

Trace the development of African American institutions, including religion, education, and benevolent organizations and possible constraints against their development (e.g., AME Church in Philadelphia and other "Invisible Churches," Prince Hall Masons, etc.).

Identify and explain the contributions of African Americans in science and the arts (e.g., George Washington Carver, Edmonia Lewis, Lewis Latimer, Sarah Breedlove Walker, Elijah McCoy, etc.).

Analyze President Lincoln's changing views on slavery and the status of freed slaves in the United States.

Identify and explain the roles of African American soldiers, spies, and slaves to the war effort in both the North and the South (e.g., 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the 13th U.S. Colored Troops, etc.).

Analyze the effects of Reconstruction on the legal, political, social, cultural, educational, and economic life of freedmen.

Assess the successes and failures of Reconstruction as they relate to African Americans (e.g., forty acres and a mule, voting, Clinton Massacre, etc.).

Assess the de facto economic and social impacts of Jim Crow laws on African Americans, including the Tulsa Massacre and Red Summer (e.g., poll tax, Grandfather Clause, Plessy vs. Ferguson, etc.).

Analyze the de jure legal ramifications of segregation laws and court decisions on American society.

Compare and contrast the political movements that developed in response to Jim Crow laws (e.g., the Niagara Movement, the NAACP, the Urban League, The Atlanta Compromise, The Farmers' Union Movement, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the Anti-Lynching Crusade, etc.).

Compare and contrast the African American political and legal personalities of the time period and their impact on American society (e.g., Samuel McElwee, Robert Church Sr., Ida B. Wells, Randolph Miller, James Napier, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, etc.).

Describe the development of African American institutions post- Reconstruction (e.g., religion, education, benevolent organizations, etc.).

Evaluate the economic, cultural, political, and social impact of African American migration within and from the South (e.g., the Exodusters, Benjamin Pap Singleton, 2nd Great Migration, etc.).

Describe the impact of African American regiments on the western campaigns, the Spanish American War, and World War I (e.g., Buffalo Soldiers, George Jordan, 3rd North Carolina, 6th Virginia, 7th and 10th Immunes, the Harlem Hellfighters, etc.).

Assess the literary contributions made by African Americans (e.g., Zora Neal Hurston, Richard Wright, Ida B. Wells, Nikki Giovanni, etc.).

Describe the contributions of African Americans to the performing arts (e.g., Fisk Jubilee Singers, W.C. Handy, John Work III, DeFord Bailey, etc.).

Describe the contributions of African Americans to the visual arts (e.g., William Edmondson, Edmonia Lewis, Jean-Michel Basquiat, etc.).

Evaluate the impact of the African American media on American life (e.g., Black Press: Chicago Defender, Pittsburg Courier, The Crisis, etc.).

Analyze the impact of the Great Depression and the New Deal on the lives of African Americans.

Describe the effects of African American "pop" culture of the 1930s and 1940s (e.g., big band, jazz, the blues, swing, etc.).

Analyze how African Americans use the Double-V Campaign to address the issues of racism in the United States and fascism in Europe during World War II.

Evaluate the contributions of African American women in the Civilian Workforce and African American men in the military during World War II (e.g., Tuskegee Airman, 761st Black Panther Tank Battalion, etc.).

Explain how World War II laid the groundwork for the modern Civil Rights Movement (e.g., Medgar Evers, A. Philip Randolph, Jesse Owens, etc.).

Explain how legal victories prior to 1954 inspired and propelled the Civil Rights Movement (e.g., Amistad, Elizabeth Freeman, Jennings vs Third Ave. Railroad, Sweatt vs Paint, McLaurin vs Oklahoma State Regents, etc.).

Describe the impact of Brown vs Board of Education and evaluate the resistance and reaction to it such as private academies and citizens' councils.

Define various methods used to obtain civil rights (e.g., boycotts, demonstrations, sit-ins, marches, freedom rides, etc.).

Identify various organizations and their role in the Civil Rights Movement (e.g., the Highlander Folk School, SNCC, CORE, SCLC, the Deacons for Defense, etc.).

Assess the extent to which the Civil Rights Movement transformed American politics and society (e.g., Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, Title IX, ADA, etc.).

Determine the impact of the Vietnam War on the Civil Rights Movement (e.g., Cassius Clay, etc.).

Identify and analyze how the changing political environment has impacted civil rights.

Describe how African Americans have responded to or engaged in political conservatism.

Compare and contrast the responses of African Americans to the economic, social, and political challenges of contemporary America.

Identify and evaluate major contemporary African American issues confronting society (e.g., affirmative action, the educational achievement gap, the wealth gap, poverty, AIDS, crime, etc.).

Analyze the impact of immigration and migration on the lives of African Americans in contemporary America.

Identify the major contributions of contemporary African Americans in business, education, the arts, politics, sports, science, technology, and society (e.g., Wilma Rudolph, Tina Turner, Oprah Winfrey, the Williams Sisters, Beyonce, President Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Kobe Bryant, etc.).