African History - Final Exam Flashcards
Peyton Skipwith
- born enslaved in Virginia in 1800
- emancipated at 33 years old by his slave owner John Cocke
- Cocke supported the migration of free slaves to Liberia (colony in West Africa)
- Skipwith went to Liberia with his wife and six kids, and wrote letters to Cocke describing what a struggle it was to live there (loved ones were dying and work was difficult to find)
Why important: It shows us how initial attempts at civilization were brutal
“Legitimate” Trade
- Europeans & Africans
- Slave trade to ‘legitimate’ trade
- During the industrial revolution 1760-1830
- Showed how Europeans approached Africa with new needs
- palm oil, rubber, adhesive
“Treaties with Barbarians”
Anti-slavery treaties with African leaders which resulted in a considerable shift in power from indigenous people to British monarchs. James Stephen, a British lawyer and politician who was associated with the abolitionist movement argued that these were not treaties rather they were agreements that could be amended as they saw fit. Seen as dealing with barbarians as opposed to civilized people.
Quinine
This drug allowed Europeans to now survive disease in Africa. West Africa was dubbed “white man’s grave” . The drug was discovered in the 17th century and became popular in the mid-1800s
Why important: helped facilitate colonial expansion within Africa.
The Berlin Conference
Called for by Otto von Bismark, Chancellor of Germany, as well as other European nations
- 1884-1885
- discuss how land should be divided up in Africa
- up to this point, colonial contact with Africa had been primarily through trading posts
William Melton
- British official in the 1870s who served as a magistrate
- was responsible for Abina’s case in 1876
- Was manipulated by slaveowners who were on the jury, but believe in doing what was right - to that point he was a very fair judge and he frequently ruled in favor of enslaved individuals almost as often as in favor of the slave owner
Yowah
“Yaw Awoah” was the man who sold Abina to Quamina Eddoo in 1876
- When Abina sues, he testifies that he did not sell her
Why important: shows how both African and European leaders can work together to turn a blind eye to slavery problems
Cash Crops
These crops were generally sold for a profit.
- monocrop agriculture - farmers would sell the one crop they grew to obtain everything else they needed
- in 1800 most african farmers were substence farmers meaning that they didn’t grow edible things
- Europe began demanding crops that only Africa could produce and cash cropping became more widespread through the 18th & 19th centuries
Why important: it prohibits economic growth because the farmers were dependent on European markets and their demand
Indigenat
Form of brutal direct rule
- End of the 19th century (at at the turn of the century)
- came off the heals of the Berlin Conference
- a set of laws that gave inferior legal status to Africans in French Colonies, called “indigines” where they were denied political participation
- Had a rule that males over the age of 15 had to give French colonial governing officials 2 weeks of labor (as a labor tax)
- This happened first in Algeria but then spread across the whole Colonial French Empire
Why important: Example of how economic transformations spurred colonial rule.
Roger Casement’s Report
- published by journalist Roger Casement in 1904
- documented the violent system of enforcing rubber taxes that occurred in the Belgian Congo
- Rubber came from sap of branches, but people had to go father and farther to harvest new trees
- individuals who didn’t meet quota got tortured/beaten
- there was a lot of starvation
Why important: extreme example of how colonial rule affected Africa - representative of the Congo, but not colonial rule at large
Kimberly
- in present Northern Cape of Africa
- 1867 two children found a large diamond
- 1891 De Beers mining company took over and set up a mining sytem
- Black Africans flocked there for work - 100K laborers, separated from family for long-term contracts - worked in horrendous working conditions (20% mortality rate)
- 14.5M carats of diamond were found (90% of the World’s diamonds)
- Diamond rush to Kimberly from all over the world kicked the blacks out
F.D. Lugard
- a man who pushed for British colonial rule
- argued that it needed to become a ‘fad’ and British colonies had to hold on to existing colonies
- He was a colonial officer/governor of Nigeria
- 1922 he wrote a textbook with recommendations for British colonial rule:
- Taxation is a sign of civilization
- Appoint a chief if there isn’t one
- Take efforts to understand islam
- Don’t spend too much money on government
Panama Canal
Built 1904-1914 accross the narrow straight land in Panama
- France started the project but then US took it over
- 77 mi long/series of locks/cost $8.6B in today’s currency
- 1906 - 80% hospitalized due to dangerous work/malaria/yellow fevor
Why important: helped facilitate maritime trading
The Great Migration
- 1916-1930 - 1.6M people (primarily blacks) went from South to North in the United States
- The results included segregation and extreme racial tensions
- Example: 1919 race riot in Chicago - much damage/houses burned & in general white racism in the south
African Association
- formed by Henry Sylvester in 1897 to promote/protect the interests of all Africans
- example of the Pan-African Movement whose aim was to bring individuals of African descent together to speak on their own behalf
- 1900 - Sylvester plans the Pan-African Conference in London to different nations of the World
Why important: Discussions on human rights - it doesn’t do much, but set the wheel in motion for future changes
Marcus Garvey
- Founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was a grassroots movement started in Jamaica
- 1916 - Marcus Garvey meets Booker T. Washington who advocates for industrial education so that people who are migrating north can have marketable skills to get jobs
- Garvey thought that integration was impossible and argued for black nationalism and a return to Africa
- UNIA was extremely popular and had many members - 1K community centers by 1927
Why important: Served as a religious backdrop with political & economic drive
W.E.B. Du Bois
- Leading intellectual of black Americans
- First African American to obtain PhD at Harvard (1965)
- Sociologist, historian, Pan-Africanist and civil rights activist
- 1903 - introduced the “Talented Tenth” as the African American intellectual elite who would bring about full civil rights and increased political representation
- Wanted African Americans to gain economic mobility and redefine a culture
- In 1905 - met with civil rights activists near Niagara Falls to write a declaration of principles, the Niagara Movement
Waruhiu Itote
Was a key leader of the Land and Freedom Army (‘Mau Mau”)
- Kikuyu people were in the Land and Freedom Army - used violence to pressure settlers to move toward independence
- Itote captured by British in 1954 - and imprisoned with Joma Kenyatta (opponent who was not a Mau Mau leader)
- imprisoned for 9 years and Kenyatta taught him how to read/write/talk
- Once released, served in Kenyatta’s new government as top officer in Kenya National Youth Service
Kwamhe Nkrumah
Leader of modern Ghana (gold coast) from 1951-1966
- supported nonviolence and positive action
- he was the first president of Ghana
- initially supported the United Gold Coastal Conference, but soon breaks off and forms the Convention People’s Party (CPP), which was a group that advocated “self-governance now” - supported nonviolence in its campaign for the independence of the Gold Coast
Why important: CPP Was a very popoular group - forces the British to open up elections for legislative seats - it wins 85% of the seats and then advocated a “Positive Action” campaign to allow the people to vote - the group wins the 1951 and 1954 elections
“Mau Mau”
- Revolutionary group that forced out European settlers between 1952 & 1960
- formed by Kikuyu farmers who were moved from their land by force
- they were a land and freedom army directed against the presence of Europeans in Kenya
Malcolm X
- joined the Nation of Islam in 1948
- changed his name from Malcolm Little to Malcolm X to represent the empty hole in his family and culture caused by slavery
- served as an important contrast to MLK - his message was more radical which was attractive to those who had grown tired of MLK’s ideas of nonviolence
- Malcom X was more blunt, but his intentions were not as violent as they seemed
- Ballot or the Bullet speech gave in 1964 - cautioned the government if they did not allow African Americans to vote then they would take up arms.
Alex Haley
- African American writer whose writing depicted the struggles of African Americans - Wrote “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and “Roots”
- after WWII he became a journalist
- Roots attempts to trace and retell the story of his ancestors’ journey from Africa to America as slaves, and then their rise from slavery to freedom
- widespread commercial success: 1.5M copies sold in 1.5Y - won Pulitzer Price
“Rumble in the Jungle”
- Muhammad Ali vs George Foreman
- A boxing match
- 1974
- Zaire (in Africa)
- example of heavyweight championships/sports in developing countries, shows the reconnecting that was happening - Africa was getting connected to the larger world
1959 Bantu Self Government Act
South African apartheid legislation that allowed for the transformation of tradition tribal lands into independent Bantustand
- allowed black South Africans to have their own government and political leaders
- S.African govt benefitted from this because they didn’t have to support black people by “wasting” their resources
- S. Africa presented these areas as indepented nations and claimed they were separate - Other countries di dnot recognize Bantustans as seperate nations
Nelson Mandela
- south african activist and former president
- helped to bring an end to apartheid through his work with the African National Congress party (ANC)
- arrested and imprisoned for almost 30 years until he was released in 1990
- in 1994, he became the first black president of South Africa and formed a multiethnic government
- wont the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for global peacemaking
Sharpeville Massacre
- happened in 1960 in Sharpville
- 5K acticits gathered outside a police department to protest passbook laws
- pass laws required that all black men and women carry reference books containing their personal details
- in a sense, they were “daring” th epolice to arrest them by leaving their passbooks at home an dpresenting themselves for arrest
- 69 killed 189 wounded
important because human rights
