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Welcome to AP/DC African American History!
This course is a survey of African Americans from slavery to the present, with a brief examination of African culture prior to slavery. One of the aims is that students analyze the development of African-American culture and identity in America. This course discusses issues of major importance to African-Americans in the context of American history. Students’ will develop an understanding of the role and contributions of African-Americans to the growth and development of the United States until the present-day. Units will be taught through the lens of the unique cultural, social, political, and economic experiences of African Americans within the United States. Some Topics include: African antecedents, the European slave trade and the Middle Passage, the slave community, antebellum free blacks, impact of the Civil War, Black Reconstruction, Jim Crowism, the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, World War II and the African American experience, the Civil Rights Movements, Black Power, and the contemporary advancements by African Americans.
Anchor Text
Anchor Text
The River Between (Penguin African Writers Series)
The River Between (Penguin African Writers Series)
by Ngugi wa Thiong'o
Audiobook Copy Below
PDF Copy of the Book HERE & Below
The River Between.pdfTask 1: Read the Anchor Text
I have selected one text for you to read over the summer. The River Between is A legendary work of African literature, this moving and eye-opening novel lucidly captures the drama of a people and culture whose world has been overturned. The River Between explores life in the mountains of Kenya during the early days of white settlement. Faced with a choice between an alluring new religion and their own ancestral customs, the Gikuyu people are torn between those who fear the unknown and those who see beyond it. This text is a segue into the context we will explore for the course on the first day of school.
Task 2: Record Notes
Read the text thoroughly, MAKE A COPY of this NOTE-CATCHER, and take notes. Annotate while you read and take notes about significant aspects of the text such as plot, character, theme, and etc. Analyze the use of language—author’s style, diction, tone, structure, point of view, voice, and etc. Contemplate significant quotations, applying meaning not only relative to the text but also to your life. Respond/react on a personal, creative level to the text. Honest commentary is valuable in stimulating discussion or questioning.
Task 3: Examine Supplemental Texts
Then, choose at least 3 text options from the provided list of "Supplemental Texts" to read in order to enrich your experience with the text The River Between. Vary your selections by choosing text from different category/genre: Informational Texts, Poetry, Podcasts, Visual Texts, and Music Videos. All supplemental texts should not be from the same category/genre.
Finally, ponder this prompt as you analyze the text: Think about the concept of institution and its connection to American slavery and the social constructs of race in America. Identify your thoughts about the impact power and race have on a person’s identity and sense of belonging within a community.
The assignment should be complete and ready to share and submit on the first day of school.
This assignment is due the first day of school
It's imperative you complete this reading over the summer and your note-catcher(s), so you are prepared for the 2025-26 school year in AP/DC African American history.
Come to classroom #233 to receive a copy of this text beginning May 22nd until May 29th (the last day of school). After this date, you can purchase this text via amazon by clicking on this link here.
If you have any questions, you can contact me at tdrummer@ucityschools.org
Enjoy your summer!
In Service,
Mrs. Drummer
Supplemental Texts
Supplemental Texts
Informational Texts:
Fear and rebellion in South Carolina: The 1739 Stono Rebellion and Colonial Slave Society
Henry Highland Garnet - An Address to the Slaves of the United States of America
Missouri Timeline for African American history w/ Primary Sources
Literary Texts:
Poetry:
Texts: Primary, Secondary, and Visual Analysis
Texts: Primary, Secondary, and Visual Analysis
If you choose another text, select only 1 of the following to read and analyze.
Use the notes organizer to capture your ideas and understandings.
Tips to conduct a historical analysis:
Tips to conduct a historical analysis:
A historical analysis is a method used to investigate and examine primary and secondary sources to form interpretation about the past. Primary sources provide a first-hand account from someone or something that was directly in connection with your subject. In contrast, a secondary sources are sources that were created by someone that did not have direct access with the subject. In addition, a secondary source typically provides commentary interpretations from the author to help explain the subject. Examples for a primary source may include, but not limited to are letters, manuscripts, diaries, journals, newspapers, maps, speeches, interviews, photographs, artifacts, documents from he government, etcetera. Examples for a secondary source may include, but not limited to are textbooks, dictionaries', encyclopedia, journals, articles, etcetera. All these sources and more are used as empirical evidence to investigate a period, or event to construct an analysis of new interpretations.
The purpose: using both primary and secondary sources will teach multiple perspectives, ideologies, and cultures. Sources must challenge students to use criticality as they examine a variety of arguments and ideas, so that students can begin to formulate their own ideas, make meaningful connections to the world they live in, while continuing to cultivating their identities
Focus: to use critical thinking skills as you examine, evaluate, and analyze primary and secondary sources. Use your analysis to construct independent thought and meaningful accounts of the past. As a result of examining a variety of sources, you will become empowered, while constructing your own interpretations of the past based on empirical evidence. As a result, you will become empowered, while developing an informed identity of self, to use your power of agency in the elimination of barriers, and bring equitable change.
Be sure to read the assignment carefully to decide which elements of visual analysis to include in your writing. Some teachers will look for a formal analysis alone; others will expect you to frame your formal description in terms of historical information. You may be asked to offer one or more interpretations of the possible meanings of the work.
https://twp.duke.edu/sites/twp.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/visual-analysis.original.pdf
Podcasts:
Podcasts:
If you choose a podcast, select only 1 of the following to read (listen to) and analyze.
Use the notes organizer to capture your ideas and understandings.
Key Vocabulary & Concepts:
Slavery: slavery, condition in which one human being was owned by another. A slave was considered by law as property, or chattel, and was deprived of most of the rights.
Chattel Slavery: owning of human beings as property able to be bought, sold, given, and inherited.
Institution: an established custom, practice, or system for organizing standardized patterns of social behavior.
Capitalism: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market, not the government.
Abolitionist Movement: The abolitionist movement was an organized effort to end the practice of slavery in the United States
Segregation: the enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment.
Segregationist beliefs (as defined by author): "There is something wrong with Black people and that's why Black people are on the lower and dying end of racial inequity" and there is nothing to change it. ((p. xiii) "haters" (p. 3)
Jim Crow Laws: Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States
De Jure: De Jure describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality
De Facto: De facto describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms
Desegregation: the ending of a policy of racial segregation.
Integration: incorporation as equals into society or an organization of individuals of different groups (such as races)
Assimilation: the act of being absorbed into another culture's tradition of a population or group
Assimilationist beliefs (as defined by author): "There is something wrong with Black people and that's why Black people are on the lower and dying end of racial inequity. . . but as a people can be changed for the better" (p. xiii) "only like 'you' because 'you' are like them" (p. 3-4)
Racism: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.
Racist ideas (as defined by author): any idea that suggest something is wrong or right, superior or inferior, better or worse about a racial group.
Anti-racist ideas (as defined by author): any idea that suggests that racial groups are equals.
Prejudice: dislike, hostility, or unjust behavior deriving from unfounded opinions.
Bias: prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
Construct: an idea or theory containing various conceptual elements, typically one considered to be subjective and not based on empirical evidence.
Propaganda: used to spread information to influence others in support of a cause, while not considering if the information is true or false
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