Assignment part I: Consider key periods and evens of pre-colonial (ancient) African and African American history, particularly in light of the fact that these histories are often overlooked in most American educational institutions,
- What is your general impression of African pre-colonial/ancient history as presented so far by Basil Davison and Zeinab Badawi, as historical sources?
- What new information did you gain from these samples of ancient African history; and what does this specific information suggest about ancient Africa in general.
- What specific insight/s did you gain about any aspect of African culture, during the pre-colonial times?
- What are the explicit/intended and implied lessons of African histories; for instance, does this information in any way impact your view of today's Africans or African Americans?
Assignment part II: African America
- What is your impression of the assignment resource (i.e., Henry Lewis Gates's "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" series); how specifically does this source contribute to your understanding of African American history?
- Which particular period/s, era, and theme or issue in African America's history do you find most compelling/interesting; and why so?
- What lessons did you learn about African American history (beyond new facts)?
- If applicable, how does any of the history information presented in the unit resources affirm or challenge any information/data you learned elsewhere?
- Accepting M. Karenga's characterization of history as A) human, B) fluid and C) conflictual, what are at least one example of these 3 characteristics in either African or African American history?
- What connections can you draw between Africa and African America?
- After engaging all of the related resources, what specific wonderments/unanswered questions remain in your mind; or, what aspect of Africana history do you wish to explore further, or to learn more about?