INSTRUCTIONS
Before you begin, review the discussion guidelines and sample discussion post located in the Course Overview section. Unless your instructor specifies otherwise, choose ONE of the following questions to answer, and then give a substantive response to at least TWO other students or the professor. Aim for around 300 words per initial discussion post. A substantive response is not just a one-liner post that agrees or compliments your peer. Instead, substantive posts ask relevant questions, offer new insights, and dig deeper into the topic in order to create an academic discussion. Aim for around 100 words in each response.
Note that academic weeks at UMGC begin on Wednesdays and end on Tuesdays. Initial discussion posts are due by Saturday at 11:30PM ET and at least two responses to fellow classmates are expected by the end of the week on Tuesday by 11:30PM ET.
Week 2
- Discuss the idea of considering Africa and its history separate and apart from a Eurocentric lens. What challenges does this pose for scholars of Africa, especially considering the lack of written histories before the modern period? What are some ways that Africa was connected to Eurasia before the 15th century?
- Explain the challenges presented by beginning African American history with the Atlantic slave trade. How did the Atlantic slave trade differ from slavery of the past, both inside and outside of Africa? What, if anything, may be inferred by tracing one's beginnings to slavery?
- How was the Atlantic slave trade connected to the rise and spread of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution? What were the connections between slavery and capitalism in the Americas specifically? How did the Atlantic slave trade contribute to the creation of the modern world?
- How did African American women experience slavery? In other words, how did slavery affect men and women differently?
- Discuss the various forms of African American resistance to slavery. How did these overlap with other liberatory labor movements?
- Define the term African Diaspora and discuss how the African Diaspora evolved in the Americas.