African Society and Culture Today we are learning how the Bantu migration shaped African cultures and how the slave trade disrupted them

Bantu Left the Benue River – Overcrowding? – Soil wore out? – Drifted? Migrations – Reason people all across Africa share common ideas and traditions

Importance of Family Extended families – include several generations Matrilineal – traced through mothers Children – Link between the past & future – Could be your ancestor reborn

Education & Community Families/Villagers/Griots – were the teachers Oral History – stories passed down from one generation to the next. – Taught lessons about living Lessons about life given through proverbs as well. – “ A good deed will make a good neighbor.”

Women Rights – men controlled what women did – Women’s jobs – wives/mothers Exceptions: some were soldiers, rulers Queen Dahia al-Kahina – fought Muslim invasion Queen Nzinga – fought Portuguese slave traders for 40 years.

Slavery Not invented by Europeans Criminals and POWs were slaves Freedom was a hope as long as they remained in Africa Muslims could not be slaves – Traded horses & cotton for slaves. Europeans brought a new market to slave trade – They brought guns which they gave to Africans to gather more slaves Portugal – the selling of gold was a thing of the past…slaves working as laborers on Portuguese settlements in the Atlantic raising grapes, cotton, and sugarcane.--- hard labor, no one free wanted to do it. – Africans had farming & toll making skills, they were fed cheaply, and not paid. In the late 1400s Europeans set up sugar plantation in the Americas and need slaves. – They were also used on Tobacco, rice, and cotton plantations.

African culture African Diaspora – the spreading of African people/culture around the world Earliest African art were cave paintings that show people hunting, dancing, and everyday events. – Art always had religious meaning – Some immortalized leaders, everyday people, and European explorers

African culture Music played a part in all aspects of African life – Expressed religious feelings – Help with everyday task – planting a field Dance – all danced to celebrate important events. Storytelling – few recorded their stories, most retold tales taught by griots – Popular stories told of small animals outsmarting bigger ones.  Click here to hear traditional African music