Unit 1: Origins of the African Diaspora
African American Studies · Unit 1 · Paper 1

Origins of the African Diaspora unit test

A test on this unit alone, marked as a percentage and a letter grade — for the test your class is actually sitting, rather than for May. Answer everything, then submit once: seeing the answer to question 3 before attempting question 4 makes the final percentage meaningless.

Paper 1Paper 2Paper 3
Each paper is built from this unit’s 33 terms and is the same for everyone, so a teacher can assign “Unit 1, Paper 1” and every student sits the identical test. Multiple choice is marked objectively; the written sections you mark yourself against the model answer and rubric.
Suggested time 30 min 27 points0/17 attempted
1

Triangular trade

2

Kingdom of Kongo

3

Ghana Empire (c. 300–1200)

4

Indian Ocean trade network

5

Partus sequitur ventrem (Virginia, 1662)

6

Diaspora

7

Demographic effects on West and Central Africa

8

Matrilineal descent

9

Aksum

10

Trans-Saharan trade

11

Elmina Castle (1482)

12

Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (Job ben Solomon)

Short answer 1. Define or explain: Griot

3 pts

Short answer 2. Define or explain: Islam in West Africa

3 pts

Short answer 3. Define or explain: Indigenous African slavery vs chattel slavery

3 pts

Short answer 4. Define or explain: Women's authority in African societies

3 pts

Free response

3 pts

SHORT-ANSWER QUESTION 3: No Stimulus (3 points).

A. Describe one way enslaved people in the Americas maintained cultural practices with African origins.

B. Describe one difference between the experiences of enslaved people in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia and those in the Chesapeake.

C. Explain how the study of African American history has changed as a result of the sources historians use.