Connecting African Cultures to Slave Culture in the United States Lesson Plan
By Amy Mezni

Overview

Many students assume that all of the slaves were similar, sharing language, food, and customs. However, enslaved peoples had to create a culture of their own to communicate with each other, as they came from a wide variety of African culture groups. Many elements from their African cultures were incorporated into this African-American culture. Students will explore Central African cultures and then discuss the impact of African language in the United States using the article, Bantu Place Names in South Carolina.

National Curriculum Standards met by this lesson

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Five-six 45-minute class periods follows:

• One period: Anticipatory Set, Mapping, and Assign Research
• One period: Bantu Place Names in South Carolina
• Two-three periods: Research & Writing (unless assigned as homework)
• One period: Oral Presentations of Research

• Chalkboard or Overhead
• List of Slave Culture
• Copies of Africa Political Map, with the country names labeled
• Colored Pencils
• Access to research materials, including the Internet
• Class set of the article, Bantu Place Names in South Carolina, including overheads of the South Carolina map and part of the word root list

Teacher Preparation

This lesson assumes that students have the necessary research and presentation skills. If they do not, you will need extra time to integrate lessons on these skills. You may gather research materials from the school library and public library if you plan to have students do research in your classroom.

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

Ask students the following questions:

• What is culture?
• How would you describe American culture?
• Can culture be created by mixing other cultures?

1. Begin the lesson by discussing slave culture. When students think of slaves, what comes to mind? Do they know anything about the lives of the slaves? Brainstorm a list together. Write down everything the students say, regardless of whether it is culture, stereotype, or something else.


2. If necessary, once the list is created, ask if anything on the list is a stereotype and not culture. Explain why the items (if any) do not actually describe culture.


3. Using the remaining list, discuss what culture is: the way of life of a group of people. Culture includes many things, such as religion, customs, foods, music, art, language, etc.


4. Slave culture was a blend of many African cultures. Today, pieces of slave culture can be found in American culture. Be sure to point out the following:


• Language: bogus, phony, yam, tote, gumbo, jazz, funky--all have African roots
• Foods: deep-fat frying, gumbos, fricassees
• Music: yodeling, spirituals, falsetto, call and response
• Agriculture: rice and sweet potatoes
• Religion: religious rites from West Africa were used by slaves
• Stories: parables, proverbs, tricksters--tortoises, spiders, rabbits (Remember Uncle Remus? Brer Bear, Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox?)


5. Pass out the Africa maps. Explain to students that they are going to research cultures in five African countries: Ghana, Mali, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Angola. These countries were selected as they were highly affected by the slave trade. On the maps, have students color in the selected countries:


• Ghana: green
• Mali: yellow
• Gambia: blue
• Sierra Leone: red
• Angola: orange


6. Each country has unique features in its culture. Students will be working in groups to discover the distinct cultures. Divide the students into five even groups, and give them their topics. (You can have them pick out of a hat or randomly assign one to each group.) If you have a very large class, then you can assign two groups to each country.


7. For their topic, tell students they will research the following:


• Geography of the country
• Language
• Religion
• Food
• Music
• Art
• Stories
• Customs
• Other interesting facts


8. As a final product, let students know they will need to create a visual aid that represents the country. This could be a poster or another visual representation. Each of the topics should be featured. As a group, students will present their culture to the class. If possible, students should try to connect the country's culture to slave culture. They must include a bibliography.


9. Provide students with at least two research periods and one period to complete their posters. If preferred, this can be turned into a long-term project students complete at home. During the research time frame, teach students about the influence of the Bantu language in South Carolina. This will help students to connect African cultures to American cultures.


10. Read Bantu Place Names in South Carolina


11. Using the word root list, show students the English and Bantu words. Ask if they can guess the meanings of the Bantu words.


12. Ask students why South Carolina would be so influenced by the slaves' languages. After taking responses, point out to them that Charleston, South Carolina, was the main slave trading city in the United States, as well as the large number of plantations that existed in the State.


13. Ask students if there are any place names in your area influenced by another cultural group (many areas have Native American words). Explain that this transmission or movement of items from one culture to another is called cultural diffusion.

Assessment

Assess students on their research, product, oral presentation, and bibliography using the following 100-point rubric:

Requirements/Info Included	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent
Informational Poster is well designed with illustrations and Facts	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Geography of Country	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Language	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Religion	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Food	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Music	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Art	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Stories	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Customs	1-3	4-6	7-8	9-10
Bibliography is complete and correct	2	3	4	5
Oral Presentation	2	3	4	5

Related Works/Resources

1. The following links have information on the history of the Bantus:


• http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/africa/history/bantu.htm
• http://kenya.com/history.html


2. This website has Bantu proverbs, which could be incorporated into the lesson if desired.


• http://creativeproverbs.com/bz01.htm


3. The websites below are resources that may be used by the student groups when researching the countries:

Ghana:

• http://www.globalvolunteers.org/1main/ghana/ghanaculture.htm
• http://www.africaguide.com/country/ghana/culture.htm
• http://www.ghanahighcommission-canada.com/corp-e-culture-tourism.html

Mali:

• http://www.africaguide.com/country/mali/culture.htm
• http://www.africatravelling.net/mali/bamako/bamako_culture.htm

Gambia:

• http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara/cu.html
• http://expedition.bensenville.lib.il.us/Africa/gambia/culture.htm

Sierra Leone:

• http://www.thomsonfoundation.org.uk/sierraleone/pages/life/culture.htm

Angola:

• http://expedition.bensenville.lib.il.us/Africa/Angola/Culture.htm
• http://www.mapsofworld.com/country-profile/angola1.html

Interdisciplinary Links

• Technology: The research project could be extended into a final project using PowerPoint^®. Students would create a slide show presentation of their research.

• Geography: Students could research place names in your area that come from another culture. These names could then be mapped.

Sources

The website, Digital History, was a fantastic resource on the influence of slave culture. It is accessible at:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/black_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=23

This lesson was submitted by Amy Mezni, a World Cultures and American history teacher, Titusville, Florida.