African American Studies Exam 2024

Section I: Multiple-Choice 1. Which of the following best captures the significance of Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire as depicted on the map? (A) His royal dress and display of wealth in gold had a widespread impact on African and Middle Eastern fashions and cultures. (B) His portrayal conveyed the importance of West African empires in global exchange networks. (C) His dominance caused trade to redirect from trans-Saharan routes toward the Atlantic Coast. (D) His depiction with foreign merchants demonstrated his territorial expansion to regions in Europe. 2. A Muslim merchant’s journey to the Mali Empire in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was most likely motivated by (A) a desire to crossbreed powerful North African camels with Central Asian camels (B) an interest in conducting commerce at the crossroads of the Arab, Persian, Indian, and Chinese empires (C) the appeal of lucrative trade with a wealthy and powerful West African empire (D) the possibility of converting people in the Mali Empire to Islam 3. Which of the following best explains the importance of griots to the Mali Empire? (A) They traded with merchants in Timbuktu for manufactured goods, which increased the wealth of the Mali Empire. (B) They served as jurists in the imperial courts of the Mali Empire, which helped to develop a more sophisticated legal system. (C) They served as generals in the army of the Mali Empire and were immortalized in thirteenth-century equestrian figures. (D) They preserved the history and culture of the Mali Empire, which helped to maintain its traditions for generations. Questions 4 through 7 refer to the following. Source 1 “I, Juan Garrido, black resident...of this city...appear before Your Mercy and state that I am in need of making a [petition]...a report on how I served Your Majesty in the conquest and pacification of this New Spain, from the time when the Marqués del Valle [Cortés] entered it; and in his company I was present at all the invasions and conquests and pacifications which were carried out, always with the said Marqués, all of which I did at my own expense without being given either salary or allotment of natives...or anything else. As I am married and a resident of this city, where I have always lived; and also as I went with the Marqués...[Cortés] to discover the islands which are in that part of the southern sea [the Pacific] where there was much hunger and privation1; and also as I went to discover and pacify the islands of...Puerto Rico; and also as I went on the pacification and conquest of the island of Cuba with... 2024 Diego Velázquez; in all these ways for thirty years have I served and continue to serve Your Majesty—for these reasons stated above do I petition Your Mercy. And also because I was the first to have the inspiration to sow maize here in New Spain and to see if it took; I did this and experimented at my own expense.” Source: Juan Garrido, Petition to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, 1538 the act of depriving someone of something 1 Source 2 “Other sources produce a similar litany of incidents that add up to overwhelming evidence of the black presence in the Peruvian Conquest. The first four non-natives to see the Inca capital of Cuzco in 1533 included a black man.... During Manco Inca’s [Incan ruler] 1536 siege of Cuzco, blacks labored to extinguish the fires on the roof of the royal palace.... A force sent from [the island of] Hispaniola to relieve the defenders included 200 Africans with military experience—a veritable squadron of black conquistadors.” 4. Which of the following best describes the significance of Juan Garrido as a historical figure in African American Studies? (A) He was the first free African to leave what is modern-day Angola and journey to North America on his own. (B) He was the first free African to participate in the political decision-making of the Portuguese royal court. (C) As a free African, he explored what is today the United States before the first enslaved Africans arrived in North America. (D) As a free African, he protested the conditions in which slave traders began forcibly transporting enslaved Africans to Spanish America. 5. Garrido and Restall provide evidence for which of the following statements about Africans in the Americas during the sixteenth century? (A) African soldiers resisted participating in the colonization of the Americas. (B) African conquistadors were responsible for the destruction of the Incan royal palace. (C) Africans engaged in peacekeeping missions between Europeans and Indigenous people. (D) Africans worked in a variety of roles to colonize the Americas during European conquests. 6. Which of the following most directly motivated enslaved ladinos to participate in the conquest of the Americas? (A) They could return to Africa and win praise within their communities. (B) They might gain their freedom in return for their participation. (C) They could fight their European enslavers and incite widespread rebellion. (D) They might acquire enslaved Indigenous people with their gains. 2024 7. Which of the following statements best supports the claim that Africans served an important role in colonizing the Americas? (A) They were intermediaries who spoke multiple languages. (B) They negotiated with French colonial forces during decolonization. (C) They helped to convert Indigenous people to Christianity. (D) They fought to expand the rights of Indigenous people. Questions 8 through 10 refer to the following. “I grew up like a neglected weed,—ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. Then I was not happy or contented: every time I saw a white man I was afraid of being carried away. I had two sisters carried away in a chain-gang,—one of them left two children. We were always uneasy. Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave. I have no opportunity to see my friends in my native land.1 We would rather stay [there], if we could be as free there as we are here. I think slavery is the next thing to hell.” Source: Harriet Tubman, testimony as compiled in Benjamin Drew’s A North-Side View of Slavery, 1856 “Native land” refers to Maryland in the United States, where Harriet Tubman was formerly enslaved. 1 8. Based on the passage, which of the following describes an outcome of escaping to freedom in the North for formerly enslaved people? (A) They returned to the South to be with their families because of the harsh climate in the North. (B) They found it difficult to remain in the North because of the limited economic opportunities. (C) They were often forced to leave their loved ones behind in the South. (D) They returned from the North to their native lands in the South because of their limited social mobility. 9. Which of the following broader historical contexts best explains Tubman’s fear of “being carried away”? (A) Enslaved African Americans were being sent to Africa by the American Colonization Society to build overseas colonies. (B) Enslaved African Americans believed that resisting slavery would lead to a delay in gaining freedom through the Underground Railroad. (C) Enslaved African Americans were taken from plantations to fight for the Union army during the Civil War. (D) Enslaved African Americans were often forcibly sold by plantation owners as a part of the domestic slave trade. 2024 10. Tubman’s testimony was part of a larger effort by abolitionists to highlight which of the following? (A) The challenges of life for Black women during segregation (B) The effects of Black Codes on the lives of newly freed African Americans (C) The experiences of enslaved people in order to advance the cause of freedom (D) The claims that African Americans would be unable to integrate into society Questions 11 through 14 refer to the following. Source 1 Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series, Panel 1, Painted Between 1940 and 1941 2024 d Source 2 Estimated Number of African American Migrants Leaving the United States South by Decade 11. Which of the following best describes a significant purpose of Lawrence’s painting? (A) To depict the scale of African American movement to the North, Midwest, and West of the United States (B) To capture the experiences of African American families returning to the southern states (C) To illustrate the traumatic experience of African Americans’ forced relocation after Reconstruction (D) To highlight the challenges of the segregation African Americans faced while traveling on public transportation 2024 12. Which of the following statements about Black migration during the 1920s and 1940s does the chart best support? (A) The realities of urban life in northern cities led to a sustained decline in migrants leaving the South. (B) The availability of factory jobs in the North led to an eventual increase in migrants leaving the South. (C) The advances made by the Civil Rights movement led to a reduction in the number of migrants leaving the South. (D) The appeal of the Harlem Renaissance led to a substantial increase in migrants leaving the South. 13. Which of the following most directly contributed to the migration of African Americans in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? (A) Publications in African American newspapers that denounced racial oppression (B) The constant threat of racial violence throughout the Jim Crow South (C) The end of segregation on railroad passenger cars and interstate bus lines (D) Job shortages that resulted from confiscation of plantations in the South 14. Which of the following describes an effect of both the event depicted in the painting and a trend shown in the chart? (A) Racial tensions in the South decreased as employers supported the migration of Black laborers from the region. (B) African Americans’ communities became predominantly rural as they relocated from cities to farmland. (C) Cities were transformed as African Americans infused the neighborhoods they settled with Black southern culture. (D) African Americans were given equal access to housing in the urban centers of the North, Midwest, and West. Questions 15 through 17 refer to the following. Lift Every Voice and Sing Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.... 2024 Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last. Source: James Weldon Johnson, hymn set to music, originally written as a poem, 1900 15. Which of the following best describes Johnson’s purpose in writing “Lift Every Voice and Sing”? (A) Johnson wanted to illuminate the dehumanization African Americans endured under enslavement to highlight the nation’s tumultuous past. (B) Johnson sought to call attention to widespread anti-Black sentiment in the United States in order to further demands for federal civil rights legislation. (C) Johnson sought to celebrate the perseverance and contributions of African Americans after a long period of oppression. (D) Johnson wanted to highlight the struggles African Americans faced while indicating that these struggles were over. 16. The significance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in the early twentieth century can be best explained as (A) a call for African Americans to join in the war effort and secure a victory abroad (B) an example of African Americans developing their own identity and honoring their heritage (C) a demonstration that African Americans were willing to protest unfair labor conditions (D) an illustration of using artistic works to generate widespread support for the cause of abolition 17. Which of the following claims can best be made about spirituals and hymns such as “Lift Every Voice and Sing”? (A) They conveyed the assertion that African Americans should be accepted as equals. (B) They encouraged African Americans to use music as a means of assimilation. (C) They offered uplifting messages of redemption and deliverance. (D) They were used to promote solidarity between African Americans and other oppressed groups. 2024 Questions 18 through 20 refer to the following. Bus Station with “Colored Waiting Room” Sign, Durham, North Carolina, 1940 18. Which of the following best describes the legal basis for segregated waiting rooms like the one depicted in the image? (A) Presidential executive orders focused on equal economic opportunity rather than the segregation of public facilities. (B) The Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregated facilities created by state laws were constitutional. (C) The Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education addressed segregation in education but not in transportation. (D) Amendments to the United States Constitution gave the states broad powers to manage public infrastructure. 19. Which of the following best describes how African Americans responded to insufficient transportation options during segregation? (A) African Americans prioritized economic integration over their access to public services. (B) African Americans moved from rural areas to major cities for access to better transportation options. (C) African Americans elected congressional representatives who would enact changes in federal policies. (D) African Americans established taxi services and bus companies to serve their communities. 2024 20. Which of the following most directly ended widespread segregation in the South? (A) The landmark piece of federal legislation that outlawed discriminatory practices in voting (B) Peaceful sit-ins like those at lunch counters in the South in the 1960s (C) Nonviolent marches such as the March on Washington in 1963 (D) The federal act that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, color, and religion 2024