AP AfAM Unit 1 Supplemental Videos

For unit one, I put together a list of videos that can be used with every topic of study for the unit. They vary in length from three minutes to 20 minutes. None of them are designed to substitute the video lectures I normally assign, but instead, they reinforce some of the most important concepts.

Throughout the year, I consistently use videos from Crash Course’s Black American History playlist. These are pretty well known, so I only included one of them in the list. Another reliable sources of videos have been the youtube channel Black History in Two Minutes or So hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr - some of these are included in the list. Almost all of these videos can be found on YouTube.

I hope this list is helpful. If you have any videos that you use in your classrooms for this unit, please leave a comment with the video link and corresponding unit topic.

1.1 What Is African American Studies?

Black Power and the Birth of Black Studies (2:58) This video talks about how the Black Power movement spurred widespread black student activism across college campuses following Dr. King's assassination, leading to significant demands for increased Black student enrollment, more Black faculty, and the establishment of an entirely new academic field: Black Studies.

1.2 The African Continent: A Varied Landscape

Everything you need to know about Africa (11:01) This video talks about how Africa is a continent of immense size and diversity. It provides a comprehensive overview of its varied geography. The video also touches on demographic trends, linguistic diversity, and modern political structures but it is a really good start for many students who may not have any background on the continent.

1.3 Population Growth and Ethnolinguistic Diversity

Why are the Bantu languages so widespread in Africa? (19:29) This video extensively covers the Bantu language and people. It goes into the culture and governing structures they used, and covers more history, like the slave trade and imperialism, than is probably necessary for this AP topic. The 12 minute mark is a sufficient stopping point. It has engaging video elements and pictures, but it sounds like it is narrated by an automated voice. 

1.4 Africa’s Ancient Societies

What happened to the lost Kingdom of Kush? - Geoff Emberling (4:34) This video talks about the ancient civilization of Kush, located along the Nile River in what is now northern Sudan, highlighting its history as a powerful entity that once conquered its neighbor Egypt and successfully challenged major empires.

City of Meroe | Africa’s Great Civilizations (2:31) This video highlights the city of Meroe in Kush and talks about archeological evidence of its decline and Aksum’s rise.

Lalibele | Africa’s Great Civilizations (2:58) This talks about some of the religious architectural feats by a civilization that followed Aksum. It’s a great expansion on content students learn about Christianity in Africa. The series is presented by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

1.5 The Sudanic Empires: Ghana, Mali, and Songhai

Mansa Musa, one of the wealthiest people who ever lived - Jessica Smith (3:54) This TED-Ed video talks about how Mansa Musa was instrumental to the growth of the Mali Empire and his pilgrimage to Mecca.

You can also check out the Unit 1 lectures or buy the slides for classroom use

Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa (10:30) This Crash Course video is more extensive in the history of Mansa Musa and does a good job of addressing the incorrect stereotype that Africa is uncivilized due to a lack of attention paid to its print culture, and its overemphasis of its rural and tribal cultures. It also covers some previous material like the Bantu expansion.

1.6 Learning Traditions

City of Timbuktu | Africa’s Great Civilizations (1:39) This clip focuses mostly on the literary tradition in the city of Timbuktu and how the stereotype of Africa as an ahistorical or illiterate continent is wrong.

A History of the Griot in African Society (6:53) The video explains that griot culture was designed to intrinsically tie history into the fabric of everyday life, making it an ingrained part of popular culture. It traces their earliest references to the Soninke Daousy around the fourth century and notes their presence in the Mali Empire

1.7 Indigenous Cosmologies and Religious Syncretism

Haitian Voodoo | National Geographic (5:20) This video covers how Voodoo is practiced in Haiti today and shows the performance of two different rituals. 

How ‘voodoo’ became a metaphor for evil (7:53) This video produced by the Guardian begins by setting context on how voodoo was used by enslaved people in Haiti as survival tool and inspiration for revolution. It then covers how the unfamiliarity of voodoo by invading Americans in Haiti in the 20th century created an irrational fear and hysteria over the religion.

1.8 Culture and Trade in Southern and East Africa

The Swahili Coast | Africa’s Great Civilizations (2:59), The City of Great Zimbabwe | Africa’s Great Civilizations (2:36) - Both of these videos give brief overviews of these civilizations. They contain modern day footage of these places with historical information. The series is presented by Henry Louis Gates Jr. 

1.9 West Central Africa: The Kingdom of Kongo

Black Power (2:48) This video narrated by Henry Louis Gate Jr., Black History experts, and Civil Rights activists, briefly covers the start of the Black Power movement as it was vocalized by Stokely Carmichael

1.10 Kinship and Political Leadership

The Country of Angola | Africa’s Great Civilizations (5:18) This video covers the start of Nzinga’s resistance to the Portuguese presence in the Central African Coast. It highlights the initial alliances with Kongo and the changes to ruling structures after her death.

1.11 Global Africans

The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Crash Course Black American History (13:07) The video describes the horrific conditions on slave ships, including extreme overcrowding, lack of sanitation, rampant disease, torture, and sexual violence. It also clarifies that captured Africans were often prisoners of war, criminals, or poor members of society traded by other Africans for goods, distinguishing this from the unique, intergenerational chattel slavery that developed in the Americas