1) How does the rediscovery of the slave burial ground in New York parallel the way American history has generally treated the story of Africans’ arrival and survival in this land?
2) Why did the Spanish turn to African slaves rather than other sources of labor? What were enslaved people’s lives like in this period?
3) What motivated the Spanish conquests in the New World? What were the expeditions led by men like de Soto like, and what roles did Africans play?
4) Describe the early history of Spanish colonies in St. Augustine and in the Southwest.
5) How would you explain the Reformation and the counter-Reformation? Was this a political, economic or religious struggle?
6) What were the origins of the Roanoke colony and what was its fate? What does Wood suggest Roanoke might have become if not for the shipwreck off the coast?
7) How would you describe Africans’ lives in the Dutch colony of New Netherland and in the English colony of Plymouth?
8) What was the “terrible transformation”? How does the story of Anthony and Mary Johnson and their descendants, discussed later in this chapter, illustrate this transformation?
9) Why hadn’t slavery based on color developed in the English colonies before 1650? How were conditions beginning to change by that year?
10) What were the “large and gradual” changes that brought about the terrible transformation? What were the three other ingredients that made this possible? How did laws change?
11) In chapter 4, how did law and treatment work together to support the expansion of slavery?
12) In what ways are the stories of Job ben Solomon and Equiano representative of enslaved Africans’ experiences, and in what ways are their stories exceptional? (Be sure you fully explain their stories!)
13) What kinds of work did Africans do in New World colonies? How would you compare the work of men and women?
14) How would you describe the nature of Indian-African contact and interaction? How did Europeans respond?
15) How did Europeans exploit Africans’ knowledge, especially in the development of South Carolina?
16) Explain how each of the following played a role in the development of a recognizably African American culture: family, music, language, clothing, hairstyle, and religion.
17) In what ways, besides armed rebellion, did enslaved people resist their enslavement?
18) How successful were attempts at rebellion in this period? Give specific examples.
19) How did enslaved people attempt to take advantage of war between European nations? How did the end of the French and Indian War in 1762-63 affect colonists, enslaved people and Indians?
20) How would you describe the series of events that led to the American Revolution?
21) Explain the role of each of the following in black people’s struggle for freedom during the Revolutionary era: Crispus Attucks, the Somerset case, and Dunmore’s Proclamation.
22) What did you think of this book? What did you learn from it? Would you recommend I use it again in this course?
