Origins and Diaspora in African American Studies Glossary

The dispersion of people of African descent across the globe, primarily through the transatlantic slave trade. Also an academic framework for studying the connections and diversity among these dispersed communities.

A system of bondage in which enslaved people are legally classified as personal property that can be bought, sold, inherited, and mortgaged. In the Americas, chattel slavery was racially based and hereditary through the mother.

The dynamic cultural process by which African, European, and Indigenous traditions blended in the Americas to produce new languages, religions, cuisines, musical forms, and social practices.

The preservation of elements of African culture (language, religion, music, food, craft traditions) among diaspora communities, despite the violent disruptions of the slave trade and enslavement.

The doorways in slave-trading forts along the West African coast through which captive Africans passed before boarding slave ships. Now memorialized as heritage sites for the African diaspora.

The practice of escaping slavery to form independent communities. 'Grand marronage' involved permanent escape; 'petit marronage' involved temporary flight. Maroon communities existed throughout the Americas.

The forced transatlantic voyage of enslaved Africans from West Africa to the Americas, forming the second leg of the triangular trade. Conditions were lethal: approximately 15% of captives died during the crossing.

Latin legal doctrine meaning 'the offspring follows the womb.' Adopted in Virginia in 1662, it established that a child's status as enslaved or free followed the mother's condition, making slavery hereditary.

A community formed by escaped enslaved people in Brazil. The most famous, Palmares, existed for nearly a century (c. 1605-1694) and housed an estimated 20,000 people at its peak.

The blending of different religious or cultural traditions into new forms. In the African diaspora, it typically refers to the merging of African spiritual practices with Christianity, producing religions like Vodou, Santeria, and Candomble.

The three-legged Atlantic trade system connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas. European goods went to Africa, enslaved Africans were shipped to the Americas, and raw materials returned to Europe.

The succession of powerful states in West Africa including Ghana (c. 300-1200), Mali (c. 1235-1600), and Songhai (c. 1464-1591), which controlled trans-Saharan trade, built cities, and fostered centers of learning like Timbuktu.