Take this brief Survey of your knowledge of Africa

There are interesting facts about Africa.  Take this brief survey to learn more about Africa.

https://docs.google.com/a/umich.edu/forms/d/1yMavQZv-vEsVC73r-0FOkX1CNMeTNGz6NNWM4IfSuWA/viewform

African and African-American Studies offers a major and minor course of study which focuses on the history and cultural legacies of Africans and African Americans.  

Students completing the African and African American Studies degree will acquire knowledge concerning the following:

• The continuities of beliefs, cultural principles and structures, customs and practices of everyday life that link continental African cultures and African diasporan cultures.
• The major developments of African American history from the American colonial period to the present; the canon texts and central thinkers in African and African American intellectual history, as well as the relation of this historical legacy to the emergence of the discipline of African and African American Studies.
• The cultural production and achievements of Africans and African Americans in the visual and performing arts and literature.
• The critical role played by African and African American labor in the U.S. and European economies, from the slave trade to the contemporary global economy.
• The significant role of the family, multiple religious and spiritual practices, and the Black Church, in sustaining African American communities.
• The social, political and economic difficulties and prejudices faced by other marginalized sectors of U.S. society.
• The value of achieving an international and global consciousness to function effectively in the 21st Century.

In addition, AAAS majors will be able to demonstrate:

• Analysis of the progress, setbacks, important movements and the contributions of major leaders in African American and diaspora historical development.
• Ability to draw connections between contemporary African American social problems (e.g. the wide-scale poverty characteristic of African American urban communities), their historic roots, and relevant hegemonic policies and practices.
• Competence in research methods, oral presentation and expository writing.

The courses to choose from start at106, which covers the African History and culture from various time periods from pre-history to present. The emphasis of this course will be the roots of the African culture, the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the African diaspora in the New World, the European conquest and character of the colonial order and the ongoing struggle to end the legacy of alien domination.  
This class is very informative and interesting using various methods of learning.  One such method is the documentary written and presented by Basil Davidson called Voyage of Discovery there are eight episodes, episode one being Separate but Equal.

To view the eight episodes of this documentary click http://www.banthenword.org/cgi-bin/pseek/dirs.cgi?lv=2&ct=History-Africa_Series_by_Basil_Davidson

Lift Every Voice

Agusta Savage was an artist in the Harlem Renaissance.  In 1939, Savage was commissioned to create a sculpture for the New York's World Fair.  This picture is a replica of a life size sculpture she created  and named "The Harp"  it was an exhibit in the court of the Contemporary Arts building.  The sculpture depicts a group of twelve singers in graduated heights symbolizing the strings of a harp.  The Sounding board was formed by the hand and arm of God and the kneeling man holding music represented the foot pedal.  When she made the design, there were no funds available to cast it, and no facility to house it.  After the fair, the sculpture was demolished along with all the other art in the fair.


  For more information: visit the Smithsonian American Art Museum at (www.americanart.si.edu)