The Cultural Achievements of West Africa

Which of these is the best example of an oral tradition?

• a great-grandmother's photo album
• a grandfather playing a game with his grandchildren
• a grandmother's diary found at the base of ancient ruins
• a grandfather telling a story about his childhood

ow did West Africans preserve their history before writing was introduced?

• Booksellers made marks with sharp sticks on wet clay.
• Painters made a long series of paintings like a comic strip.
• Foreign visitors kept the only record of events in the region.
• Poet-musicians named Griots memorized the stories to pass them down.

The genealogy of a family gives information about the family member's

• jobs.
• houses
• ancestry.
• Recreation.

Like a xylophone it is made of wooden bars laid across a frame. The musician strikes the bars with a mallet, or hammer, to make melodies.

• ngoni
• kora
• balafon
• harp

This type of West African textile [clothing] is both beautiful and symbolic. It is called..

• call-and-response
• terra-cotta
• applique
• kente

How did traditional West African folktales come to the Americas?

• Traders sold them.
• Enslaved people brought them.
• Explorers discovered them.
• Missionaries wrote them down.

Many West African folktales feature a trickster. In these stories, the trickster

• wins by physical strength.
• outsmarts other characters.
• tells stories of local history.
• has a great deal of good luck.

What does the proverb below indicate about West African society?“Every time an old man dies, it is as if a library has burned down."

• the value placed on books
• the significance of visual arts
• the importance of oral tradition
• the respect paid to young people

Which of the following music genres does NOT use the West African call-and-response style?

• to create special kente
• to bring spirits of gods and ancestors into the present
• by weavers making special textiles
• by traders conducting secret business

In which language were most of the earliest books written in West Africa?

• Latin
• Arabic
• Mande
• Egyptian