WHI-Chap19-Obj6
Larger Sub-Saharan societies would recognize a aristocratic or ruling elite, and always recognized a class of religious authorities. In smaller states one's social status was determined by a person’s, age, and gender. Kinship groups were groups of extended family and clans who people shared all of their belongings with one another. The male heads of each family would work together to govern the village. In Sub-Saharan Africa one's gender largely determined work roles. Leather tanning and iron working were done by males but, women in blacksmith families would help serve as potters. Both men and women worked together in harvesting and planting crops. Besides domestic responsibilities, women were able to become merchants and they participated actively in both local and long distance trade in Africa. The introduction of Islam did not change the status of woman; women were still allowed to talk freely with men outside their family and have a role in society. People of Sub-Saharan Africa were also separated by age grades. Age grades consisted of individuals who were within a couple years of age from one another. Depending on one's age grade would establish the work that person was to participate in. This was important because through working together individuals established bonds and alliances between different kinship groups. Another class of individuals was slaves. Slaves were mostly prisoners of war. Since members of kinship did not own their own land, the amount of slaves one had determined a person’s wealth.
