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African American Culture Research Paper

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There are very many different groups of culture in America; one in particular that represents about 15% of the general population in America is African American culture (Center Of Disease Control, 2002). The African American culture was derived from the country Africa. The African people have been in and out of slavery from many different countries since the beginning of time. The English were not the first to enslave the group of people, but they were the last. When the Africans came over to the Americas in the early 1600’s, they were forced to give up many of their traditions and adapt to whatever their masters gave them to learn from although some of their native culture and history was hidden in their spirituals. When coming over to the …show more content…

When the group came over to the Americas after being introduced to the unhealthy scraps of meat byproducts, they dressed up they scraps in various seasoning and added items like greens, rice, grits, white and sweet potatoes, corn, turnips, eggplant, peanuts, homemade desserts, spinach, collards, mustard, kale, and cabbage (Dimensions of Culture, 2010). They made the best out of what they were given through their gruesome economic issues and soon they became habit and create challenges for changing behaviors and lowering disease risk in this population. In 1996, 28% of the diets of African American were deemed unhealthy compared to their white counterparts (Dimensions of Culture, 2010). With the struggling economic status of the African American group, fast and processed foods which are normally seen as inexpensive are the blame for the poor diets. Currently, the number one cause of death among African Americans is heart disease with both diabetes and stroke in the top five (Center Of Disease Control, 2002). In 2001, the death rate for diabetes was twice as high as the death rate for the white Americans (Center Of Disease Control, 2002). In the opinion of many, soul food is not worth the hassle of major health problems in the future. Just like soul food is an important part to their culture so is making sure their soul is right is as

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