The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a Smithsonian Institution and showcases African American culture and community. With thousands of artifacts on display, this informative museum explores how American values are reflected in African American culture. Hosting interactive exhibitions and informative stories, this museum will educate and enlighten all
Museums serve as a way to connect with the public on a large scale, and the knowledge held within exhibits can be a fruitful experience for those who choose to visit these institutions. Experiencing all that a museum has to offer, no matter how well intentioned, can at times be confusing and overwhelming to the individuals visiting the site. The Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian dedicates itself to Native Americans in North and South America, and worked tirelessly with varying tribes to create a new standard. Some visitors and scholars found their work to be successful in design and approach while others found it to be lacking in execution. This institution does not approach Native American history in a familiar fashion; however it does cover an expansive period of time, and produces a great amount of detail while generating powerful emotions.
One of the things I noticed in the chapter was that slave owners would use the beliefs of African American slaves to control them to not escape or conspire together (or the “ghosts”/night doctors would take them for research). I found it interesting how racial tension played a major role in the science industry.
Founded in 1965, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History showcases the world's largest permanent exhibit on African American culture. My visits there are always educational and profoundly moving. The museum has an incredible perspective on the past and the present journey of African Americans. At the same time, it takes us on a comprehensive journey of the African American contribution to the world. Today, I will take us on that journey and paint a vivid image of Charles H. Wright Museum.
“Cooning” was a TV show or Film usually they act like idiot behavior that misrepresents African American culture. I think idiot because that shows a deliberate act. Many people called “coons.” Yes, I saw some examples today’s culture some white people still discriminate black people. Some white people were enjoying it, and that seems to some people they insulted African- American behaves. African-American got angry. It was not fair at all that behavior. All are good examples.
African Americans have endured many trials and tribulations over the centuries. Our people have suffered from war, violence, and anguish simply because of the color of our skin. Our history has been so blatantly missing from textbooks and the K-12th grade educational atmosphere. Our educational system continues to neglect the history of our African American ancestors and fail to provide them with the educational resources to inform them of our past and allow them to learn about the true origins of our culture. We have made many significant contributions to the world but those have also been highly ignored as well.
The purpose of this research is to identify the uniqueness and diversity of people and practices of the African American culture. Each culture in life has some similarities and some differences. The similarities and differences that are present in a culture is what make the culture what it is. When dealing with a culture, race, ethnicity, of a people or religion it has a history of where it originates and or a heritage that that culture or people can relate to and always go back to, because this is what sets a
Over the course of this semester, I was introduced to many people, ideas, writings, and discussions that sparked my interest and enlightened me on African American history. However, I feel like this was just the beginning of my journey of learning the history of my people, as there is still so much out there to be brought to the surface. Prior to taking this course, I was always ignorant on the topic of African American history and simply made the connection to slavery. Additionally, I was unaware of other black activist, movements, and struggles that I had the chance to witness for the first time in this class. I came to a realization of how deprived of this information I was, because other historic events have been deemed more important. A quote that stuck with me throughout the course that was made by Arthur Schomburg was, “... African history and negro history, are the missing pages of world history”.
African-American history are those events that started with the first slave ships from Africa to the Caribbean Islands and carry through their journey as a people both individually and collectively to today's societies across the Americas.
There is no doubt that African Americans have a rich cultural background and history like the many different ethnic groups who settled in the New World, whose origins lie in another country. For this reason, America was known as the melting pot. However, the backgrounds of each of these cultures were not always understood or, in the case of African Americans, accepted among the New World society and culture. Americans were ignorant to the possibility of differences among groups of people until information and ideas started to emerge, particularly, the African retention theories. This sparked an interest in the field of African culture and retention in African Americans. However, the study of African American culture truly emerged as a result of increased awareness in America, specifically through the publication and findings of scholarly research and cultural events like the Harlem Renaissance where all ethnicities were able to see this rich historical culture of African Americans.
I firmly believe that the point of visiting a museum is to educate one on how things once were in the past through its display of artifacts, exhibits, art, cultural objects, etc. Its purpose is to let you imagine what it was like during a time you were not apart of or, in some cases, allow you to look back at a time you were apart of when you were very young. The African-American Museum of Long Island did a great job at presenting some of the many African-American contributions to society. In addition to presenting contributions from the African-American community, the museum was able to show us some of the struggle they were required to overcome as well.
The mission of the students around the country who fought for an education that would shed light on African Americans. The progress the students created is seen today in American Universities ,and also HBCUs, where (AAS)African American Studies is implemented into the curriculum. Before, the dissection the formation of AAS, it should be noted that without the sacrifice from others I undoubtedly would not be writing about AAS ,or reflecting on the significance it has created for generations so far.
The photo of the artifact above is a dress sewn by Rosa parks, so it is considered clothing.
Introduction to African American Studies was the class that I decided to take this summer because I am genuinely interested in learning more about the cultures and lifestyles of African Americans through out history and I want to further my knowledge beyond just learning about what was taught to me in secondary school. I do not know much about African American studies as I have not taken any courses on it or relating to it in the past but I hope that I can gain a lot of information on the topic through out this intellectual experience. I also hope to gain a better understanding of the history of Africans and African Americas and be able to dive deeper into this topic instead of just hitting the surface as I feel as though my previous experiences with this topic have covered. In just this first weeks lesson I have learned about the three great principles that characterize the “Black Intellectual Tradition” and how these three principles are used and perceived.
The African American experience is one that is quite different from other racial/ ethnic groups. The majority of the first African American came over, unwillingly, on ships from various African countries. They were brought to America by white, European settlers to be used as slaves in an order to plant and harvest their crops and make money for the white man. This racial group was treated as if they were property and not people. However, with the ending of the American Civil War, African Americans gained freedom, freedom that not all white American were quite ready to handle. After gaining their freedom came the need for education, jobs and suffrage rights. Now in America this racial group has come a long way, having elected its first African American present for two terms, yet still there are many issues that are very prevalent. This racial group has been fighting their way to equality since the birth of this nation. African Americans have experienced an array of conflict, violence, stereotypes, prejudice acts, and discrimination against them throughout their history in America.
The slavery section in the African exhibit represents sadness and darkness throughout these times. At the end of the exhibit, the slavery section was dark and had a bad vibe. It was represented by ropes and chains on the walls, which they used to the slaves. There was low sanitation because Africans were stuck in a small space, with no windows. The mood of the section was sorrowing and dark because it showed a dark time in Africa. This affects the tourists because it is an accurate demonstration of how slave's life was like in Africa. The design of the exhibit was critical to show tourists slave's life and referred us back to a bad time. The slavery section in the exhibit shows the darkness of this time in