African-American History And Culture

In this paper I discuss the African-American culture in regards to values, norms and beliefs.

Enslaved Africans first brought their way of art to the United States. Art in some form or another has existed for as long as mankind can remember. It is a part of our daily lives and is portrayed in cultures all around the world. Art provides us with a deeper understanding of emotions, it can represent someone’s life in just one drawing or painting That is how Africans were able to express themselves and their stories. Through their art, many were able to learn about their struggles

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.

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 20th century was a decade of great sorrows and improvement in the African American culture. The beginning of the civil right movement, the contrary to Brown vs Board of Education and black genres of music replicated the griefs in the African American’s community. The sound of Rhythm and Blues and other form of music were their form of therapeutic tool. With the migration of many southern African Americans migrated to northern and western cities to avoid racism they suffered in the south, their music were embraced by white American which created Rock and Roll outburst. Altschuler (2003) states that, “For African Americans, rock n roll was a mixed blessing. At times a force for integration and racial respect, rock n roll was also an act

All throughout American history, there have been many conflicts involving equality and obeying the social norms. Women and African Americans are the citizens that have faced the most adversity in these problems, but they both also have overcame these adversities and made changes that would go on to change the nation forever. Before World War II, women faced pressure from society to stay at home and support a family while their husbands worked and had fun, and they lacked the rights and respect that men were already granted. Also before World War II, African Americans were isolated from society and had no rights, until the Harlem Renaissance when their culture swept across America. After World War II, women were still pressured to conform to

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

Every culture has a unique way of eating a typical meal with a family. They can differ in ways like the amount of meals per day, timing of those meals, what is the proper etiquette at the table, who is present, if there is a certain structure or hierarchy, who cooks the meal, who cleans afterward, and many more. In this essay the family the meal structure of people in West Africa will be compared and contrasted to that of the people from Mexico. The first group of people to be analyzed are the people from West Africa. The people of West Africa used to typically eat two meals day, one in the late morning and one at night.

The American culture uses class, gender, and race to define one and another. However racism is one of the leading factors of how and who has come out on top in today's society. So grasping a better understanding of racism is key in understanding American culture. The concept of racism is classifying one and another and can be seen as misleading as far in the equality of human life. Defining someone by their race can be discriminatory, but it can also disregard common sense. So how did we get to this point in American culture and how have we not advance through this period of discrimination.

After World War II, America underwent an era where they saw themselves as undefeatable and superior to the rest of the world. America sought to get rid of Communism in the world and because of the extreme paranoia caused by it, conformity became an ideal way of living in order to seperate American culture from the rest. In the 1950’s, the suburbs were beginning to develop and grow larger. Masses of African Americans were migrating towards the north to the big cities, and white middle-class/rich families left to live in the suburbs to get away from crime and redlining in the city.

In “Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices,” Stuart Hall explains representation throughout African American history. In addition, the paper explains racism through a number of questions and activities. In the first section of his paper, he explains the early beginning of racism deriving from the European exploration into other continents, from discovering other cultures especially in Africa. In addition, adventures by Europeans were often recorded through advertising, mapping and travel writing on expeditions in the 19th century. This resulted in commodity racism, in which African Americans became a form of entertainment for the Victorian middle class in the British Empire (Hall 229).

African Americans brought over a distinctive culture into America from Africa. The Africans can create many different sounds that we never knew about. They revived the way we held church and worship, and brought joy to many citizens. African Americans enslaved by the South created a truly magnificent culture in slavery using new music, oral traditions, and religious ideas.

When speaking to a coworker who culture is German, we could relate to some things and we had some differences beings though my culture is African American. There were some things we could relate on about our cultures being similar such as most Germans are Christian he stated, and with my culture it is about the same, you do have people who are not Christian but majority of the population is. Another thing that he mentioned that we had alike was I asked what holidays he celebrate and he stated Christmas and Easter which is another thing we have in common. He states how they strive for the best and works very hard, I think that is in most cultures. In both of our cultures we like to be well organized and be able to maintain schedules, agendas making sure we stay on the right track. Some differences about our cultures would contain he stakes that he speak German. He says to him German is considered his first language and when he came here to the United States he had to learn to speak English. In my culture most of us already know English but some people just may pronounce things differently. For him he says he had to be taught on how to speak English in order to communicate. He states how no matter what they do they want it to be perfect, and when it’s not they will not admit to their faults and they do not joke very often. He also explains how he is not very friendly in the beginning and that’s just how he is coming from Germany and being German. He says most of the time

In America there are many different cultures and ethnicities among its people such as White, African American, and Hispanic etc. in fact, “According to the United States (US) 2000 census, African Americans represent 13% of the US population and are the second largest ethnic minority group in the country” (Delores 349). Although African Americans (AA) make up one of the largest ethnicities, many people do not understand African American Culture (AAC). AAC can be described differently among people, but some main characteristics of AAC can be related. For some, these concepts are the most important part of their culture and how they embrace it among others. For this research I interviewed a person who considers themselves part of the AA community. Using her life experiences, I will analyze key aspects of AAC such as hair texture, holiday food choices that are family traditions, what its like to be AA in the workplace and the issues that impact AAC such as racism, double consciousness, and low self-esteem.