African-American Holidays

1. Coates has a somewhat chilling description of schools. What are some of the phrases he uses to describe them?

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

Music is a creative art form that allows the artist to construct something that expresses a purpose. It evolves over time and changes as the world changes, taking on many different motivations behind the melody and lyrics. In today’s society, anger, oppression, racism, and negative opinions rule the media and popular culture. I believe that African Americans need to show their self worth and not let white people hold them back. With the music in white culture often mocking African American culture and portraying negative stereotypes, African Americans have to find ways to gain respect. In acknowledgement of the negative portrayal of their culture, African Americans respond by creating songs and videos that express their pride in their culture and heritage, react to white oppression, and communicate their independence.

Africans have, since the early settlement of America, has had a great influence in the nation’s growth. These contributions to the United States from enslaved Africans have been greatly portrayed in American culture. Varying from cuisine, to song and dance are not only portrayed today but it has a deep-rooted impact throughout the United States. During the middle passage, enslaved Africans were forced to abandon their everyday lives, their families and their homes and forced to adapt to a new lifestyle they knew nothing of. However, upon arrival into the New World, due to their prior knowledge and wisdom from back home, they were able to quickly adapt and custom themselves to this new lifestyle in order to survive with the hope of potentially one day returning back to Africa. Unfortunately, African contributions to the culture of the United States has received little to no recognition and it has been taken credit for by Europeans and Whites since the early establishment of the United States.

The African American Culture and Traditions A Research Study and Facts That Will Take Us Into What Makes This Culture So Unique.

I was up raised in a tight-knit Jewish community, in a suburban county in Florida. Having briefly visited New York City as a child, I become fascinated with the great city. I was simply amazed with the cultural vitality of New York, relative to the modest diversity in my neighborhood.

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.

How did the economic situation for blacks change in the late twentieth century compared to the mid twentieth century?

Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, his family and Friends. Dr. Karenga, a professor of African-American History at CSU, Long Beach, was effected by the Watts Riots of the summer of 1965. He felt that African-Americans had lost touch with their African heritage. He began to study ways that they could help themselves and each other. Dr. Karenga wanted to unify his people and instill a pride in their joint culture. He felt that there should be a special time of the year set aside to reflect upon and reaffirm the black community. He studied the harvest and "first fruit" celebrations on many African tribes, and although they all celebrated differently there were

I think yes, because they did a lot of things that is worth celebrating. They do have a lot of older culture. Africa’s history is work. You can learn a lot of things from them. They were really big and really smart they knew how to do a lot of things. I think that all of their hard work and all the things that they did should be honored and celebrated. They could do a lot of things themselves. They were poor but they could manage a lot of things. They even had 11 churches. Therefor, in my opinion they should be celebrated for all the hard work and the history and all that they have done.

I come from African American, middle class, Christian, and family oriented background. Usually when a person grows up being in an African American family the most encouraged or acceptable leisure activities usually depends on what gender you are. If you’re a male then the most encourage leisure activity that your parent might want you to do is Basketball, Football, Boxing, and sometimes Track. If you’re a female then usually they encourage you to do activities like Volleyball, sing, and other stuff that doesn’t involve lots of contact. I wouldn’t say there is an activity that is looked down upon in my culture I think for the most part depending on what type of family you come from, the activities you do doesn’t matter. If the activities aren’t

I have traveled all over the world but I have never been down South. Being from New York has also given me a very narrow perspective of African American culture. The purpose of this research project is to gain some understanding of Black culture specifically in the South. College has exposed me to a lot of people who were born and raised in the South and some of my closest friends are southerners. By researching the history, culture, and demographic information of the South, I plan on becoming a more well-informed American.

Kwanza is an African American and Pan-African holiday that many celebrate worldwide. Many get it confused and try to think of it as “African” Christmas but in reality the holiday’s purpose is to celebrate life. Dr. Maulana Karenga is the founder and creator of the holiday. Dr. Maulana carries a prestigious background with 2 PhD’s one in political science and the other in social ethics. He first introduced the idea of Kwanza at a festival in 1966. Kwanza is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st.The purpose of Kwanza is for African Americans to fully embrace their culture and represent it. The word “kwanza” originates from Kenya, its Kiswahili and translation of the words mean “first”. They’re two things that are key components’

In the Catholic empire, the masters celebrated their carnivals as they had done in their homes in Europe. The Africans were given the same holidays as the masters took and throughout the period of slavery, Carnival was celebrated by both. In the British empire, however, things were different. The enslaved people were given three days’ holiday at Christmas. Rather than joining the masters in a big festival, the enslaved celebrated in their own, African-based way. For whatever reason, these celebrations, which appeared across the British Americas, were called jankunu. They came out at Christmas; they had very particular characters and dances; and they were performed almost exclusively to percussive instruments—drums, bells, and scrapers. Whistles