African Diaspora Essay

“Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America The Four Great Migrations. By Ira Berlin. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Pp 289”

Marcus Garvey, a ‘proponent of Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements” (), once stated that “a people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” (Good Reads Quotes) He was in fact very much so right. Most people in this world care about where they come from, who they descended from and where the backbone of their identity lies. Have you ever wondered why almost most orphans tend to look for their family lines or go out in search of where they belong? It is with this very essence my quest to look for answers and investigate about two very distinct yet similar groups. The groups I examine throughout this paper are Africans and African-Americans. What I seek to find out is why two very ‘distinct’ yet similar groups of people fail to see eye to eye, judging from the fact that Africans and African-Americans look alike, originated from Africa and their histories and culture somehow intertwine with each other. The main question here really is: what are the factors that hinder the relationship between Africans and African-American people.

The Africans captured during the Middle Passage encompassed a variety of ethnic groups that did not identify as a singular unit, but slavery in the Americas forced them to see themselves as such, and further isolated them from their individual identities and brought them closer to the institution of slavery. This is exemplified in the attempt to repatriate African-American slaves in 1787 in the United States. It was unsuccessful because of the fact that these African-Americans no longer belonged to simply one ethnic group/tribe/nation. Rather, they were a multifaceted composition of a wide array of various groups in Africa. The attempt at repatriation was disastrous because of the extensive cultural differences between the ‘returnees’ and the

Bowles, M. (2011). A history of the United States since 1865. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

In The Southern Diaspora, James N. Gregory tells the story of migration between the whites and blacks of the south. He focuses on how the whites and blacks moved from the south to the north. Gregory illustrates how two completely different races come together to uplift the American society. Not only does he illustrate the unity of blacks and whites, he also focuses on how the two races had to adapt to a new way of living. Gregory concentrates on how this particular migration recreated the social and political perspective of America.

The slave trade during this period of time from 1440 to 1867 was extremely profitable to merchants in European colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean because of the introduction and expanding growth of cash crops over there. Although profitable it changed how society worked in Africa and the colonies. The amount of slaves transported from the continent of Africa was a staggering 12.5 million native Africans1. Of those 12 million one-third would be die on the trip overseas due to various reasons such disease, exhaustion, and malnourishment. They were exported to

During the European Renaissance, the immigration of African individual to Europe were mostly for economic purposes which, indirectly caused an increase in cultural diversity within Europe. However, a vast majority of Africans during the European Renaissance were slaves. European’s definition of “civilization” was to classify aliens and divide them into two class, “civilized” and “the barbarian”. To be considered civilized, it depended on a number of factor regarding hierarchical structure, social organisation, and descendant history. This label allowed European to distinguished themselves apart from Africans by labeling them uncivilized. Their notion forecasts the relationship with Africans in the Renaissance. Throughout the European Renaissance, not much was known about Africans due to the European's poor documentation of them. Recovering pieces of Africans’ history, especially the relationship with European, is vital because more knowledge of their past will demystify any misconceptions.

During the 19th century the East Africa was marked by the sadness event of slave trading in response to larger demanding markets. For a long time the exportation of slaves was made through the Red Sea and Indian Ocean to supply the Muslin world. However there was a greatly expansion of slave trades to the Atlantic ocean during 19th century.

1. The pottery Seated Male Figure from Mali is an example of a non- frontal figure. This Sculpture displays a man sitting with his right leg bent and his left leg pulled up into his chest. He has his right arm over his heart and his left arm across his shoulder. There are many raised bumps on his body. His face id shifted slightly to the left and he appears to be concentrating. The caption explains that he is communicating with the gods.

The title, "On Being Brought from Africa to the America" is nearly as frank as you can get. This poem is clearly about the writer’s thoughts about being transported as a slave from Africa such as, Gambia or Senegal areas that were not considered to be Christian land by America’s standards. The identification additionally makes known the concept of suggestion, or change. Phyllis makes use of metaphorical dialectal within the poem, and just as, she become converted from being a pagan to a Christian. The title tells us about being moved from one area to another. One would have observed that the word, brought is utilized and implemented not words such as, kidnapped or stolen. There were no other phrases utilized or implement to indicate the struggle that slaves persisted as they had been taken far away from their place of birth. Phyllis clearly uses a positive tone. “On Being Brought” is the passive form that Wheatley utilizes, in order to make a direct statement. She associates her coming to America as

Thus, the concept of Diaspora has different meanings to different people according to their different circumstances. For instance, when the Jews were exiled from the Babylon, they were uprooted from their own homes and they had to rebuild their community and culture all over again, for them the diaspora had different meaning since it was forced. But today the meaning of Diaspora could be limited to any community of a particular nation outside its own country, sharing some common bonds that eventually give the community a new identity within their existing identity, it is notable that this kind

Who are African Diasporas, do we refer to people who were forced to disperse to the Americans and Caribbean during the 1500s to 1800s, or we refer to native Africans moving abroad to settle down. Any of these group falls under the name African diasporas, the culture and values of the African people brought down from generation to generation might have been forgotten by the Africans been forcefully dispersed, but for the native Africans settling in parts of Europe and America, it a question of how to preserve one’s culture in a foreign land. . This diaspora, this African diaspora started in the 16th century, included an estimated 10.7 million forced migrants—about 2 million had died during the Middle Passage—from West, West-Central, and Southeastern

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olandah Equiano provides a view of Africa and the rest of the world from the perspective of either an African taken into slavery early in his life or a slave of African descent born in the British colonies. Olandah Equiano’s narrative reveals more about the African Diaspora than it does African history itself, particularly with his birthplace called into question. If he was born in Africa as he claims, Equiano’s narrative provides a primary source for the history of the slave trade in Africa and Nigerian history. If he was born in South Carolina, his narrative provides a secondary source for these areas. In either case, Equiano’s narrative accurately reveals the horrors of the Atlantic Slave

but it still makes the painting look warm as it is mixed with either a

African diaspora signifies to the societies throughout the world that have resulted by lineage from the movement of individuals from Africa primarily to the Americans and among other regions across the world. The phrase has been historically pertained in general to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were enslaved and transported to the Americas through the Atlantic slave trade. The term of diaspora originates from the Latin word “diaspeirein” meaning “disperse”. Therefore, the term African Diaspora refers to the “dispersal” of Africans beyond mainland Africa. The concluding usage of the term is therefore a support term to define a variation of personalities and groups, who can be labeled as members of the African Diaspora. We acknowledge the depth of the diverse assemblies under the term “African Diaspora”, who may have come from conflicting ends of the continent, have left under different circumstances, and may be integrated into their communities to different extents.In the beginning fifteenth century, Europeans seized or acquired African slaves from west Africa and transported them to the Americas and Europe. The Atlantic Slave Trade terminated in the nineteenth century, while the Arab Slave Trade concluded in the middle of the twentieth century. The dispersal concluded slave trading signifies the prevalent involuntary migrations in human history. The commercial effect on the African continent was devastating, as originations were taken from their