African History And Self Hatred

In the article ‘Black People in a White People’s Country’ by Gary Nash, he explains how slavery gave Africans a low role in America’s society, and how because slavery was allowed in the New World, they were “Socially and legally defined as less than people...”. It wasn’t just the fact that they were enslaved that made people treat them horribly, but also where they came from. In the eyes of a European, Africans were very different,

In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.

“You are a nothing little nigger” is one of the demeaning phrases African American human beings have heard over the years in an effort to keep them in a state of persecution. This paper will discuss the persecution of the African American. The following documents the struggles, gut wrenching pain, and heart ache of African American people have endured and are still suffering with today.

Barbara Cooper argues that the gap between African historians and the general field of historians is derived from the many debates surrounding the legitimacy of oral sources as a tool of understanding the evolution and development of Africa and its past. As a result of this, the exciting developments occurring within African history have been “…rendered unintelligible to academic historians in general” (Cooper 211) as the methodological research that Africanists put into acquiring and using oral sources are overlooked and ignored. She encourages other historians to utilize this research and for African history scholars to do their part as well by participating in conversations with other historians and debates to bring their work to light. All in the hopes that African history becomes relevant and exciting to a larger audience including historians outside the African field of work, as this history is too important to be

The slave owners would excuse the Africans as an inferior species all together, and labeled them as “lazy” and ‘violent.” Even after slavery was abolished in 1865, an onslaught of hatred came the way of the African Americans in the form of terrorist attacks, lynchings, and the formation of the KKK. In 2016, it is extremely rare to see displays of racism so blatant, at least with the intent to harm people of color proudly expressed. That doesn’t mean Black people do not experience this type of abuse anymore, people have just gotten better at hiding their prejudice. Whether we are aware or not, the habit of discriminating, especially towards those with dark skin, has manifested itself into every part of our lives and society. This leads us to unconsciously act a certain way towards some racial minorities or at least be ignorant to the fact that there is anything wrong with how we behave. Many people refer to 2016 America as a “post-racial society” where race is no longer a problem. These are the same people who think police brutality, and racial profiling isn't real and that the “Black Lives Matter” movement is just a group of overly-sensitive attention seekers. To say institutionalized racism doesn't exist means that they are privileged enough to not have to constantly be aware of the

In todays’ society many African Americans’ including myself do not know where there furthest ancestor came from let alone existed; to be honest, the only people of African descent that really know where they come from are those who were born and raised in Africa due to their family not moving. All we know or assume is that our ancestor was brought from Africa; however, that is as much as we know, most African Americans including myself embrace Africa as the motherland but we tend to wonder how deep is our ancestral lineage is rooted within this illustrious continent of Africa. It is no surprise that the slave trade is the reason to blame for our broken connection back to Africa; one can say that the slave trade was economically beneficial to society at that point; however, everything about this unethical and morally repugnant trade, has plagued the African American community till this day. We as a people were set up to be disunited when our ancestor were put in shackles and put on a boat that sailed to the new world .And to this day the constant oppressive nature purposely continue to try to divide and conquer our race, so that we continue to erase any notion of Africa. If disunity is the key of the oppressor; then we must be that strong and resistant door that does not open or budge, which ultimately symbolizes unity we must displayed day in and day out.

The history of America is one that can’t be discussed without talking about the Negro. Whether we want to admit it or not, the Negro has played an integral part in making what America what it is today. If it wasn’t for the profits generated from slavery, there would have been no way that America would have been the country that it is today. The slavery that the Negro endured has produced some positive and negatives, but it is the negatives that have been something that the Negro hasn’t been able to overcome for hundreds of years. It is these same negatives that have compelled some of the greatest black minds in history to create solutions to these problems. Minds such as Crummell, W.E.B Du Bois are some of the minds that have come up with

When asked why is there a need for African American studies? One must understand the Eurocentric and political game the American school system imposes on young children African American students are bombarded with negative stereotypes throughout primary school and sometimes even college. The American school curriculum has a conservative effort in glorifying everything European from European art, history and music, while African American history is crammed in the month of February. During this month African American history starts with the slave trade and ends with Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech.” They refuse to enlighten students on the great African empires or the great African American inventors. Instead they are educated about slavery and how they were savages before the intervention of Europeans. Therefore, leaves lots of African American students ashamed of their history and creates this negative perspective of not wanting to be black. This leads to the question Malcom X stated in his speech, “who taught you to hate yourself?”

I agree that what we already know and have general ideas of can change how we see things. Like with the AOK history. The concept of history can change the way Caucasians or African Americans view slavery. White people may view slavery as a good thing or a bad thing and view black people as equals or not. They may feel horrible about what their people has done to African Americans in the past and become sympathetic to them.White people may feel guilty. African Americans may not be as understanding to white people.

It would be easy to give the names and accomplishments of a thousand great African ancestors, but to do that diminishes the contributions of the community. In African societies, it is the collective works of the people that make our nations great. We know the names of Ahmose I and Ahmose the son of Ibana, and we’ve read the stories how they drove the Asiatics out of Africa saving Kemet from the foreigners, but how many countless and nameless ancestors were actually responsible for the revolutionary event? For every name that we know, there are millions who we don’t that are equally ancestral. Equally involved in our conquests and discoveries.

This week’s lecture notes, group discussions, and readings really resonate with me in all aspects. By reflecting on my childhood experiences in early 1980s in the United States of America, where I experienced discrimination from my fellow African American classmates, who believed that they have no association with Africa as a result, treated me very gravely through their verbal and physical abuse. I assumed their beliefs generated from the Eurocentric idea and colonization whereby assimilated and acculturated these African slaves into the European culture. Inevitably, the result generated denouncing any relationship with Africa or its people. At the same time they considered them a minority within their social existences and viewed as second-class citizens in the country they considered their own.

notion, Africans were not only perceived as culturally alien people who inhabited a different geographical space but were also denizens a different time. Africa was the land of childhood removed from the light of self conscious history” This mechanism of thought contributed to the foreclosing of any relationship of kinship between Africans and European natives. This notion even helps bolster the stance of corrupt western governments who don’t fulfill the needs of their people. They use Africa as a scapegoat to cover up their failures and shortcomings and the Victim is the distraught African people.

Africa’s has obtained a poor representation of its deep past, during the past couple of weeks we have watched, read and researched information on this topic. Africa has been known to be backwards, poor, and disconnected from the rest of the world. Which we have proven false throughout this course, as a result, we will focus on five maps and a few readings that have proven Africa’s deep past has had inquired and false truths.

Throughout history African Americans have been treated as if they were the inferior race. Their spirits, mentality, and physical well-being has been beaten tortured and abused since they were first brought here legally in 1651 (National Geographic). As time has passed African Americans are still suffering like their ancestors, but their suffering today is different and not as vicious as their ancestors had to go through. In the progression (or in this case digression) it begins to seem as if African Americans were finally getting the equal rights and respect they deserved, but in today’s society there are still individuals that want to wreak havoc on the African American community. Many of those individuals want the African American community to know that they are not welcomed and that they are still an inferior and disposable race.

Growing up, I was taught about slaves in that they were these savages and Africans would enslave each other. In Howards Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, he explains how the Africans were just as advanced as countries in Europe and had included large urban centers, skilled farming, iron, and remarkable achievements (Zinn, 1980, p. 26). The only difference between the countries in Africa and Europe is the Africans were as brutal as the Europeans. In Roots episode 1 they show the process of the enslavement of the Africans and how the Africans had a civilized form of life. The western world had a need for labor in their capitalist system and used racism to justify enslaving people.