Essay On African American Culture

Slavery began in the late 16th century to early 18th century. Africans were brought to American colonies by white masters to come and work on their plantations in the South. They were treated harshly with no payments for all their hard work. In addition, they lived under harsh living conditions, and this led to their resistance against these harsh conditions. The racism towards the African Americans who were slaves was at its extreme as they did not have any rights; no civil nor political rights.

Many of our life lessons were often given by our elders in the form of stories, jokes, and the spirituals which serve often song in the fields, as well as, on Sunday mornings. Yet, as a people, we thought it necessary to hold on these priceless teachings because it has served as the only link to our African ancestry. African American culture is both part of and distinct from American culture. African Americans have contributed literature, agricultural skills, foods, clothing, dance, and language to American culture.

African American Studies is a very complex subject. To confuse African American studies with black history is a common occurrence. African American studies is much deeper and more profound than just Black history alone. There are many unanswered and unasked questions among the Black American culture which causes confusion and misunderstanding in modern day society. In unit one there were many themes, concepts, and significant issues in the discipline of Africana studies. Both W.E.B Du Bois and Vivian V. Gordan touched on many concerns.

African American culture and history is important in learning to do the things you want to do in life. Even though they may not have had an advantage, they still where an important part of learning and history.

As an African-American male of Nigerian descent growing up in the United States, my parents constantly talked about my heritage and invariably enforced it on me throughout my 17 years in this world. As an adolescent I often see my parents on the phone with my relatives in Nigeria discussing their daily struggles, lack of food, little or no electricity and the withering health of the old and the young due to lack of medication and treatment. This prompts my parents to constantly send money to their loved ones. This sparked my awareness of the problems that Nigerian community and the rest of the third world countries are going through. How my parents voluntarily support their relatives has made me to participate in more volunteer activities in my Maryland Community. I have joined the National English Honor Society at my school and I participated in a home makeover program with “My Girlfriend’s House” Community Program to help the less fortunate by providing them with food and new living utensils. The many charitable acts I have done resulted from my cultural background and I plan to continue doing this during and after college.

Actually, Africans contributed to the construction of the first church in Jamestown, Virginia in 1647 among many other people. Africans were treated better before the first African slaves arrived in 1619. African slaves could marry through their church, they could practice the settler’s religion during earlier years of the sixteen hundred. However, the African slaves were limited after servitude was becoming the social norms of society. Despite the restrictions African slaves faced on a daily basis, slaves were able to continue to practice their religious beliefs from their place of origin. Furthermore, African American were able to adapt parts of the Christian faith with their own personal practice of religion that was also contributed to their political stance of slavery overall.

Our generation is made up of a new identity, whether you believe a certain religion of you are a certain race you can make a new life in America. The older white citizen can tell you how hard it was for them as a child, sometimes having to wake up at the crack of dawn to go and work all day in the berry fields for a nickle a quart. But they did not know by doing so that they were shaping their American identity. If you were to go up to an older African-American man or woman they would have told you a completely different story.

People who migrate from the English-speaking Caribbean grew up in a less racially oppressed environment. As a result, those who are dark skinned have a greater sense of self-worth and confidence. When migrated to the United States they approach the question of job search and was more than willing to work certain professions with a different set of attitudes compared to that of their native blacks. Black Caribbean’s looked down on African Americans because they felt that they were not enthusiastic enough to take the many opportunities that were laid before them in the United States. Most of the jobs African Americans refused were either low paid, had poor working conditions or jobs with low status.

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.

An American is somebody who is willing to except others culture, no matter how strange it is compared to the “American culture”. An American is somebody who excepts others reliogion, race, ethnictity, gender, and sexuality even if it opposes what he or she was raise to believe. An American is someone who doesn’t consider others as outsiders, but welcome new comers with great hospitality, and encourage them to bring along their culture. America itself was founded by immegrants from Spain, France, Great Britain, the later came African Americans and more. If America was founded by new comers who brought along their cultures and those cultures mixed to form America the Great then why cant, even more new cultures come and be mixed to create America the Greatest?

Ever since the late 16th century African American people have been treated unfairly and forced to work as slaves against their will. The religion, racism has turned our world upside down by defacing colored people’s homes and stores and physically harming the African American people. “A product of the belief that humans are divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called ‘races’ is racism, an ideology based on the notion that some races are innately superior to others,”(Race and ethnicity). In the modern 21st century African American citizens are being denied jobs, homes, and service in shops which I not only believe is wrong but needs to be eliminated around the world. The religion that is racism is currently being protected

The fourth book I found about African American culture and identity is called Mr. Williams (Barbour, 2005). This book was a story about Mr. Williams and all of the stories from his childhood. Throughout the story, he described his living standards, work life, education life, and relationships he had with whites. As mentioned in the beginning of the story, Mr. Williams was born February 28, 1929 in Arcadia, Louisiana. This time frame was given to inform the reader that it was during slavery and the same year Martin Luther King Jr. was born. It helps the audience gain perspective on historical events that occurs, specifically before the Civil Rights Movement. There was never a timeline of events with specific conflicts and a solution in this

African American culture contains aspects of both African and European culture at its roots. While there are claims that all traces of African heritage were beaten and stolen through processes of acculturation, I believe that the foundation, as well as a significant portion of practices and behaviors can be found in African culture. Many slaves held on tightly to their African heritage, while a slave culture sought invisibility through assimilating into European American culture. These major influences helped shape modern African American culture. I will use resources provided to me in the form of articles and films to provide evidence of African and European influences in African American culture. First I will explain basic concept of

Interviewer: In recent national news African American culture has been in the spotlight. Due to recent events like police shootings and the black lives matter movement. How have these impacted your life and culture?

Scholars have dedicated their time and attention to furthering the discipline of African American Studies and can define the field with many different definitions. Through looking at the origins and development in the study we can see how it became a legitimate academic field. As we study the writings of the African American intellect, it will fully explain the importance of the discipline. Their work will justify the study of cultural and historical experiences of Africans living in Africa or the African Diaspora. When examining the scholar’s arguments we can develop our own intellectually informed rationalization of the field of African American Studies.