The dark tint represents the large population of Africans in Africa before the Europeans came. “Some estimate that without slavery the population of Africa would have been double the 25m it had reached by 1850”(BBC). Before Europeans invaded Africa, Africa had a population of 25 million people. The large population helped Africa maintain strong kingdoms such as Axum and Mali.
The black color of the Supra represents the variety of traditional religions that different African groups worshipped. The color black can represent all different religions since the mix of all colors make black, therefore black can represent a mixture of many religions that different Africans practiced. “The first opinion is that there are several African Religions. The reason given is that these religions are tribal / clan based and therefore there are as many religions as there are tribes / clans” (African Mission). The variety of traditional religions allowed Africans to practice any religion freely. When missionaries from Europe came, many Africans accepted
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The system of African kingdoms allowed them to be more organized and have more control in across the kingdom. The order brought by the hierarchal system strengthened kingdoms by having less disputes and being more unified.
The clean, clear hood represents how little conflict there was in Africa and the unification of Africa. “They also shared other cultural characteristics such as matrilineal social organization and a cosmology expressed in their religious beliefs and practices”(Captivity). Africa was once unified and had a syncretism between different cultures across Africa. The bond shared within each kingdom made Africa stronger and invulnerable to European
During the years of slavery in America, slave associations were of great concern to slave owners. Many members of white society saw Black religious meetings as a threat to white existence. Despite this, slaves relied heavily on the churches, as they offered a kind of therapy for them, and as the slaves retained their faith in God, they found protection within their churches. Although the slaves practiced their religion, the white community did not always accept the slaves as Christians. An unknown slave said, “The white folks would come in when the colored people would have prayer meeting, and whip every one of them. Most of them thought that when colored people were praying it was against them.” The Church has long been the center of Black communities, and it has established itself as a great source of religious enrichment and secular development for African
Africa, like many other continents, was a very tremendous and a very diverse civilization that is very complicated to introduce due to all its wonderful but also diverse features and beliefs. From the differences between its society and language to its religion and politics, Africa always had the reputation that its empires, cities, and kingdoms never progressed in the developments and achievements for their civilization. Many people believed that the Europeans were actually the cause of Africa’s achievements and advanced developments for their civilizations. However, this is further than the whole truth. Before the arrival of the Europeans between the 15th and 16th century, African kingdoms, empires, and cities had many achievements and accomplishments
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.
“Roll, Jordan, Roll”, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Had”, “Go Down, Moses”, and “Wade in the Water” are the titles of only a handful of what were called “Negro Spirituals”, which originated during the reign of slavery in the United States (Frey). Such spirituals used call-and-response, a method of communication that was popular with slaves who brought African traditions to America, and gave way to the gospel music and unique form of preaching characteristic to the Black Church. The history of the Black Church, which began during the slave era, demonstrates the way that African Americans found refuge in Christianity, where the church became the center for African American communities (Baer). Born out of struggle and oppression, the Black Church not only became the focus for the religious practices of African American communities, but also worked to “re-member” the community through rituals such as that of call-and-response, a core element of the Black Church which served as a powerful tool for the African American community in the fight for the exercise of true freedom in America.
The Scramble for Africa can easily be defined as the forced invasion and division of African countries among European superpowers. Those powers included Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and Belgium. Each superpower wanted control over a certain area on the continent and would do anything to ensure that their area remained in their best interest. To bring the conflicts to the forefront, the countries participated in the Berlin Africa Conference in 1884-1885. In this conference, the issues of Anglo-German relations and everybody’s control in Africa were discussed. As a result of the conference, European control began to overtake the African continent and imperialism became a giant part of the European mark. In his book, “Worlds of Color” W.E.B DuBois discusses the idea of whole colonial enterprise stating that the problem the world faces is the color line. This can easily be interpreted as Dr. DuBois giving the idea that if World, more specifically European superpowers stop viewing the color line and Africa’s color line as something less than them a lot of the world’s issues could be detected and fixed. But more importantly, Dr. DuBois is stating that without the Worlds of Color, European industrialization would not exist.
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.
As an African-American in the United States, I participate in activities to help me identify with my race. Yes, there are many types of African-Americans, but we all share similar ideas, values, and traditions that bring everyone closer. As African-Americans, we strongly believe in religion. Since slavery, religion has played a tremendous role in contributing to our beliefs. We believe there is a greater divine who knows our purpose, and has the power to control it. In addition, we believe prayer changes things especially when times become rough and unbearable. It is common for Black children to “grow-up” in the church and attend with their families every Sunday. Although I am in college, this has not change. I attempt to at least go twice out the month.
The idea of Black Theology was to redefine the meaning and role of church and religion in the lives of Black people. The theology of Blacks came to be because of racism, injustice, inhumanity, and inequality. Black Theology was created out of a liberal struggle for political freedom and of the development by the black religious experience.
Africa was once abundant with many resources that were highly valued by the people around them. All of this lead to Africa being able to trade for lots of materials they didn't have access too. This allowed many to grow rich but in the end slavery permanently damaged the african society. Africa was part of a system of both regional and international trade however trade affected people's lives in different parts positive and negative.
Black Liberation Theology can be defined as the relationship that blacks have with god in their struggle to end oppression. It sees god as a god of history and the liberator of the oppressed from bondage. Black Liberation theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who struggle daily under the oppression of whites. Because of slavery, blacks concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual savior, the reflection of God for blacks came in the struggle for freedom by blacks. Although the term black liberation theology is a fairly new, becoming popular in the early 1960’s with Black Theology and Black Power, a book written by James H. Cone, its
The history of religion in the United States comes a long way dating from the early 1600s when the first pilgrim settlers came to this country. It has been noted that these settlers were highly influenced by the Protestant faith which led to a community level of influence in this country as well. The faith of theses settlers were motivated from the New World of Europe where they practiced their religion in a peaceful environment. Later in history, it was noted that people of Spanish decent started the famous network of the Catholic missions in California. When California became a part of the United States, Catholic churches and institutes were formed. These churches and institutes were also formed in New Orleans and Louisiana.
Black Liberation Theology can be defined as the relationship that blacks have with god in their struggle to end oppression. It sees god as a god of history and the liberator of the oppressed from bondage. Black Liberation theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who struggle daily under the oppression of whites. Because of slavery, blacks concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual savior, the reflection of God for blacks came in the struggle for freedom by blacks. Although the term black liberation theology is a fairly new, becoming popular in the early 1960’s with Black Theology and Black Power, a book written by James H. Cone, its
Religion and Racism Racism is prejudice against people of another race or ethnic group. Prejudice means pre-judging: making up your mind about someone or something when you have not considered the facts or the evidence. Racism has been around for a very long time, one of the first times that it happened on a major scale was when the Jews moved to Egypt, but were put into slavery because the Egyptians thought of them as inferior because their skin colour and religious beliefs. People are, or can be racist due to three main points, the first is that they were brought up by parents who were racist, and they automatically adopted the views of them because that was all they knew as right.
Although some may think of Africa as being of a single climate and terrain description, in reality a wide variety of land types can be found throughout Africa. How does this wide variety of climates and physical terrains affect human life and settlement patterns on the African continent? Different terrains and climates allowed for different lifestyles for Africans in different regions. Those close to the sea were susceptible to invasion, but had the advantage of maritime trade. Those living more in land were isolated but protected by the diseases visitors would contract that did not affect the locals. Due to the fact that Africa is so massive, it has many
Overall though, the Scramble for Africa was an event happened because superior European advances in technology and medicine, economic prosperity and the motivation to look good, and to help others to be as good as themselves. Putting down societies through indirect and direct control help submit dominance over the natives with almost no say in their