Identity Crisis Among African Americans

This ‘false identity’ to which Haugthon refers, is indicative of how most countries that were colonies operate. This has impacted the way we dress, speak and relate to each other. Stone (1992) posits that the because the social ideology of plantation society defined black people as being

Slavery was abolished after the Civil War, but the Negro race still was not accepted as equals into American society. To attain a better understanding of the events and struggles faced during this period, one must take a look at its' literature. James Weldon Johnson does an excellent job of vividly depicting an accurate portrait of the adversities faced before the Civil Rights Movement by the black community in his novel “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.” One does not only read this book, but instead one takes a journey alongside a burdened mulatto man as he struggles to claim one race as his own.

W.E.B. Du Bois, a prominent African American scholar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wrote many significant essays that challenged the dangerous societal view that black Americans weren’t capable of progress. In one of those essays, Strivings of the Negro People, he develops new terminology to discuss the many forces that act upon black Americans in a white dominated society, the most important of which is double-consciousness. The phrase, “double-consciousness”, refers to the division of the African American self into conflicting two facets: one being the American and the other the Negro, ever being forced to look at themselves through the eyes of a racist society.

In The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B DuBois pioneers two concepts that describe the Black experience in America— the notions of “the veil” and “double-consciousness.” The meaning and implication of these words not only describe the plight of being Black and American then, it also refers to what it means to still be Black and American today – the remnants of the past live on. DuBois explains the veil concept in reference to three things: the literal darker skin of Blacks, which is the physical demarcation of the difference from whiteness, white people’s lack of clarity in order to see Blacks as “true” Americans, and lastly Blacks’ lack of clarity to see themselves outside of what white America prescribes for them. The idea of double consciousness refers to the two-ness, caused by our nations flawed and polarized system, felt by many Blacks. I argue that although DuBois was the first to coin these two terms, it is clear through analyzing Uncle Tom’s Cabin and 12 Years a Slave that these two significant concepts gave a name to what African-Americans had been feeling for years but previously could not define.

In his essay, “As Black as We Wish to be,” author Thomas Chatterton Williams tries to paint a picture of a world where the sight of interracial families was still considered an oddity and shows how, over the decades, society has slowly became more acceptable towards the idea. He begins the essay briefly discussing the ignorance of people during the late 1980’s while also elaborating what hardships African Americans have dealt with over the past century. He explains that even with the progression of interracial families and equality of African Americans, a new problem has now risen for interracial children of the future. While either being multiracial, African American, or White, what do they decide to identify themselves as? This is the major question that arises throughout Williams’s argument. While Williams’s supports his argument with unreliable environmental evidence, as well with other statistical evidence. His argument is weakened by an abundance of facts, disorganization, and an excessive use of diluted information.

     Through our readings of the Mexicans in the U.S. and the African-American experience modules, we begin to understand the formation of identity through the hardships minorities faced from discrimination. In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast the ideas of identity shown through the readings. These two modules exemplify the theme of identity. We see how Blacks and Latinos tried to find their identity both personally and as a culture through the forced lifestyles they had to live.

History can be defined as the past events and happenings within the human race. Of course, as events pass, history changes. In accordance with these changes, things regarding history must change content as well. The study of the human race does not only include one group of people or race. Just like any other history course, African American Studies courses’ content has changed over the years as well. There have been various stages of African American Studies throughout the years. The platform for African American studies was essentially set by the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (ASALH.) According to Robert L. Harris Jr., in Section A, Chapter One of

Cross’ book Shades of black: diversity in African-American identity (1991) depicts a perceived metamorphous of black identity through five stages of development—his ideologies are now termed as the Nigrescence theory. In simple terms, this philosophy refers to the process of becoming Black. It also demonstrates daily struggles that the black community may have in developing a healthy personal identity. Over the years, many authors attempt to define what the word black means. Eventually, many came to begin using the politically acceptable term widely applied today to regard black people; that word is known as Negroes. As different historical events occurred, one being the black power revolution on the 1970’s the experience called for a fresh definition of the term negro. Blacks or Africans in America began to be more conscious of their identity and more aware of the differences separating them. This is the experience that Cross (1971) illustrates and is primarily referenced in his five-stage progress including: pre-encounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, internalization, and internalization-commitment. This book highlights some very vital topics relating to mental health, which has been carefully disregarded by other researchers. Nonetheless, it has strong affiliations to the black experience and can positively explain a more normal psychological behavior through logical and very thought provoking

At this stage in the capstone process I have finalized my ideas regarding my topic and I am currently brainstorming pictures ideas that I could use for my project. Originally, I was focusing on black identity and primarily answering the question, "What does it mean to be Black?". Now my topic has shifted a bit and while I am still focusing on black identity I am not specifically and outrightly answering that question. I have also chosen my medium. Originally, I was leaning towards photography or videography, but I have decided upon printing.

The African American community has sat at the end of a discriminatory lens from the moment they set foot in the United States. For that reason, black communities have undergone the process of community building to ensure that all members feel a sense of belonging.

In the Soul of Black Folks and "Of the Coming of John", W.E.B Du Bois compare the two in many similar ways trying to convey and allow the audience to analyze the double consciousness within both. Double consciousness is an individual sensation of feeling as though your identity is divided into several parts, making it difficult or impossible to have one unified identity. Throughout this paper, I will analyze and cover points that cause double consciousness and explain the points of racism and how to overcome it. The damaging impact of double consciousness demonstrated in "Of the Coming of John" is how John being black and not privileged make circumstances a little more difficult.

This map provides an in depth look at how White privilege has negatively impacted self-identity, gender, and social development in fraternity members through discrimination and harmful definitions of race and gender that promote the pursuit of power and prestige within its members.

What are you? Do you classify yourself as simply black, African-American, or do you not know? When I ask what are you, I am asking you about your roots, the roots that make you, you. My roots is what I use to differentiate myself because I am more than just an American and I am more than just black. Nowadays black identity is used not only as a race but as ethnicity, including for people who do not know their heritage. On the other hand, freedom for people in the black race is much more than it was in the 20th century. Although, the black race have civil rights, racial issues still continue to exist today.

I read through online news as I drank my coffee in morning, as is my ritual. Having just read an article on the horrifying mass graves of IS fighters rotting in shallow graves in the deserts of Iraq I peered at the comments section to see how this would be tied to former president Barack Obama, and how great Trump is. Without surprise I found many claiming the ills of this conflict hoisted on our former “muslim” President. One stuck out at me- while the rhetoric in the body of the comment didn’t diverge from the standard trolling, and hate, the name stuck with me, ASHAMEDTOBEBLACK, with the picture of Barak Obama as the icon. It is painfully clear in media, public forums, as well as in this show that a long and arduous debate about identity in America is a festering wound that has never healed, and may never find any closure. I think this debate is tied directly to the inability for America to write and understand a comprehensive history of itself, or to even to acknowledge that the American narrative is complex and nuanced.

The idea of double consciousness, termed by W.E.B. Du Bois, for African Americans deals with the notion that one’s self has duality in being black and American. It is the attempt to reconcile two cultures that make up the identity of black men and women. One can only see through the eyes of another. A veil exists in this idea, where one has limits in how he or she can see or be seen. This individual is invisible to the onlookers of the veil, and those onlookers may be invisible to the individual. This then alters how one can truly interpret their conscious. This concept is one that has been explored in various themes of literature,