Molefi Kee Asante Biography

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.

“The Black Studies Program: Strategy and Structure” was published Fall of 1972 in The Jounal of Negro Education. It’s contents are a relection on the years before when colleges and universitys were allowing African Americans to attend , but did not provide curriculum about or for African Americans.

The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to

In this paper I discuss the African-American culture in regards to values, norms and beliefs.

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.

MK Asante’s Buck shows us even though a young black man can have a strong leader in the household, it does not mean he is an effective role model. Malo introduces us to his dad as a man with values and morals. He described him as a man with lots of knowledge about African and living as an Afro-centric person. His dad was a minister a long time ago and even debated with Cornel West. Malo was able to see his dad debate with the best of them. He was proud of his dad. He thought it was “dope” to see his dad have passion, energy, confidence, and intelligence. There is a poster in Malo 's house that reads: “A people without knowledge of their past is like a tree with no roots.” He believes knowledge is power. So why not be a better role model for the two black boys in your household? The purpose for this essay is to examine MK Asante’s, Buck, through a Marxist theoretical lens in regards to Malo and his dad.

This showing that the average African-American’s faith is what kept them strong and able to do whatever it takes in their struggle for freedom. However the sermon in a typical “Negro” church would also show just what kept them so strongly endowed in their religion.

One African American professor named Dr. Maulana Karenga developed the Kwaida theory that exposed the cultural and social disadvantages African Americans faced because of a Eurocentric

The 1920’s were a time of change for African Americans. They were beginning to retain a sense of pride in their background and culture, were becoming more independent socially and economically, and were becoming more militant. Part of this was because of the Great Migration, in which a proliferation of African Americans moved from the Southern states to the Northern states, and the excessive levels of racism and prejudice they faced during the process. African Americans were really starting to make their voices and identities prevalent, especially through movements like the Harlem Renaissance and Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). This mentality of independence and militance that African Americans adopted which is represented through the actions of Ossian Sweet is what makes up the 1920s cultural construct of the “New Negro” which allowed me to understand the realness and effectiveness of cultural constructs.

defined the field as the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding. (Karenga) Robert Harris uses the term Africana Studies and says it is the multidisciplinary analysis of the lives and thought of people of African ancestry on the African continent and throughout the world. (Harris) The focus of the field described by Russell Adams is the experience, problems and the prospects of individuals or groups wherever they may be is Africana. It centers on examining the historical records of Black people in Africa or the western hemisphere. (Adams)Even though there are many ways of titling and describing African American Studies, the overall focus and heart of the field remains the same universally. As Maulana Karenga uses the term social responsibility,

Pioneer in the struggle for Afro-American liberation and for African liberation, prolific black scholar, W.E.B. DuBois (1868 - 1963) was one of the giants of the twentieth century. (Foner, flap text)

The history of the black race in Africa and America was documented in Black Folk, Then and Now: An Essay in the History and Sociology of the Negro Race. Echoing in the Saturday Review of Literature, H. J. Seligmann noted that nobody can neglect the role of the blacks in the making of the world history. Another compliment was made by Barrett Williams. In the Boston Transcript, Williams pointed out that Professor Du Bois had overlooked one of the strongest arguments against racial discrimination. In it, a man of color has proved himself, in the complex and exacting field of scholarship, the full equal of his white colleagues (Gale schools, 2004).

Introduction to African American Studies was the class that I decided to take this summer because I am genuinely interested in learning more about the cultures and lifestyles of African Americans through out history and I want to further my knowledge beyond just learning about what was taught to me in secondary school. I do not know much about African American studies as I have not taken any courses on it or relating to it in the past but I hope that I can gain a lot of information on the topic through out this intellectual experience. I also hope to gain a better understanding of the history of Africans and African Americas and be able to dive deeper into this topic instead of just hitting the surface as I feel as though my previous experiences with this topic have covered. In just this first weeks lesson I have learned about the three great principles that characterize the “Black Intellectual Tradition” and how these three principles are used and perceived.

In many ways it could be argued that Marcus Garvey was the most significant African American civil rights leader of this time because of his role in tackling the social issues African American’s faced. He aimed to improve the lives of African Americans by encouraging them to take control of their own affairs and education. His role surrounding this issue is illustrated by his founding of the UNIA. This Universal Negro Improvement Association was an organisation dedicated to racial pride, economic self sufficiency and the formation of an independent black nation in Africa. Through this and the magazine the ‘Negro World’ he urged African Americans to be proud of their race, and argued “a people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”. It has been said that through Garvey’s dedication to social improvement for his race he managed to capture the imagination of many blacks for whom the American Dream was a dirty joke.

“Senghor (1906–2001) promotes a quest for the authentic self, knowledge of self, and a rediscovery of African beliefs, values, institutions, and