Oral Traditions: Colonial African American Culture And Culture

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

10. How did African American culture evolve in the slave community, and what forms did resistance to captivity take? African American culture began to evolve when slaves with actually able to communicate with each other and when the female population went up and it made it possible for them to start families. Then, the combination of their elements of speech, religion and folk ways were developed. Resistance to captivity occurred in songs, key words, and many other creative ways.

Folktales have the power to take us back to the beginnings of peoples’ lives, from their hopes to their defeats. African American folktales originated from people, most of who were long ago were brought to America from Africa to this country against their will. This group of enslaved people was torn from their individual cultures when they were forced to their past, families and their languages and customs behind him with their native land. The black people coming to America entered as slaves, and they were suppressed by white slave holders. They were not permitted to speak their own native tongues. The slave owners enforced that they speak American English but it was forbidden for them to read or write. They were forced to do hard labor

In conjunction, the literature on black families during slavery provides a wealth of data on the way in which consanguine kin assisted each other with child rearing, in life crisis events such as birth and death, in work groups, in efforts to obtain freedom, and so on. Relationships within these groups were governed by principles and values stemming from their African background. Respect for elders and mutual cooperation among kinsmen are noted in all discussions of black families during slavery. Also, the willingness to assume responsibility for relatives and children beyond the conjugal family and

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.

There is no doubt that African Americans have a rich cultural background and history like the many different ethnic groups who settled in the New World, whose origins lie in another country. For this reason, America was known as the melting pot. However, the backgrounds of each of these cultures were not always understood or, in the case of African Americans, accepted among the New World society and culture. Americans were ignorant to the possibility of differences among groups of people until information and ideas started to emerge, particularly, the African retention theories. This sparked an interest in the field of African culture and retention in African Americans. However, the study of African American culture truly emerged as a result of increased awareness in America, specifically through the publication and findings of scholarly research and cultural events like the Harlem Renaissance where all ethnicities were able to see this rich historical culture of African Americans.

The American culture is define to everyone in their own way. Everyone grows up differently in a particular community that shares the same languages, values, rules, and customs. The American Culture on that is consider to be a “melting pot”, because of all the different cultures that reside inside of it making it so diverse. Race in this country has never been a great topic throughout history. African Americans play a huge role into defining what our culture is as a whole, as well as being a part of racism for the past 250 years.

Over the course of this semester, I was introduced to many people, ideas, writings, and discussions that sparked my interest and enlightened me on African American history. However, I feel like this was just the beginning of my journey of learning the history of my people, as there is still so much out there to be brought to the surface. Prior to taking this course, I was always ignorant on the topic of African American history and simply made the connection to slavery. Additionally, I was unaware of other black activist, movements, and struggles that I had the chance to witness for the first time in this class. I came to a realization of how deprived of this information I was, because other historic events have been deemed more important. A quote that stuck with me throughout the course that was made by Arthur Schomburg was, “... African history and negro history, are the missing pages of world history”.

The lifestyle of African Americans reflects the influence of cultural traditions that originated in Africa but at the same time reflects the uniqueness of the African-American in the United States ("Black American").

African American vernacular traditions have been around for many centuries and still cease to exist in their culture. The vernacular traditions of the African Americans started when slaves were existent in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. It is believed that the slaves spoke a mix of Creole and partial English, in which they had to create in order to communicate between them discreetly. The vernacular traditions originated from the way the slaves lived their lives and their creativity. The relationship between the slaves and their masters, were very weak because the master’s believed that the slaves were inferior to them. It is believed that African American

In order to understand hip-hop dance, it is important to recognize hip-hop music and where it came from. Many scholars of rap music relate the founding of rap to African and African American oral and musical traditions, specifically African griots and storytellers. They link the rhythm of rap to the use of drums in Africa and to African American music in the United States, from slave songs and spirituals to jazz and R&B. Scholars have found very interesting connections between rap music and Black nationalist traditions (traditions historically practiced by black people that serve as part of their racial identity). Rap is similar to the “call and response of the black church, the joy and pain of the blues, the jive talk and slang of the hipsters and jazz musicians, the boasting of street talk, the sidesplitting humor of comedians, and the articulateness of black activists.” All of these African American oral traditions, including rap, can be traced back to West African oral traditions. In traditional African societies, the spoken word and oral culture included poetry, storytelling, and speaking to drumbeats. The links between rap music and African American oral and musical traditions demonstrate that hip-hop music represents more than just sound. It represents history. This aspect of it, in my opinion, makes this type of music very unique and makes it carry more value.

The entire assortment of folktales and spirituals emerged from the encounters which slaves had on their ranches blended with the recollections and traditions that they carried with them from Africa. They would recount stories utilizing diverse techniques, for example, acting, signaling and singing. By these methods they could lift narrating into a craftsmanship.Most slave proprietors prohibited their slaves from talking their own dialect, and constrained them to communicate in English. They were likewise illegal from figuring out how to peruse or compose.

Like a coin dropped between the cushions of a couch, traditional oral storytelling is a custom fading away in current American culture. For Native Americans, however, the practice of oral storytelling is still a tradition that carries culture and rich history over the course of generations. Three examples of traditional oral stories, “How Men and Women Got Together”, “Coyote’s Rabbit Chase”, and “Corn Mother”, demonstrate key differences in perspectives and values among diverse native tribes in America.

African Americans were brought to the United States in the 1700s and have adapted tremendously since then. After their emancipation from slavery, African-American traditions continued to flourish, such as linguistic style, radical innovations in music, art, and literature, religion, and cultural cuisine. The greatest influence of African cultural practices on European culture is found below the Mason-Dixon line within the American South.

From the 1500s to the 1700s, African blacks, mainly from the area of West Africa (today's Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Dahomey, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Gabon) were shipped as slaves to North America, Brazil, and the West Indies. For them, local and tribal differences, and even varying cultural backgrounds, soon melded into one common concern for the suffering they all endured. Music, songs, and dances as well as remembered traditional food, helped not only to uplift them but also quite unintentionally added immeasurably to the culture around them. In the approximately 300 years that blacks have made their homes in North America, the West Indies, and Brazil, their highly honed art