The African American Culture

When beginning work with the client, there were a number of apparent differences between her and myself, including age, race, and social class. As previously stated I had to become more culturally competent about working with African American clients before I started seeing the client. Furthermore, I had to become aware of the difficulties that would be present due to our age difference. I made sure to give Betty the opportunity to tell me how situations made her feel, and empathized with her, making sure to help her feel as though I understood even though I was much younger and had not experienced what she had. Additionally, the client and I come from different social classes. I had to make certain that she did not feel judged during our sessions, and provided her with the resources necessary to assist her in overcoming barriers. Sands and Gellis (2011) indicate that African American cultural values and norms derive from a number of situations, which include responses and adaptations to the oppression, poverty, and racism, which made them victims. Knowing and understanding the various differences that I would face working with the client helped to better prepare me for sessions.

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.

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

Music is a creative art form that allows the artist to construct something that expresses a purpose. It evolves over time and changes as the world changes, taking on many different motivations behind the melody and lyrics. In today’s society, anger, oppression, racism, and negative opinions rule the media and popular culture. I believe that African Americans need to show their self worth and not let white people hold them back. With the music in white culture often mocking African American culture and portraying negative stereotypes, African Americans have to find ways to gain respect. In acknowledgement of the negative portrayal of their culture, African Americans respond by creating songs and videos that express their pride in their culture and heritage, react to white oppression, and communicate their independence.

As Americans, we are privileged with diverse experiences. With this comes a perceived understanding of many cultures and their influences but in fact full cultural literacy is impossible to achieve.

“Cooning” was a TV show or Film usually they act like idiot behavior that misrepresents African American culture. I think idiot because that shows a deliberate act. Many people called “coons.” Yes, I saw some examples today’s culture some white people still discriminate black people. Some white people were enjoying it, and that seems to some people they insulted African- American behaves. African-American got angry. It was not fair at all that behavior. All are good examples.

Africans have, since the early settlement of America, has had a great influence in the nation’s growth. These contributions to the United States from enslaved Africans have been greatly portrayed in American culture. Varying from cuisine, to song and dance are not only portrayed today but it has a deep-rooted impact throughout the United States. During the middle passage, enslaved Africans were forced to abandon their everyday lives, their families and their homes and forced to adapt to a new lifestyle they knew nothing of. However, upon arrival into the New World, due to their prior knowledge and wisdom from back home, they were able to quickly adapt and custom themselves to this new lifestyle in order to survive with the hope of potentially one day returning back to Africa. Unfortunately, African contributions to the culture of the United States has received little to no recognition and it has been taken credit for by Europeans and Whites since the early establishment of the United States.

The African American Culture and Traditions A Research Study and Facts That Will Take Us Into What Makes This Culture So Unique.

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.

Although each of the objects found within the image represents some of the struggles that were encountered by African-Americans, everyone that is included within the image helps us understand the perspective of those who dealt with the issue of slavery. The figure on the left is a depiction of an Irish-American who lived in New York during the 1860’s. Although the man lived in New York, he was an immigrant and therefore couldn’t make much money. This fact helps explain why he is depicted as wearing clothes that were commonly associated with the working-class. During this time, there was also a stigma against Irish-Catholics throughout the United States due to the fact that vast amounts of them immigrated to the United States following the

In Africa, music isn’t just something they see as having fun, it has become something greater. Africans use music in their everyday lives. It has become a social event, where African community’s come together and accompany songs with cultural beliefs, traditions, rituals, festivals and “recreation after a day’s hard work”(Bame, 7). For instance, in some communities it is believed farmers are able to heal people while dancing. Other’s dance to honor the death of a person, and find their soulmates.

Every culture has a unique way of eating a typical meal with a family. They can differ in ways like the amount of meals per day, timing of those meals, what is the proper etiquette at the table, who is present, if there is a certain structure or hierarchy, who cooks the meal, who cleans afterward, and many more. In this essay the family the meal structure of people in West Africa will be compared and contrasted to that of the people from Mexico. The first group of people to be analyzed are the people from West Africa. The people of West Africa used to typically eat two meals day, one in the late morning and one at night.

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.

After World War II, America underwent an era where they saw themselves as undefeatable and superior to the rest of the world. America sought to get rid of Communism in the world and because of the extreme paranoia caused by it, conformity became an ideal way of living in order to seperate American culture from the rest. In the 1950’s, the suburbs were beginning to develop and grow larger. Masses of African Americans were migrating towards the north to the big cities, and white middle-class/rich families left to live in the suburbs to get away from crime and redlining in the city.

I have traveled all over the world but I have never been down South. Being from New York has also given me a very narrow perspective of African American culture. The purpose of this research project is to gain some understanding of Black culture specifically in the South. College has exposed me to a lot of people who were born and raised in the South and some of my closest friends are southerners. By researching the history, culture, and demographic information of the South, I plan on becoming a more well-informed American.