For many years there has been a lot of talk about what Africans think of African Americans and sometimes most of it isn't in the most positive light, and vice versa. As a Black American myself I want to delve deep into this argument that has been going back and forth for years. I feel that it is important for Africans and African Americans to understand each other, learn from each other because there are only certain things that are mainly different about each group but at the end of the day we are the same. Africans and African Americans are different but we share a lot of similarities with each other that are very overlooked at times because of the past history or stereotypes or prejudices that people have that have been talk about and passed …show more content…
Not only did Europeans make this slave trade happen but they also had help from many people in Africa such as chiefs, kings, and middle men. These people helped Europeans with capturing Africans to become slaves in exchange for goods such as : iron, clothes, gold, beads and other commodities. Middle men also demanded types of exchange for gathering Africans to be slave workers. Now this is where some African Americans become angary when they look back into history of slavery and say things such as " Africans helped with slavery". Yes that is true, but most of the time these European men attacked and also threatened African people if they did not help, and they also turned various African tribes, and people against each other which started …show more content…
However, with the knowledge previously stated we can tell that that " Myth " is not true. One the other hand you have some Africans saying that Africans have no culture, or they believe they are better because they were born in America , with influences from the so called " white man". This is interesting because Africans that were slaves were stripped of their culture but created another culture within America with African influences. Since African Americans didn't have the privilege of knowing where they originate from, or know what tribe they come from , another culture was made within America. It is very obvious that many African Americans wouldn't know where they originate from because of the slave trade and the integration of different races. These differences between cultures and background play into the misunderstandings that each group thinks about each other which cause cultural impediments. One person stated that "pinpointing the cultural heritage among black people as a whole is like finding a needle in a
Ever since white Americans colonisation in the United States, African Americans suffered long from the frustration of being discriminated and deprived. African Americans were restricted from associating or mixing
The purpose of my research paper is to build awareness, which has been disconnected between the two groups. This paper will underline the very basis of the chasms that have caused this disconnect between African-Americans and Africans. Awareness is essential
First, African-Americans were discriminated by white people, so that they believe Jews, who most have white skin color, are also involved. For this reason, African-Americans become sensitive for everything that relates to racism. However, the question is: If most Jews were not white-skinned, would African-Americans really unite with the Jews? Second, African-Americans and Jews initially belonged to the same level of allies. Nonetheless, Jews climbed the American social ladder quickly and successfully, which makes African-Americans envious of Jews. Therefore, African-Americans now seem to despise the Jews and see them as their
To begin, African Americans must unite as a community. In order to do so, they must understand the history of colorism. In majority of the African American history of the Western Hemisphere, African Americans were surrounded by the idea and were taught that their darker skin was and still is unworthy, unattractive and less valuable. Ronald Hall,
Something it's really important to discuss in this day and time is going to be the stereotypes of African Americans. Since African-Americans originated here in America a lot of distorted images and views about how African-Americans would be perceived started early in American history. Starting with the early African-American known as the Sambo. This notion was built around African-Americans being "happy slaves" and masters. The Sambo was seen as not being a hard-working, which translated to being lazy, which means that they needed a lot of guidance from their masters in order to get task done. This was adapted into the mind-frame of many African-Americans. This is often taught through their culture do things like singing, folksongs, playing
African Americans have been treated unfairly for many years since slavery. Although slavery had ended in the U.S., whites were still being disrespectful and racist toward the African Americans. They still treated them like they were lower than all the whites. Just because of the color of their skin, African Americans were being mistreated. They did all they could possibly do to get equality for blacks, but they did them nonviolently. They never even once used violence. They did events like boycotts, sit-ins, school integration, and marches.
Who are we, where did we come from, what has been our experience since we landed on United States soil? The migration of Africans has been very significant in the making of African Americans history and culture. Today's 35 million African Americans are heirs to all the migrations that have formed and transformed African America, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere (The New York Public Library, n.d.). African American history starts in the 1500s with the first Africans coming from Mexico and the Caribbean to the Spanish territories of Florida, Texas, and other parts of the South (The New York Public Library, n.d.). Although
For example, black and brown- skinned people all originated from different areas of Africa. In present-day South Africa, the black or brown people represent over eighty percent of the population. Interestingly, South Africa's representation in the global Miss Universe pageant was a woman of European descent. This European woman represented a country that she was born in but not a descendant of South Africa. I find it very puzzling that out of over twenty-one MILLION beautiful, African women you could find one worthy of being Miss South Africa? This is not just an issue in Africa, the origin of civilization, but across the globe? Why are people of African descent around the globe facing the same racism and discrimination? Professor and author, Carol Anderson, explains the predicament of African Americans as they continue to fight against racial injustices and inequality. Carol Anderson's book White Rage focuses on the history of black triumph in American and the steps taken by racists to demolish all evidence of black or African progress and triumph.
Today is different compared to the 80s and 90s of America, today America learn that instead of separating the concept such as African-American, it is now Black American to include Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Latinos, West-Africans and etc. With the increase of immigration of other Blacks coming to America, it made me realize how diverse Black is. No matter our upbringing, we are Black and once we learn that we will move forward as
The African American experience is one that is quite different from other racial/ ethnic groups. The majority of the first African American came over, unwillingly, on ships from various African countries. They were brought to America by white, European settlers to be used as slaves in an order to plant and harvest their crops and make money for the white man. This racial group was treated as if they were property and not people. However, with the ending of the American Civil War, African Americans gained freedom, freedom that not all white American were quite ready to handle. After gaining their freedom came the need for education, jobs and suffrage rights. Now in America this racial group has come a long way, having elected its first African American present for two terms, yet still there are many issues that are very prevalent. This racial group has been fighting their way to equality since the birth of this nation. African Americans have experienced an array of conflict, violence, stereotypes, prejudice acts, and discrimination against them throughout their history in America.
In the past history, African Americans were slaves and were looked at and thought of as less important than whites. Still today
Another myth is where all Africans are assumed to be black. To be African is to be black. And that Africans are not culturally diverse. Africans share an in essence a unified culture. This myth is false because the mainstream of Africans has a dark skin color, which in the US, would be categorized as black. Africans come in a wide variation of skin colors and physical types that many Africans find important among themselves. Africans range from an almost dark blue-black skin color to a very light skin color that would pass in the US as socially white. Some immigrants to Africa are ancient immigrants like Persians and Arabs among the Swahili of east Africa, Arabs in north Africa, or Indonesians among the Malagasy.
Question 1: The vastness of the field of Africana Studies encompasses multiple disciplines ranging from the individual native African to their descendants spread around the world. It delves into the culture diffusion upon contact with the external forces such as the Europeans and the egregious act of slave trade that followed suit. The effect of which yielded the ever festering wound that is racism. This subject juxtaposes the life and experiences of the continental African and their cousins in the diaspora. In the very first chapter of our Africana Studies book, Maria Azevedo noted how African was originally thought of as a continent without history or contribution to the advancement of the world (Azevedo 7). Imbecilic stereotypes, including the aforementioned one, and numerous others are debunked and corrected for the layman and interested parties alike. People that subscribe to this prehistoric train of thought contributed to the perpetual existence of racism, prominently in America and the rest of the world. Most learned individuals have a general idea of racism, but few could reiterate its origins and why it became so pronounced today. According to Azevedo, the Europeans that settled in Africa fervently believed that “Africans should be enslaved and colonized in order to be saved from extinction and rescued from their own barbaric ways of life” (Azevedo 8). These early supposed
The African American society is one that has truly been tested and tried throughout history. Their struggle is one that has been downplayed for years. African Americans first entered the United States in the Southern region with hopes of receiving the “Promise Land” in return for seven years of their labor. This promise was one that has never fulfilled. Through mental and emotional abuse, the ancestors of African American endure unjust, unfair, cruel, and without quest unusual punishment. The African American culture is one that has been stripped of their heritage. African Americans in the United States endured harsh treatments during the time of the beginning of the slavery era. Being an African American is the time of slavery was something that one could never imagine. From being beaten, sold and ripped from their families, this society has had to rebuild its roots and establish their existence, importance and value to society.
The stereotype that African Americans are all mostly all bad people is a stereotype that is widely thought of and because of our society it has in our minds, become true. Now many people may think that this is not a true stereotype but this is because we don’t really pay attention towards this problem. There are many factors that go into this stereotype, social media, society and even action that happened in the past. Now this is not to say that all people believe that this is true, there are plenty of people that don’t think anything of African Americans and just know that they are regular people attempting to live their lives just like the rest of us.