The Three Cs ( Christianity, Commerce And Civilization

The story that surrounds the transatlantic slave trade is notoriously known, by both young and old, across the nation. This story has not only survived, but thrived as “truth” through generations for several centuries; Although, it is much closer to a mystical tale than reality. In Reversing Sail, Michael Gomez lays the myths affiliated with African Diaspora to rest. Gomez shows the path of the amalgamation of the African people along with their resources into Europe. A path that leads to the New World, that would potentially become the Americas, would ultimately result in more than just the exploitation of Africans as slaves. Compacted into an eight-chapter undergrad textbook, Gomez uses Reversing Sail to unground the history, complexity, and instrumentality of the African Diaspora. He does such in a

For this week’s reading, we read the article “Racialized Discourses and Ethnic Epistemologies” by Gloria Ladson-Billings. The main purpose of this reading is to argue that “there are well-developed system of knowledge, or epistemologies, that stand in contrast to the dominant Euro-American epistemology.” (Denzin and Lincoln P. 399) The author started out the article by arguing the importance of national and racial consciousness. Author Billings pointed out that the Europeans view that the individual’s mind is the origin of knowledge and presence. On the other hand, the African word “Ubuntu” means “I am because we are.” This shows that the African thinks that the idea of humanity is very important and everyone should be treated fairly no matter what racial and ethnic background they are from. These two ideas came out in the mid to late 1960’s, the two different point of views clear choice between hegemony and liberation. Comparing these two various perspectives shows that this is a critical case.

The positive influence of Christianity is far reaching especially in the rich history and culture of Western Civilization despite a long standing ignorance or adamant denial of its contributions. The Bible itself is responsible for much of the language, literature, and fine arts we enjoy today as its artists and composers were heavily influenced by its writings. Paul Maier, in writing the forward to the book How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin J. Schmidt, says this about the profound impact Christianity has had on the development of Western Civilization:

However, Professor Muggins is, of course, far more concerned with Black America than with Black Africa, and here his journal is much more persuasive. He is right to point out that all forms of social and cultural achievement among the slaves - such as the black family, black Christianity and black speech, music and dance - can be shown to be essentially black achievements. Far from being parodies by inferior beings of white models, these were heroic achievements, constructed and maintained in the face of white attitudes that ranged from condescending amusement through indifference to outright hostility. They preserved, for the Afro-American people, individual and collective self-respect, and prevented them, as Professor Huggins rightly emphasizes, from being mere victims. Furthermore, they contributed to American culture in general some of its most vital, characteristic and creative achievements - hence the paradox that no Americans are more American than the black slaves and their descendants, who were excluded from full membership of American society, North or South.

Christianity was born and flourished in an empire where the common language was Latin and Greek. Two important people like Paul and Constantine further influenced and were a major part of the development of Christianity. The history of the Jews leading up to the time of Jesus had a major impact on the development of Christianity. “When Christianity was clearly identified as a distant religion, the new religion was considered by its members to be the fulfillment of Judaism rather than a new religion.” “Since Jesus was a Jew and preached to the Jews, Christianity was closely linked to Judaism.” The development of Christianity was due to several historical, political, and social circumstances.

“Berlin, Ira. The Making of African America The Four Great Migrations. By Ira Berlin. New York: Penguin Group, 2011. Pp 289”

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.

Coming to America has been important as it has introduced the Africans to Christianity and thus bringing them salvation and peace which they were ignorant of the fact that they needed. She notes that although people view the dark skin of Africans as a sign of inferiority, Africans too possess the ability of being able to read and become educated and spiritually enlightened.

Founded in 1817 the society had advocated the relocation of free blacks and freed slaves to the African colony of Monrovia, present-day Liberia. The public and private funds raised by the American Colonization Society led to the settlement of approximately thirteen thousand African Americans in West Africa by 1867 and the establishment of the independent nation of Liberia. The organization’s guiding philosophy represented a middle ground between abolitionists and proslavery advocates.

W.E.B DuBois’ and Hegel’s concept of double consciousness implies that individuals, especially black people, look at their own identity from two perspectives: There is the perspective oneself has about one’s own identity and the conscious perspective of them, as black people, are being perceived by others. As a result, slaves failed to meet the set image and goal of white America simply because the image slaves had in their own eyes was predetermined and unaltera-ble. Jacobs’ explained this with the persistent view that the black male are inferior. Compliant to Douglass’ description on how

In the W.E.B Dubois’s essay The Souls of Black Folk, Of Our Spiritual Strivings, he talks about many of his personal experiences of being an African American in the early 1900’s. Dubois develops 3 main central ideas that relate to his experiences. These central ideas are self-consciousness, double consciousness, and the ideal of human brother hood. In his essay he uses some textual evidence provided with some rhetoric and figurative language to prove his ideas.

When Africans are transported to the new world, they were forced to convert to christianity. Some African americans became very religious, they would come together to practice their religion as shown in document D. Some African americans hated how they were being treated and what the white thought of them. In document E, it states “if we are lazy and idle, the enemies of

Marcus Garvey, a ‘proponent of Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements” (), once stated that “a people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” (Good Reads Quotes) He was in fact very much so right. Most people in this world care about where they come from, who they descended from and where the backbone of their identity lies. Have you ever wondered why almost most orphans tend to look for their family lines or go out in search of where they belong? It is with this very essence my quest to look for answers and investigate about two very distinct yet similar groups. The groups I examine throughout this paper are Africans and African-Americans. What I seek to find out is why two very ‘distinct’ yet similar groups of people fail to see eye to eye, judging from the fact that Africans and African-Americans look alike, originated from Africa and their histories and culture somehow intertwine with each other. The main question here really is: what are the factors that hinder the relationship between Africans and African-American people.

By going back to one’s roots, the future of developing countries resided in the “development of Africa is one of the most constructive and universally helpful missions” (Locke, 6). This direction was a form of modernization that was an improvement of relationships between African Americans and other races.

The purpose of this book is to offer his perspective on how Africans were treated in the Americas from 1550 to 1812.