Why Is It Important To Study African American History

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

During my early years of school, I remember being taught white accomplishments and wondering if blacks and other people of color had made any significant contributions to today's world. I noticed that television consist of all white people. Throughout my research paper I hope to cover certain aspects of African American heritage. Aspects such as blacks making up the largest minority group in the United States, although Mexican-Americans are rapidly changing that. The contributions blacks have provided to our country are immeasurable. Unfortunately though rather than recognizing these contributions, white America would rather focus on oppressing and degrading these people. As a consequence American

Slavery began in the late 16th century to early 18th century. Africans were brought to American colonies by white masters to come and work on their plantations in the South. They were treated harshly with no payments for all their hard work. In addition, they lived under harsh living conditions, and this led to their resistance against these harsh conditions. The racism towards the African Americans who were slaves was at its extreme as they did not have any rights; no civil nor political rights.

Why are the following events so important to America’s history? The events that include Brown V. Board of education, Emmet Till, Little Rock Nine, Freedom Summer, Chicago in the 1950’s, were all very important events to occur before a movement that was not necessarily alive, yet. These events were all important because of how they would start the momentum of the Civil Rights movement that would give African Americans the simple rights that any white man has. These events shared things in common such as the simple fact that they all involved African Americans pressing for rights that they deserved. All of these events whether they be positive or negative would be beneficial to the Civil Rights movement.

This paper will go on to describe the direct impact of the Great War on all African American migration, military service, and political protest. These three things would have combined to make the years of the Great War a major impact on African American history. When war first erupted in Europe in August of 1914, most Americans - African Americans included - did not see a reason for the United States to get involved, many viewing the bloodshed as petty in the activities of their everyday lives. This belief of neutrality amongst the people would only grow stronger as stalemates ensued, and death rates climbed higher. As the war raged on, the Black press would aim its papers to side with the French, because of their continued commitment for racial equality, as well as, their employment of African soldiers in their military. When the United States entered the war, it would have a great impact on many African Americans, particularly the many men, women, and children who embarked on the Great Migration - the largest movement of people in American history.

African Americans have endured many trials and tribulations over the centuries. Our people have suffered from war, violence, and anguish simply because of the color of our skin. Our history has been so blatantly missing from textbooks and the K-12th grade educational atmosphere. Our educational system continues to neglect the history of our African American ancestors and fail to provide them with the educational resources to inform them of our past and allow them to learn about the true origins of our culture. We have made many significant contributions to the world but those have also been highly ignored as well.

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”.

When we think of African American history we often forget about the people before the civil rights movement. The people who paved the way for future leaders. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and Rosa parks are often who we think of. We forget about individuals that made a significant impact that led us to the present place we are today. Harriet Tubman's contribute to history was that she was the conductor of the Underground Railroad, which helped bring slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist and was part of the woman's suffrage move.

The African American race and the events they have been involved in from 1865- resent day, have single handedly contributed to and shaped the race they are today and the issues they deal with now. There are six specific areas of history that had great impact an effect on shaping African Americans, their culture, the society, and even social status to date. These events include The Civil War, this marked the beginning of freedom for blacks or so they thought. It directly relates to and shows how blacks were given something or promised a way of life but treated completely different. It also sparked all types of injustices one being segregation and the long standing feud between southern and Northern whites.

Over the course of the years that Black Studies has been a separate functioning entity, there have been different ideological and political reasons for why Black studies is needed in institutions of higher education. Scholars such as Nathan Hare, John Henrik Clark, John W. Blassingame and Devere E. Pentony have given their own varied rationales as to why they believe Black Studies is a necessity within these institutions; if it is even one at all. Each of these men have different opinions on this topic but they do share one similar perspective. The historical importance of black people should be taught and made a fundamental component of Black Studies because in institutions of higher education, where the populations are predominantly white, staying connected to the black culture can be difficult. Getting educated about it enables students to stay connected to their roots and use it to improve their future. Many black people grow up unaware of who they are and where they come from because in the current education system black people have been pushed to the side or spoken about very briefly. Students do not understand the struggles of African American people, so therefore having courses that educate them about the history of blacks, will spark understanding of black people as a whole and there might be a change in black and even possibly white communities.

It is very vital to have Black historians, because history is told from the White perspective, to be completely honest. Take, African American historian, Asa Hillard for example. He created 12 Master Keys regarding Kemet and Ancient African history. When Black historians research Black history, they find that our history was stolen from us! Being that the Kemetic people were so advanced, it was hard to believe that people of color had such an impact on the world. Reason why, the Greek take all the credit for all of African history. We are taught throughout school of the amazing accomplishments made by the White man, but when discussing Black people in history, all we are known for is being

Scholars have dedicated their time and attention to furthering the discipline of African American Studies and can define the field with many different definitions. Through looking at the origins and development in the study we can see how it became a legitimate academic field. As we study the writings of the African American intellect, it will fully explain the importance of the discipline. Their work will justify the study of cultural and historical experiences of Africans living in Africa or the African Diaspora. When examining the scholar’s arguments we can develop our own intellectually informed rationalization of the field of African American Studies.

Slavery had also been present in New York from the earliest days of Dutch settlement. As their role expanded so did slavery in the city, 30 percent of its laborers were slaves. Most came from different cultures, spoke different languages, and practiced many regions. Slavery allowed different individuals who would never otherwise have encountered, their bond was not kinship, language, or even race, but the impressment of slavery. They eventually came together an created a cohesive culture and community that took many years, and it processed at different rates of speed in different regions.

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.

I cannot honestly say that I am ready for more slavery films. For me, it is so hard to watch this on screen. Knowing that our ancestors actually had to endure this for years hurts my heart. I start crying and yelling at the television screen. And it is not just the slavery movies but any movies where African Americans are seen as anything less than a human being. I tend to stay away from these movies because I do not like to watch it. I’m looking at the actors and actress on screen and I just want to help them in any way possible. But I cannot. Yes I learn a lot from watching these movies, but movies should not be the way to get me to learn more about African American history. There just has to be a better way.