today’s culture
In today’s culture, being an individual is not enough in understanding your identity but knowing where you fit in and who you are is important. Even though there is no discrimination in America, most minority groups find it difficult to fit because their traditional languages and cultures were swept away to give room for more dominant ideas. Assimilation to a given culture can make one feel alienated from a given community and culture. African Americans have always felt discriminated against and oppressed in American culture. However, African Americans tend to be the largest ethnic group in the United States. African Americans have black ancestry, but some do not have black ancestry. They were decedents of the enslaved people brought in America to work in the new world by force from their African homeland. During those old-time, their rights had been limited, and did not receive a fair share in the United States’ political, economic, and social progress. However, African Americans have played a huge role in the growth and development of America.
Come the 21st century, most African Americans lived in the south, while more than 2 million lived in New York. When African Americans were granted freedom and a fair share in American society, their identities were greatly reevaluated. The name-calling such as ”negro” or ”blacks” become offensive, and new terms were adopted, such as ”people of color” or ”African Americans”. The term Negro was used to refer to African Americans when they migrated to the North to look for job opportunities .” Afro-Americans” was also used by civil rights groups to make African Americans proud of their heritage and a symbol of revolution and power. Even today, some of these names are still being used by prominent organizations. In 1980, Jesse Jackson adopted the terms ”African American” to promote cultural integrity among the black community. In the 21st century, African Americans or blacks have greatly been used to refer to African Americans.
History
The history of African Americans in the United States began in 1619 when a group of Africans arrived in Virginia, an English colony. However, these Africans were not slaves but employed servants for a period of time. Come 1660, great numbers of Africans were being brought into English colonies. In 1790 the black population happened to be one-fifth of the overall population in the United States. English colonies began to hold black servants beyond their normal term of indenture. During this period, white people started recognizing blacks according to the skin color, making them targets for enslavement. A new concept was also developed, which referred to the black people as inferior and held on some outdated culture. This made it possible for the white people to become superior over the blacks, thus discriminating against them. The enslaved black people used to cultivate and clear farmland in what was referred to as the ”new world”. Most African Americans were taken as slaves from West Africa regions, present-day Senegal, and Angola. During this period, West Africa was experiencing advancement in social and political organizations. This was because of the kingdoms that were located along the coast, and they were responsible for trading slaves. The culture of African Americans is related to the culture of most communities in West Africa.
The Slave trade was a profitable business, and it made some dominant African leaders sell captives to the European traders. The African slaves were usually held in chains, matched to the coast, and packed in some crowded slave ships that went through the Atlantic Ocean to West Indies. In these ships, there was an outbreak of diseases and suicide cases that killed most African Americans. When slaves finally got in West indies, they were taught the discipline expected in the plantation life.
Oral traditions
African Americans played a huge role in laying the economic foundation of the united states. They have also played a huge role in developing Southern speech, food, music, dancing, and folklore.
The earliest leaders of African Americans emerged among free blacks who were located in the North. Free Blacks in the North had already developed their own mutual aid societies, churches, and institutions. An example of this was the African Methodist Episcopal church. The free blacks in the North became some of the first abolitionists.
Given that African Americans are mainly known for the oppression and slavery they went through, they have gotten themselves a fair share of distorted ideologies that have been passed from one generation to another. Some ideologies, such as thin-skinned Americans, are better than their thin-skinned counterparts, have distorted the idea of game beauty, desire, self-image, and phycology of black women.
All across the world, skin color plays a huge role in the definition of beauty. Light skinned people are always thought to be beautiful compared to dark-skinned people. This means that the effect of Hatred toward African- Americans remains visible to date, which is very sad. African Americans have also accepted the distorted view about themselves make them believe what others say about them. The culture of hatred and oppression made African Americans believe that they were inferior compared to their light-colored counterparts. However, Black Americans need to start making a judgment on themselves rather than believing the human perception of who they are. According to studies, African Americans’ color can fit in any climatic conditions, and it is most preferred compared to light skinned individuals. Traditional African features such as having dark skin are important for the hot African weather. In recent years the media have been focusing on the symbols of beauty for African Americans, but you still find them putting white beauty standards on the black people.
African American cultural movement
The black power movement started in the 1960s, followed by a non-violent American civil rights movement. The movement aimed at promoting ethnic cohesion and racial pride. It led to a new renaissance in African American artistic and literary expression. Popular recording artists emerged among African Americans. Music, literature, fine arts, and poetry helped raise the alarm on the growing political and racial prejudices.
African American Art movement also consisted of African Aesthetic, which called on Africa Americans to return to cultural sensibility and ethnic pride. The slogan ”black is beautiful” became popular, making African Americans embrace African culture that had earlier been suppressed to conform to Eurocentric America. African clothing such as dashiki and natural hairstyles such as afro became popular during this period.
Music
African American music is based on polyrhythmic music of various ethnic groups located in the sub-Saharan, western and Sahelian regions in Africa. Africans oral traditions that were natured in slavery called for the use of music to ease suffering, pass history, relay messages, and teach lessons. Moreover, when Africa Americans were in slavery, they combined the African elements with European hymns to come up with spirituals.
Most African Americans sing ‘’Lift every voice and sing’’ combined with the national anthem. The song was written by John Rosamond Johnson and James Weldon Johnson and was performed in Abraham Lincolns birthday. This song is used by African Americans to recall their struggles and express their solidarity hoping for a better future. The song was made a ”Negro National Anthem” by NAACP in 1919. Most African Americans have been taught this song by their parents, school, or church.
The 19th century saw the African American music entering mainstream American society. Come the 20th century, some music songs made by African Americans had become popular in America. Because of technological advancement, swing, jazz, raqtime, and blues became popular music overseas, making 1920 popular because of Jazz music. There was a lot of development in the 20th century that saw African American films such as King Vidor and Broadway shows. Come the mid of the 20th century; there was the development of Rock and roll, soul, doo-wop, George Gershwin, and R&B music. The genre greatly influenced white audiences. In 1970 there was an emergency of urban American traditions that used rhyming slang to shame enemies. There was also the emergence of half speaking and half-singing rhythmic street talk known as rapping. Rapping also grew into a successful cultural force that was referred to as Hip Hop. However, Hip-hop became a multicultural movement, but it remained important to African Americans. African Americans have continued to grow new forms of music, while modern artists have started a rebirth of older genres.
Art and literature
In the 17th and 19th centuries, the African American art informed ceramic vessels, small drums, wrought-iron figures, and quilts. These artifacts were similar to those developed in central and west Africa. After the American civil war, most museums started to display art done by African American Artists. However, cultural expression remained limited because of racial prejudices and European aesthetics. African American literature is based on the oral traditions of African slaves in America. The African American stories are based on fables, and they were almost similar to African music.
Language
Because of the hardship imposed on African Americans, a distinctive language pattern was created. Slave owners mixed people that talked different African languages to discourage them from communicating in any other language apart from English. The prohibition on education combined with African Americans being discouraged in using their own language led to pidgins’ development, which is a simplified mixture of many languages that speakers of different languages can use to communicate.
Ways to improve the cultural lifestyles of African Americans
The long history of slavery and racism policies made African Americans not experience economic mobility through legal and even extralegal means. The Jim crow policies and the post-reconstruction era came up with policies that greatly oppressed African Americans even after being freed. The Southern strategy called for conservative politics that led to the oppression of African Americans. Structural and explicit racism led to the development of policies that had exacerbated and maintained racial disparities. To solve the issues of racism, policymakers need to develop strategies that are more Appealing to African Americans. The strategies should seek to address the injustices they have gone through and develop an agenda to promote economic and racial justice.
Even though many policies have been put in place to cater to the need of African Americans, they need to have a union representative in the different industries. Union representation promotes the wealth of African Americans while also raising their wages. Employment and benefits in the manufacturing sector have greatly declined because of the diminishing union representation. Moreover, domestic workers, public sector workers, agricultural workers are not well represented thus do not have bargaining rights under NLRA.
Moreover, the government should come up with policies aimed at improving the fortune of Africa Americans. These communities need proper representation in statehouses to lessen the hostility directed toward anti-poverty programs such as Medicaid and TANF. Unfortunately, there are a lot of barriers to registration and voting that limit African Americans’ voices. The supreme court struck down various voting rights passing suppressive voting measures that targeted African Americans.
However, the government has made a lot of effort to make sure that African Americans are well incorporated in the American culture. In today’s society, the government has tried as much as possible to eliminate structural racism. White people have widely accepted African American culture. Ideologies based on stereotypes are slowly diminishing in society. America is becoming more cohesive and united than ever before. The economic life of most African Americans has greatly improved. However, we still have some Southern African Americans that are located in rural places struggling economically. They usually face a lot of problems ranging from voter disenfranchisement and disparities in criminal justice. The solution to this problem issue will assist African Americans and other low-income individuals from other classes and races. As policymakers try to handle economic inequality, lack of economic mobility, and race, they must start dealing with structures that promote harmful ideologies.