ETHN 1200 Week 1 Essay

African American Studies is a very complex subject. To confuse African American studies with black history is a common occurrence. African American studies is much deeper and more profound than just Black history alone. There are many unanswered and unasked questions among the Black American culture which causes confusion and misunderstanding in modern day society. In unit one there were many themes, concepts, and significant issues in the discipline of Africana studies. Both W.E.B Du Bois and Vivian V. Gordan touched on many concerns.

“The Black Studies Program: Strategy and Structure” was published Fall of 1972 in The Jounal of Negro Education. It’s contents are a relection on the years before when colleges and universitys were allowing African Americans to attend , but did not provide curriculum about or for African Americans.

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

DuBois and Malcolm differ in their essentials pertaining to the “reeducation” of African Americans. DuBois argues traditional education as essential because it provides people of color a voice with which to protest and is the key to ultimately gaining success. He argues education will help lead racial progress in America, and he proves this by presenting statistical data on the career trajectory of black men who have received higher education.

African American education systems and colleges faced many issues systematically and socially. The process of integrating colleges was a process faced with opposition because the idea that higher education was made for strictly for white upper-class men was still the underlying ideal. While equal opportunity was promoted in the light, behind the scenes, systematically money, policy, procedure hindered black education and equal opportunity. Realizing this injustice, black students sought to find their own solutions to social justice issues happening not only within higher education but their communities while leading by example.

Still between 1865 and 1876, there was a culture identity crisis for African Americans. We cannot explain the roots of African American culture without

The American Negro Academy, the first Black intellectual society, started the trend of establishing Black elitist groups who valued higher education. Unlike Booker T. Washington, Crummell’s Academy taught others that the race should learn self-sufficiency, not relying on social inclusion from Whites. He understood that Whites and Blacks would probably never peacefully coincide because the “race-problem” encompassed all of American history. In fact, the growth of Black and White populations would only continue to cultivate the problem.

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

b. The emperor Kangxi led the conquest of the island of Taiwan , home to Chinese and Japanese pirates, in 1681. Struggles with a new rival to the north and northwest, manchurians , led to constant conflict and extensive territorial gains for China.

There have always been African Studies, just not in the American Education System, black intellectuals dedicated many years to understand African American History and their origin and their role in society. Though the first instance for this course to be considered in school began in the 1960s. The purpose of the African American studies program is to study and analyze the history, culture, achievements, and issues of African Americans in the United States who are African descent. Also, the discipline explains the connection between African Americans and white and other ethnic groups. African American Studies was not created for the purposes of discounting European history, it will allow students to learn the importance of African history and how it has intertwined with American society.

Racial discrimination, political, social and economic inequality during the late 19th century and early 20th century led various leaders within the black community to rise up and address the appalling circumstances that African Americans were forced to endure. Among these leaders were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois whom possessed analogous desires as it pertained to the advancement and upliftment of the black race. While both individuals were fighting for the same cause and purpose they embraced contrary ideologies and approaches to African American struggle. In Booker T. Washington’s book “Up from Slavery” African Americans were encouraged to be passive and focus on vocational education whereas in W.E.B. DuBois book “The Souls of Black Folk”, African Americans were encouraged to fight for their merited rights and focus on academic education. However, although Washington was convinced that his ideologies would sincerely uplift the black race, they actually proved to be detrimental, leaving DuBois ideology to be the most reasonable and appropriate solution for the advancement of the black race.

1. What are the current challenges facing United Way? What are key issues in the general and non-profit charitable giving industry environments that affect United Way’s operations?

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.

United States in the mid 1800’s had different oppressive systems and at that time slavery was going to its end. Although I was written that slavery was illegal and no more slavery was going to be acceptable, down in the south slavery was still going on. Back in the day there was no way to prove or rather a way to show the world the occurrences at that time. The Sharecropper contract, 1867 is a really good example of how people of color were being oppressed by the system white people created. Due to reconstruction Asian Americans and other immigrants immigrated to United States because it was know was the land of “economic opportunity” which lead to oppression on immigrants. Oppression on women was a big

Education has unequivocally remained one of the most important and ever-changing aspects of society. With the advent of new decades and time periods, educating our youth has remained one of the most important tasks to undertake. The changing needs of students and the modernisation of classic teaching methods have caused quite a shift in terms of pedagogy. Throughout the civil rights movement, especially, there was much conversation about education in terms of how black youth were taught and about equality in terms of tutelage. The civil rights movement evoked a glut of strong feelings concerning the flawed and contradictory educational system in America. During the whole of the 20th century (and late 19th century), it seems, a lot was written about in regards to how the youth-black youth especially-were being educated; many called upon the idea that blacks and whites weren’t being educated the same and that there was a significant imbalance in terms of equality. One of the most important citations in the matter of education is one by Jacob Bronowski, “It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.” The redolent outlook this quote brings to education rings true to this time period of the 20th century in which education was being drastically changed and reworked.