African American Contributions

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.

Rockefeller, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Altman Foundation supported the National Urban League. The National Urban League was responsible for coordinating the “Americans of Negro Lineage” exhibit. One of the most important elements of the America’s Making Exposition was that each racial group would be entirely free to determine for itself the extent and manner of its participation in America’s Making.4 In 1921, African Americans did not have full citizenship rights. Segregation in all aspects of American life limited African Americans’ access to health care, education, employment, housing and transportation. Principal organizers of the Negro Lineage exhibit, W.E.B. Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson viewed the exposition as an opportunity to demonstrate unequivocally the contributions African Americans had made to America, which entitled African Americans to all the privileges and benefits of American citizenship. Equally important, the exposition would give African Americans the opportunity to reimagine and reimage the visual representation of African Americans.

“We are not makers of history, we are made by history,” once said by Martin Luther King Junior. Black history has impacted all of our lives, regardless of our race or the color of our skin. Therefore, it is imperative that we all explore black history. In modern society, most adolescents can’t even begin to fathom what it was like to live in the 1950s as an African American. Moreover, they don’t recognize the colossal sacrifices African Americans made in order to obtain equality. Many juveniles find it difficult to wrap their heads around what life was like prior to all of these pivotal icons that paved the way for our contemporary lifestyle. Icons much like Ineria Hudnell who revolutionized academia in Florida.

Question 1: Utilizing specific examples from both books, explain how the actions of African Americans damaged the institution of slavery and ultimately led to its demise.

Despite common perceptions of black folly and Reconstruction failure, the era proved to be an invaluable period which laid the ground work for African American victories during the Civil Rights Movement. The documentary addressed the circumstances

The time has come again to celebrate the achievements of all black men and women who have chipped in to form the Black society. There are television programs about the African Queens and Kings who never set sail for America, but are acknowledged as the pillars of our identity. In addition, our black school children finally get to hear about the history of their ancestors instead of hearing about Columbus and the founding of America. The great founding of America briefly includes the slavery period and the Antebellum south, but readily excludes both black men and women, such as George Washington Carver, Langston Hughes, and Mary Bethune. These men and women have contributed greatly to American society.

Carter G. Woodson did an exceptional job on The Mis-Education of the Negro, by allocating his insight and criticism on African American culture in the 1930’s. His work had a very parallel effect to how things are now in the 21st century, and how some things really have not changed; such as African American fundamentals, concern for one another , sacrifice, and likely hood. The book encourages liberating thoughts and more of an understatement for African American experience.

The Campaign rhetoric of Horace Greeley in 1872, the religious revivals of D.L. Moody, and the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 influenced northern white attitudes regarding African Americans in the South in a way that actually had a negative impact. I had no idea these three events could have had the ability to, in a sense, set back the progress that could and should have been for African-Americans. To me, it is not so much of an attitude whites had regarding African-Americans as much as a complete erasure from their memories as to what should have been happening with regard to helping the African-American population to properly integrate into American society.

The black race has faced many hardships throughout American history. The harsh treatment is apparent through the brutal slavery era, the Civil Rights movement, or even now where sparks of racial separation emerge in urbanized areas of Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Black Americans must do something to defend their right as an equal American. “I Am Not Your Negro” argues that the black race will not thrive unless society stands up against the conventional racism that still appears in modern America. “The Other Wes Moore” argues an inspiring message that proves success is a product of one’s choices instead of one’s environment or expectations.

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.

Throughout history, Americans have sought to spread the spirit of equality, which is believed to be the realization of true freedom. Before establishing this freedom, every American had only one question stuck in their head: What is freedom? Our country received it in the year of 1776 from the British through a series of difficulties and wars. African Americans defined it as an escape from slavery, while immigrants defined it as their acceptance into a new society. More yet, women of the women’s suffrage defined their freedom as their recognition into society and for their rights to be equal to that of every other man. These different perceptions of cultures/groups in America tied together to form an American view of freedom. Freedom is

Whether we know it or not, black inventors have impacted our lives drastically. From the time we wake up, until we go back to sleep at night, we use at least one thing that has been made by an African- American inventor. Whether it is something as big as a traffic light or as little as a hair brush, black inventors have made major contributions to our everyday lives. Many people know about the big inventions, but both small and big inventions have impacted America. (Lund 2008)

African Americans have had an extensive impact on the world throughout history but have not gotten the recognition that they deserve for all the good they have accomplished. As poverty, hunger, and unemployment matters grow bigger the color line problem grows as well. Black unemployment is two times as high compared to whites. Although segregation has ended many years ago we still see it going on in the world today. As a community and country we all need to come together to knock out the issue of racism, segregation, and the color barrier. (www.faithstreet.com)

As early as the 1930s when America joined the World War, and maybe even before then, we as a nation have believed that we are the best in the world at virtually everything. American “greatness” can be seen in several different facets of the American culture. Such as, in our education system, which is 36th out of 65 countries and was below the OECD average ( Ryan, Julia; The Atlantic). Or, in our “melting pot” mindset, with news such as Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration (Lopez, German; Vex) and basically America’s entire history with African Americans. Even more, in our healthcare, which is one of the most expensive with the least effective insurance policies in the world . In sum, we have become one of the most hypocrisy ridden countries in the world, and ladies and gentlemen, I have found the solution. We should follow the example and ideas of our new great leader, and deport every single one of America’s “worst” citizens back to their original countries.

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”.