Essay On African American Culture

Artwork has been an imperative part of Black culture, and many artist share their inspirations coming from African origins. From the beginning of slave societies to present day, African America artwork has contributed to large parts of United States artistic collection. Beginning in the early 1600 to 1800 “black art took the form of small drums, quilts, wrought-iron figures and ceramic vessels in the southern United States. These artifacts have similarities with comparable crafts in West and Central Africa.” The significance of the

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.

Throughout American history, African Americans fought to establish their own culture. Even though they were silenced by white laws and stereotypes, African Americans created their own distinct culture, to a certain extent from 1800 to 1860. By mixing their African American traditions and Christian ideas, they formed a religion, their own version of Christianity. African American rebellions, though small and infrequent, were used to express their beliefs on slavery and add to their distinct culture. And, with the constant fear of being split up by being sold, African American families managed to form within plantations through marriages and children. Despite

Culture is not a fixed phenomenon, nor is it the same in all places or to all people. It is relative to time, place, and particular people. Learning about other people can help us to understand ourselves and to be better world citizens.

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 20th Century presented its own problems and temporary solutions for Blacks. Those years impacted all Blacks, male and female, northerner and southerner, soldier and civilian. Migration, military service, racial violence, and political protest combined to make the 20th century one of the most dynamic periods of the Black experience. Black people contested the boundaries of American democracy, demanded their rights as American citizens, and asserted their very humanity in ways both subtle and dramatic. Let's walk through this century together as we take it one episode at a time.

“Cooning” was a TV show or Film usually they act like idiot behavior that misrepresents African American culture. I think idiot because that shows a deliberate act. Many people called “coons.” Yes, I saw some examples today’s culture some white people still discriminate black people. Some white people were enjoying it, and that seems to some people they insulted African- American behaves. African-American got angry. It was not fair at all that behavior. All are good examples.

To this end it is common for African-Americans to not mitigate pain and suffering while pursuing any and all life sustaining treatments made available to them (Barrett, 2002). African-Americans will generally even pursue life saving treatments aggressively when they are informed of the treatments futility (Barrett, 2005).

As Americans, we are privileged with diverse experiences. With this comes a perceived understanding of many cultures and their influences but in fact full cultural literacy is impossible to achieve.

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated; that is 60% of 30% of the African American population. African Americas are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. “Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age groups." (Carson, E. Ann, and Sabol, William J. 2011.) Stated on Americanprogram.org “ The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison.” Hispanics and African Americans make up 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population. (Henderson 2000). Slightly 15% of the inmate population is made up of 283,000 Hispanic prisoners.

Diabetes  is a serious health condition that is a chronic illness for the African Americans. Diabetes preventions strategies in African American community can be a tricky task to contain and prevent for several reasons I will discuss in this paper.

The American culture is define to everyone in their own way. Everyone grows up differently in a particular community that shares the same languages, values, rules, and customs. The American Culture on that is consider to be a “melting pot”, because of all the different cultures that reside inside of it making it so diverse. Race in this country has never been a great topic throughout history. African Americans play a huge role into defining what our culture is as a whole, as well as being a part of racism for the past 250 years.

The existential aspect of the group is all about recognition of the existence of African Americans with diabetes as essential human beings with the needs of any other person. The existential part combines both the three model factors under one model factor that is cultural empowerment. As much as the group has been formed or is in place to support the specific population from the community that suffers from diabetes, it also supports and creates more awareness for togetherness and the existence of one to help the other. Cultural identity and cultural empowerment are essential in creating a mutual relationship among different people and increasing the expectation of help by those who are suffering from their brothers and sisters. As such, the ones suffering feel as part and parcel of the community through the actions and the support of the African American with diabetes group. They thus feel like they exist and that other realize that they are part of the community.

Nowadays people are made to feel like they have to look and also set a certain standard. This generation is full of a lot of stereotypical things for example in the movie Black Panther. People made a lot of stereotypes such as “Africans can hunt”, “Africans don’t wear shoes or “Black movies does not sell out to other countries. Black Panther was a perfect representation of the fact that it works to have a Black cast, it works to have a black director and different shade of black people come together and embrace the African culture. After Black Panther the idea of being African and finding heritage has been trending for the most part.

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.