Black Culture Appropriation Essay

The Effects of African American Culture Appropriations on the Minority Black Culture
The black culture is the minority culture in this instance and in most cases, it is dominated by the white culture which has imposed its ideas on them (Stuckey, 2013). When two different cultures come together, different types of cultural appropriations occur. These include transculturation, cultural dominance, and cultural exploitation. The appropriation between the white and black cultures, resulting in the African American culture, is defined by cultural dominance and exploitation.
Minstrel show was an entertainment program which aired in the 19th century. The show mainly consisted of acting, music and dance with the performers dressed primarily in the
The show aimed at contrasting the civil rights movement ideologies by painting an alternative picture of the black community. Although the show has since been closed, its place has been taken over by numerous other media programs. In the show, the elements that have been appropriated is the personality of the black culture which is stereotyped as being superstitious, lazy, and mainly relying on luck to approach them giving no sort of significant contribution back to society (Edison, 1899). The show was meant to contrast the civil rights movement lead by leaders such Philip Randolph and Martin Luther King, among others with high leadership, qualifications, and mobilization skills (Juan, 1996). The aim of the appropriation was to affect the perception and the mindset of the general white population and create a barrier to integration and acceptance of the civil rights movement. Although the white population participated by acting in the show and in a way connecting with the African American community, it was made to identify the elements which could be applied in exploiting and
The costumes of the Halloween have intensely portrayed the black community in an upsetting manner. The costumes have often depicted the black community as superstitious and often compared them to zombies, vampires, and animals. The concepts appropriated are the superstitious nature of the blacks their depiction as less intelligent creatures. In contrast, the costumes depict the whites as knowledgeable, intelligent and upright. According to Savan, the media has greatly exploited the back culture with a mass advertisement from the corporations who get huge profits from the celebrations in the sale of costumes. Although an effort is made in connecting with the blacks, the idea behind it is not in understanding the backs and their culture but rather is an exploitative one. It had an adverse impact on the black community by degrading their esteem and status in the community. For many years, the political process also had been influenced by the same ideas and had ignored the black population in the political process (Belk,