How Does Culture Affect African American Culture

861 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Treatment in American prisons

The United States of America has always had a problems with cohesive cultural values. Due to the fact that it 's a country where cultural values don 't always mean the same for people. It 's a melting pot, no one culture is the same so therefore there is no set cultural value. More than that, it 's a symbol of overcoming and perseverance through times where people were under represented and unequal in the eyes of those who surrounded them. Struggle is no stranger to the African American culture, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments aided in the equality among blacks in whites. Historically, even with these amendments in place, blacks had a long way to go. The black fist, cannot be mentioned without accounting for the black power movement and …show more content…

The culture was highly influenced but it also influenced the american culture as a whole. The United states and the African American community has had a plentiful of conflicts in the past as well as the present. Historical accounts of slavery and segregation have caused a riff between a race and a country. From the justice system to the education system, african americans have always been given the short end of the stick. In terms of justice, the united states is seen as a prison country. According to naacp.org “Today, the US is 5% of the World population and has 25% of world prisoners.” the united states is no stranger to prisons. Yet, the overwhelming amount of african american youths and people in general is eye opening. “African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population”(naacp) and “Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice). Socially, times have improved for the african american community. Yet, statistics draw attention to a bigger picture. The black power movement and the symbol of the black fist serve a purpose. The purpose is to never forget where a people has come from and how far is left to go. The first is an engine that never stops, it fuels the fire of many americans who have felt the weight of oppression and who still feel it in the 21st

Show More
Related

  • Black Power as Interpreted by Stokely Carmichael

    1714 Words  | 4 Pages

    Black Power, the seemingly omnipresent term that is ever-so-often referenced when one deals with the topic of Black equality in the U.S. While progress, or at least the illusion of progress, has occurred over the past century, many of the issues that continue to plague the Black (as well as other minority) communities have yet to be truly addressed. The dark cloud of rampant individual racism may have passed from a general perspective, but many sociologists, including Stokely Carmichael; the author of “Black Power: the Politics of Liberation in America”, have and continue to argue that the oppressive hand of “institutional racism” still holds down the Black community from making any true progress.

    Read More

  • Black Culture Appropriation Essay

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although an effort is made in connecting with the blacks, the idea behind it is not in understanding the blacks 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, 1990). America loves appropriating black culture — even when black people themselves, at times, don’t receive much love from America.

    Read More

  • Keeping Their Own Identity in Black Nationalism

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...nd provided Black Amer¬ica with tal¬en¬ted con¬tem¬por¬ary lead¬ers who voiced the struggle they were facing. Its major impact comes from the fact that it has encour¬aged a pro¬found Nation¬al¬ism in Black America.” Today’s Hip-hop & Rap artist promote the culture with guns, dope, violence and sexism instead the manhood and womanhood, support of the struggles, prisoners, and good entertainment from the roots of Afro centric culture. There may be a few that still install Black Nationalism into today’s society, like Jay-Z and P. Diddy who have built empires that will lead others to want to succeed and follow their the success route. In today’s society the youth lacks the encouragement to stand up for their rights and decides to fight to get their points across. They don’t think about the self-determination, self-defense or self-respect its all about actions, no unity.

    Read More

  • Overview of African-American Culture

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    It must be noted that for the purpose of avoiding redundancy, the author has chosen to use the terms African-American and black synonymously to reference the culture, which...

    Read More

  • Culture Influence On American Culture

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Folklores are stories that have been through many time periods. Folklore include Legends, Myths, and Fairy Tales. Legends are traditional tales handed down from earlier times and believed to have a historical basis. Myths are ancient stories dealing with supernatural beings, ancestors, or heroes. Fairy Tales are fantasy tales with legendary being and creators.

    Read More

  • Deculturalization and the struggle for equality

    1787 Words  | 4 Pages

    African American history plays a huge role in history today. From decades of research we can see the process that this culture went through and how they were depressed and deculturalized. In school, we take the time to learn about African American History but, we fail to see the aspects that African Americans had to overcome to be where they are today. We also fail to view life in their shoes and fundamentally understand the hardships and processes that they went through. African Americans were treated so terribly and poor in the last century and, they still are today. As a subordinate race to the American White race, African Americans were not treated equal, fair, human, or right under any circumstances. Being in the subordinate position African Americans are controlled by the higher white group in everything that they do.

    Read More

  • The Importance of African-American Studies

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    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 improve the state of being for African-Americans.

    Read More

  • Jim Crow Laws Essay

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    To wrap it up, African Americans lived an unfair past in the south, such as Alabama, during the 1930s because of discrimination and the misleading thoughts towards them. The Ku Klux Klan, Jim Crow Laws and the way they were generally treated in southern states all exemplify this merciless time period of the behavior towards them. They were not given the same respect, impression, and prospect as the rest of the citizens of America, and instead they were tortured. Therefore, one group should be never singled out and should be given the same first intuition as the rest of the people, and should never be judged by color, but instead by character.

    Read More

  • Cultural Appropriation Of African American Culture

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    Have you ever taken offense when you saw someone dressed in traditional garments from your culture? In America, this happens quite often. Some people may not recognize it and some refuse to acknowledge that it even exists. Cultural appropriation is a situation in which a dominant culture steals aspects of a minority culture’s, such as hair, clothing styles, and music.

    Read More

  • Black Civil Rights Movement In Art

    1677 Words  | 4 Pages

    Yet it might feel like black people are still not treated fairly, compared to a few hundred years back it has been a drastic improvement. “Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding.” (Emerson, n.d) This is what the people of the Black Civil Rights and arts movement did; they kept peace and attained it through understanding not violence. Throughout the multiple years the Black Civil Rights movement has taken place, the people it changed and the numerous of opportunities it created have been substantial to how we live in current day. Without the movement, the world wouldn’t be as socially advanced as we are now. Knowing that there are still a lot of people in the world that show hate towards people over race, sexuality and/or gender, ever since these two moments, people have felt confident to release art without being hated on over there race. Due to all of this, the Black Civil Rights Movement has had a major impact on all artists around the world, and will never be forgotten. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that” (King,

    Read More

  • Martin Luther King's Successful Philosophy

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nearly three centuries ago, black men and women from Africa were brought to America and put into slavery. They were treated more cruelly in the United States than in any other country that had practiced slavery. African Americans didn’t gain their freedom until after the Civil War, nearly one-hundred years later. Even though African Americans were freed and the constitution was amended to guarantee racial equality, they were still not treated the same as whites and were thought of as second class citizens. One man had the right idea on how to change America, Martin Luther King Jr. had the best philosophy for advancing civil rights, he preached nonviolence to express the need for change in America and he united both African Americans and whites together to fight for economic and social equality.

    Read More

  • Analysis: Raise Your Fist And Salute To Black Power

    1968 Words  | 4 Pages

    October 5, 2016 a group of black students goes to a Penn State Women’s Volleyball game. While at the game, during the national anthem, every black student stood and raise their fist. What was significant about the fist being raised is it symbolized “black power”. Black Power was a term introduced by former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael at a rally in Mississippi. His intent was to “end American imperialism”. However, even Carmichael himself could not have predicted what ensued after that. The Black Power Movement started to take off and many radical groups started to become.

    Read More

  • The Struggle for Freedom Among African American Citizens

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    Diversity, we define this term today as one of our nation’s most dynamic characteristics in American history. The United States thrives through the means of diversity. However, diversity has not always been a positive component in America; in fact, it took many years for our nation to become accustomed to this broad variety of mixed cultures and social groups. One of the leading groups that were most commonly affected by this, were African American citizens, who were victimized because of their color and race. It wasn’t easy being an African American, back then they had to fight in order to achieve where they are today, from slavery and discrimination, there was a very slim chance of hope for freedom or even citizenship. This longing for hope began to shift around the 1950’s during the Civil Rights Movement, where discrimination still took place yet, it is the time when African Americans started to defend their rights and honor to become freemen like every other citizen of the United States. African Americans were beginning to gain recognition after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, which declared all people born natural in the United States and included the slaves that were previously declared free. However, this didn’t prevent the people from disputing against the constitutional law, especially the people in the South who continued to retaliate against African Americans and the idea of integration in white schools. Integration in white schools played a major role in the battle for Civil Rights in the South, upon the coming of independence for all African American people in the United States after a series of tribulations and loss of hope.

    Read More

  • Essay On Civil Rights Movement

    2889 Words  | 6 Pages

    Massive protests against racial segregation and discrimination broke out in the southern United States that came to national attention during the middle of the 1950’s. This movement started in centuries-long attempts by African slaves to resist slavery. After the Civil War American slaves were given basic civil rights. However, even though these rights were guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment they were not federally enforced. The struggle these African-Americans faced to have their rights ...

    Read More

  • Essay On Traditional African American Culture

    148 Words  | 1 Pages

    Traditions are practices/beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation. In traditional African societies, a kinship ties people through birth or marriage. There are two kinds of relationships in customary African tradition; those bound by blood, which are called consanguine, and those constructed by marriage, called affilial. There are four key descents that determine inheritance and marriage. However, the most common descent is patrilineal, which traces ancestry through one's father. While in America, we are vary tolerant of tracing our descent from both parents.

    Read More

More about How Does Culture Affect African American Culture

Open Document