African American Culture in the Americas - 741 Words

African Americans brought over a distinctive culture into America from Africa. The Africans can create many different sounds that we never knew about. They revived the way we held church and worship, and brought joy to many citizens. African Americans enslaved by the South created a truly magnificent culture in slavery using new music, oral traditions, and religious ideas. Many African countries are known for their spectacular music, and during the time of slavery many African American slaves used a lot of positive and uplifting music. A lot of our present day language and music has a lot to do with African traditions that occurred during the 19th century (Slave Culture). They performed a lot of sea chanties, yodeling, and created a falsetto to better convey their spiritualness (Slave Culture).They also made quite a lot of musical instruments like drums, banjos, and rattles from a type of gourd that was similarly found in Africa (Sambol-Tosco). When slaves did get some free time on Sundays or holidays, they usually did quite a lot of singing and dancing together (Sambol-Tosco). The African Americans did use a lot of instruments and clapped their hands together in a form of music known as â€Å"patting juba† (Sambol-Tosco). Music and singing held a lot of importance to the slaves both secularly and spiritually, and many great black musicians wer e praised by both black and white citizens (Sambol-Tosco). However, not all of this wonderful music was met with praises, as someShow MoreRelatedEssential Differences in Terms of Black and African American Essay942 Words   |  4 PagesBlack, Not African American†, the term â€Å"African American† is being stressed out and misused. McWhorter says, â€Å"It’s time we descendants of slaves brought to the United States let go of the term â€Å"African American† and go back to calling ourselves black – with a capital B† (527). I agree with McWhorter’s argument about calling African American’s Black. I feel people should not be addressing a person as an â€Å"Italian American†, if one has a heritage in America. So why should the term African American be treatedRead MoreAmerican Identity And American Identity1350 Words   |  6 Pagesthrough with our fight for freedom, the ability to create our own-and americas- path through american ingenuity even in times of great distress. Through the workings of Jackson Pollock, showing how not to conform, and through the Jazz evolution; the american identity has always shown its fight for freedom and independence the country contains. Ever since the Puritans landed on this continent, the american identity was established, illustrating the ingenuity and the â€Å"go out and do it† mentality. TheRead MoreAfrican Of African American Culture1572 Words   |  7 PagesThere is no doubt that African Americans have a rich cultural background and history like the many different ethnic groups who settled in the New World, whose origins lie in another country. For this reason, America was known as the melting pot. However, the backgrounds of each of these cultures were not always understood or, in the case of African Americans, accepted among the New World society and culture. Americans were ignorant to the possibility of differences among groups of people until informationRead MoreThe Three Cs ( Christianity, Commerce And Civilization1172 Words   |  5 Pagesrepatriation movement of African descendants from the Americas that they were looking for the â€Å"Black Nationality† by establishing an American colo ny in Africa. DuBois’ notion of double consciousness shed light on their dilemma in relation to Africa and Africans. The notion presents how the African Americans are perceived by the white Americans in the American society where the majority are whites. The difficulties experienced by returnees from the West regarding reintegration into African societies were theRead More Dominicans And Afro-americans Essay944 Words   |  4 Pages In America today, there is a large and diverse African-American population. Within this population, there are several ethnic groups. The other ethnic group similar to Afro-Americans is Dominicans. Not only are they both minorities, but they also look similar as well. Both Dominicans and Afro-Americans are originally from Africa, but their slave masters separated them into two different cultures. African-Americans was African slaves of Americans, and Dominicans were African slaves of the SpanishRead MoreLangston Hughes : A Modernist1222 Words    |  5 Pages Credited as being the most recognizable figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes played a vital role in the Modernist literary movement and the movement to revitalize African American culture in the early 20th century. Hughes’s poems reflect his personal struggle and the collective struggle of African Americans during this cultural revival. Langston Hughes’s life contained key influences on his work. As a child, Hughes witnessed a divorce between his parents and the subsequent death ofRead MoreIs America A Post Racial Society?1431 Words   |  6 Pages Many individuals have argued that America is a post-racial society. However, as a nation that as yet to be achieved. Even though, we have a biracial president does not mean that we have yet to achieve the status of all races being equal. We still live in a system that contains one superior group while other racial groups remain inferior. The United states have yet to understand why we have two nations in America. In addition, examining how to combat and prevent those issues that are place by barriersRead MoreAmerican Institutional And Intellectual Life Essay1455 Words   |  6 Pagesinstitution of slavery destroyed African culture in America, and whether it reduced slaves to a child-like state of dependency and incompetence. Anthropologist Melville Herskovits, and historian Stanley Elkins both weigh in on this debate: Herskovits with, The Myth of the Negro Past, and Elkins with, Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life. In, Slavery: A Problem in American In stitutional and Intellectual Life, Elkins asserts that African culture was all but destroyed by a repressionRead MoreLangston Hughes And The Harlem Renaissance1476 Words   |  6 Pagesthat writers and musicians are still influenced by these people’s work published over 80 years ago. To sum it up, the Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement of African-Americans, that popularized African-American culture, and brought it to the public eye. Also, the Harlem Renaissance brought attention to the struggles of African-Americans through art, poems, songs, books, plays, and movies. One of the writers who accomplished these goals was the one and only, Langston Hughes. Langston Hughes experiencedRead MoreThe Jim Crow Laws Stranglehold On The American People1247 Words   |  5 Pagesbut equal. These three words were used to justify the countless lynchings, riots, as well as legal segregation. The Jim Crow laws stranglehold on the American people was slowly diminishing. The racist re gimes which dictated that African Americans be granted the basic rights but not a thing more, only perpetuated the idea of keeping the African Americans as second class citizens, was slowly coming to a close. Langston Hughes could not accept to be thrown into being a second class citizen when at one