...The Impact of Slavery on American Society DeVry University Abstract The subject of slavery has been the focus of a variety of controversies, debates, and protests throughout American history. Besides the Civil War era there has not been another time in history when slavery has been such a volatile topic as it has become in the last half decade. Even in modern day America the subject of slavery evokes significant discussions and has influenced legislative decisions such as the recent removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s State House grounds and other government and public locations throughout the South. This paper seeks to review the literature attaching the history of slavery and present examples of the ethnic and cultural contributions that aided in the growth and diversity of America. It will also introduce examples of today’s societal issues including educational, economic, and social variances; the right to support cultural heritage; and the significant role history plays in influencing decisions made in America today. Introduction American history is filled with heinous acts that many would like to forget happened; slavery is no exception. Although it was a necessity of the times, slavery is undoubtedly one of the most volatile topics of discussion today; not just because of the inhuman and discriminatory treatment that was inflicted on an entire race, but also because of the perceived continued existence of some of those same...
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...of explosive culture and growth in the black community. During this time in the 1920s and 30s, it was not only the birth place of jazz but also we heard voices of the African American Authors who were taken serious by their white connects for the first time in history. It focused on portraying black culture and life in the ghetto. And it gave the African American Culture uniqueness within literature and art. Harlem Renaissance was an evident racial pride that symbolized the melodic theme of the New Negro. New Negro challenged the penetrating racial discrimination to encourage socialistic help of art and literature. As to be significant in the Harlem Renaissance the writers used poetry to present the African American experiences. Grabbing the attention between both black and white readers around the world. One Poet that set that bar really was Langston Hughes he was one of the most popular black poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes was great at his job with more diversity in his choice of writings. He had written Plays, Novels, Poems, and Short Stories, Most of his writings were the real situations that really happened in black cultures. Movies were highly looked up upon in the Harlem Renaissance. D.W. Griffith directed “The Birth of a Nation” the film was over African Americans directors who countered negative stereotypes promoted in majority of the mainstream movies. Then released films in The Harlem Renaissance showcased the struggle of the African Americans in the U.S...
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...Nina Wohl Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences AHIS W4855 African American Artists in the 20th and 21st Centuries Spring 2012 Research Paper – African American Art & the Great Depression The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn of the twentieth century. The federal government took unprecedented action to provide relief, recovery and reform. No group was harder hit by the Great Depression than African Americans. The New Deal was slow to deal with the unique situation faced by African Americans. The struggles of the Great Depression laid the foundation for the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Art would play an important role in influencing the future. Despite its limitations, the New Deal, through the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) Federal Arts Program (FAP), was responsible for reshaping the cultural agenda and “marked a significant turning point in the production of black culture.”1 The artists of the Great Depression built upon the work done during the Harlem Renaissance. New Deal art extended and affirmed art that translated “politics into cultural terms.”2 The FAP looked for a “new sense of authentic American culture – one that championed national values and traditions by celebrating regional and racial diversity.”3 As a result, many artists worked to place African Americans in the historical narrative of the United States while combating long held stereotypes. None were less important than Aaron Douglas...
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...Edmund S. Morgan: American Slavery, American Freedom Edmund S. Morgan discusses the historical ideas between slavery and the fight for freedom, mostly in Virginia. He explains American history in a different view on how slavery of the blacks, secured the privilege of the whites. Edmund argues that the experience of the Virginia colonies show the natural and unavoidable rise in slavery as an American solution to a real issue of labor shortages, excess capacity, and open markets. One of Morgan’s overall conclusion is that America was built upon this foundation of enslaved African Americans. The core message of the book is the paradox between the ample amounts of independence liked by some in the colony and slavery undergo by many others. In the first chapter, Morgan stated, “The paradox is American, and it behooves Americans to understand it if they would understand themselves. But the key to the puzzle, historically, does lie in Virginia” (5). Morgan wants the readers to understand the true American history and culture on how we got here today. Other subject manners in this book include the association between the colonies and the Native Americans, with the tobacco economy. Morgan described the racial, economic and constitutional evolution of the 17th and early 18th century Virginia. Morgan explains on how spokesmen like George...
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...Native American Music: A Root of Contemporary Music Yet Explored What is Native American Music? As our class brainstormed ideas for research, I already knew what topic I wanted to explore. Having been a musician, closely involved with music my entire life, I directed my focus toward Native American music. Before I began to develop any sort of directed, narrowed research questions, I asked myself first, “What is Native American music?” Regarding various definitions of the so-called “genre,” I discovered that Native American music shouldn’t be typified into any genre or defined style of music. It was the perspective toward music that was unique to Native peoples, and this perspective is key in understanding the Native American influence on later creations of music. Definition and Philosophy Native peoples tend to view their music in a distinctly different way from Euro-Americans. To Natives, music is thought; music appeared to be particularly inclusive into Native Americans’ way of life, and is unique in its origin, meaning, and efficacy. To ask “what is Native American music?” would be a question foreign to Native Americans, especially during the time that Native American music was first discovered. One aspect of music specific to indigenous peoples is its place in daily life. In fact, “its place in human affairs are much more significant to Indians than its mode of construction or technical character.” (Native American Music, 1980, p. 12) Unlike the Euro-American perspective...
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...Di Wu 2010–06–04 Chapter 6 native Americans In this chapter, we learn about history and development of Native American. This chapter consist of three parts , history of native; how federal polices effect on native American ; what situation the native American in today. After reading this chapter, I think racism is a very painful problem in the United States. of the first acts of racism in American was against the Native Americans. At first, the Native Americans were the Europeans’ friends. The Native Americans showed the Europeans how to farm, hunt and live off the land in this new America. As time went by and the Europeans became comfortable, they no longer need the Native American people. The Native American people were in the way, they had land that the growing population of the Europeans wanted and needed. This was the start of many treaties that the American Government would make the Native people, and the start for racism against them. Out of all the treaties that the American Government made with the Native People, they kept all of them, but the United States only kept half of the treaties. For federal policies, American government gives an immense amount of respect to such diverse cultures and groups, but where is the respect for the Indians. When the United States first became an independent nation, it adopted the European policies towards these native peoples, but over the course of two centuries the U.S. adapted its own widely varying policies regarding the changing...
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...have so much material wealth while so many others have so little? This was the question Jared Diamond posed in his book Guns, Germs, and Steel. After identifying a point in time when all societies were roughly equal (over 13,000 years ago), Diamond identified the key variables that allowed some societies to develop highly complex, material-rich societies, while others developed at much slower rates. Guns, Germs, and Steel uncovers how Europeans came to dominate every other group on the planet by virtue of their access to what Diamond terms the “Agents of Conquest”: Guns, Germs, and Steel. Jared Diamond’s journey of discovery began on the island of Papua, New Guinea. There, in 1974, a local named Yali asked Diamond a deceptively simple question: "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo (material goods), but we black people had little cargo (material goods) of our own?" Diamond realized that Yali's question penetrated the heart of a great mystery of human history -- the roots of global inequality. Why were Europeans the ones with all the cargo? Why had they taken over so much of the world, instead of the native people of New Guinea? How did Europeans end up with what Diamond terms the Agents of Conquest: Guns, Germs and Steel? It was these agents of conquest that allowed 168 Spanish conquistadors to defeat an Imperial Inca army of 80,000 in 1532, and set a pattern of European conquest which would continue up to the present day. Diamond knew...
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...What is Liberation Theology? b. Its origins and roots II. Black Liberation Theology a. It‘s true meaning b. James Cone - It’s Founder c. Luke’s social message to all d. History of Black Catholics III. Black Spirituality & Culture. a. Black Spirituality b. What We Have Seen and Heard – Pastoral Letter on Evangelization c. Catholic Teaching on Racism IV. Conclusion INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader about the true meaning of Black Liberation Theology. I want to present this paper as an enlightening pit of information to all who read it. I hope that will be an enlightenment and appreciation of the culture and spirituality of Blacks by non Blacks. And for Blacks I hope to affirm that our culture and spirituality is a depiction of our past, present, and future relationship with God. “Black Liberation Theology and Black Theology” are terms that walk hand in hand. For both share it’s African and slave roots since the 1560s. Long before the landing of The Mayflower at Plymouth Rock in 1620. There are a lot of differences between the two. Black Liberation Theology is more “vocal” in proclaiming liberation from oppression. Often it presents itself as hatred...
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...The African American community has had significant hardships brought to them over many years in the United States. They were put through the terrible time period in which slavery and the violent treatment of the community was vibrant. African Americans have been segregated, oppressed, bullied, killed, lynched, and many other terrible things that has provided them an extremely unfair life. The African American community has had a long history of racism, oppression, and not having the same rights and access to public space as others have; they have had an enormous amounts of successes overcoming the oppression and gaining the rights to public space, but most importantly overcoming segregation in the United States education system. First and...
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...racism was finally overcome. The March on Washington, Civil rights movement, and great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. were prominent in ending this secondary to nothing crisis. Bravery and overflowing pride outlined the 60’s for all African-Americans. Proud individuals fought and struggled to make America the land of the free. People were hopeful, they knew America could jump over their obstacles to be the world's greatest nation. First, televised debates, then rock and roll music and computer technology and America was finally starting to...
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...SES, historical and social context, physical or mental ability, age, gender, sexual orientation, or generational and acculturation status” (Cross-Cultural Care, 2012). The human service professional can deliver tailored services and care that caters to diverse beliefs, behaviors, and value systems. Team B will examine characters Celie and Mr. (Albert) in the movie “The Color Purple.” This essay will define the cultural issues or problems of Celie and Mr. (Albert), develop a plan for the delivery of culturally competent services to the characters, develop culturally competent strategies to address those issues, explore the richness of cultural diversity, and the benefits, and drawbacks as portrayed by Celie and Mr. (Albert). The movie “The Color Purple” is an adaption by Steven Spielberg of the novel written by Alice Walker. Walker addresses the issues of sexual abuse, domestic violence, and how these unhealthy traits do not have to be passed on to future generations. The character Celie is an African-American woman who was uneducated, emotionally and physically abused, raped, and bared two children by her stepfather. Celie’s stepfather gave the children away after they were born. Celie’s stepfather gave her to Mr. (Albert) who was looking for a good worker to take care of his children and help out on his farm. Mr. (Albert) married Celie...
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...men and women have made, the portrayal of African-Americans in the media has rarely been a positive one. Drug dealers, abusers, and criminals are some of the common roles that the media associates them with. This leads others, specifically white people, to disassociate themselves from African-Americans. Black culture has not always been represented in the media, and when their culture was finally represented it was not at all flattering. Racist cartoons and minstrel shows portrayed African-Americans as ignorant, lazy and unintelligent fools, causing those who had never come in contact with an African-American to develop negative prejudgments against them. January 31st, 1843, when a group of white men painted their faces black and proceeded to imitate African-Americans and their culture, planted a ever-growing racist seed. The images portrayed in minstrel performances were considered comedic by the white people that they were performed in front of, despite the obvious racism that was showcased. Negative images were acted out for the purposes of entertainment, to maintain a feeling of white superiority, as a justification for slavery and an exploitation of black people. These images helped white people, both in the North and the South, create negative ideas about blacks, while convincing themselves that this proved their superiority over African-Americans. Minstrel images gave white people a way to demean the African-American culture and a reason to justify their exploitation...
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...1. Who were the peoples whom Europeans came into contact with in American in 1492? The peoples who Europeans came into contact with in the American in fourteen ninety two is the Ciboney or Guanahacabible. They also met the three major Caribbean groups whom they labelled Arawak, Caribs and Maya. 2. Choose one South American indigenous group and one Caribbean indigenous group. How were they described by European explorers/ invaders [refer to appearance, religious, beliefs, gender role and political system]? One South American indigenous group is the Taino. The Taino were very religious people, and they had very distinctive theological ideas. They expressed their religious beliefs through complex rituals and ceremonies. At the core of their religious beliefs was the recognition of a spirit world in which both humans and gods were classified and ranked. They called their religious spirits or gods, Zemis. They displayed these gods in the shape of images made from gold, wood, stone and bones. Each person had his or her own highly personal way of worshipping Zemis and Zemi, images reflected the thinking of the individual worshipper. Each person then had his or her Zemi images; sometimes several were carried around the necks. Many of the Zemi images have survived and we can see that they were designed to show the supernatural powers of the gods. For example, some Zemi images were carved with prominent sexual organs to show the fertility power of god; others...
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...wide audience from early adolescence through adulthood. More important, however, is the inspiration his story of hard work and positive goals gives to all readers. His life is an example providing hope to all. The complexity and contradictions of his life make his autobiography intellectually intriguing for advanced readers. To some he was known as the Sage of Tuskegee or the Black Moses. One of his prominent biographers, Louis R. Harlan, called him the “Wizard of the Tuskegee Machine.” Others acknowledged him to be a complicated person and public figure. Students of American social and political history have come to see that Washington lived a double life. Publicly he appeased the white establishment by remaining cautious in his charges and demands. Privately he worked tirelessly to undo the effects of institutional and cultural racism. Although he seemed to have made a grand compromise, first with the white south and then with white America, he worked in deepest secret to undermine the compromise and advance the social and economic position of blacks. No doubt exists as to his greatness....
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...Society: Through the View of Many People African-Americans, Whites, Asians, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, and etc…They are all classified as ethnicities, that are judged every day in some shape or form. From day one to now I’ve learned more through the class of “Black World Studies” taught by Professor Coates. Coates gave me the intelligent insight on how Africans-Americans were able to succeed through the tough times of learning even when they could die from learning how to read. It was a sacrifice the slaves had to do that the time. When I read more articles and watched more movies, it showed determination, courage, heart, and attitude. When reading, it switched to a period of slavery to a period of the Civil War. After that I came to an author named Jared Diamond that gave his view on the world of slavery. In the article “How Africa Became Black” by Jared Diamond he argues that diversity resulted from the geography of Africa. Africa is home to five major human groups, blacks, whites, African Pygmies, Khoisan, and Asians. Thirty percent of the world’s language is in Africa. But as the years goes on were losing about 2 per week. Soon as the world gets older there wouldn’t be any languages in Africa. As race continues to grow in Africa there will be different types of languages being made and the previous groups (ethnic groups of language) wouldn’t exist anymore. As said in paragraph 8 of “How Africa Became Black” races are stereotyping, from Black to White, to putting the Zulu...
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