The racial identity framework that fits my identity would be Black Identity. First of all, because I identify myself Mexican. The other two racial identity development don’t describe the way I see myself and feel. As a matter of fact, when Dr. Reid mentioned the Black Identity, I was able to relate to it and actually see myself in stage 4 of internalization with secure attachments. Black Identity is a classic theory that apply to other group of colors.…
During Michigan winters I look forward to February, because it’s filled with celebration of my culture. Black History Month evokes a strong sense of pride. However, since entering high school every February has been a greater disappointment than the last as Black History Month was nothing more than a fleeting thought and a tokenized moment. Feburary of my junior year began without a single poster, announcement, or even small speech. So, I decided to lead a project to bring recognition.…
Black art thrived in the 1920’s during the Harlem Renaissance. Smooth jazz soothed the ears of a race trying to find a place in the world; vivid art displayed the vibrant and successful birth of black excellence in a society that crushed any evidence of black people transcending “barbarity”. Just as this renaissance was in decline, one of the most pivotal literary works materialized. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, depicts a woman searching for enlightenment and self-acceptance through in an erratic and unruly world. Themes from the Harlem Renaissance of trying to persevere in an oppressive society correlates to how it is difficult for Janie to find a voice.…
The moment you step into the exhibition “A New Republic” by Kehinde Wiley on the fifth floor of the Brooklyn museum, you are embraced with a sense of equality. You look around and all you see are black men and women captured in various mediums by the artist where you can clearly see the uniqueness. At the center of the exhibit are glass stain portraits; sculptures surround half the room and the other half has 22k gold leaf, oil on wood panel or oil on linen paintings. The paintings are large in size and cover most of the walls. His art is unique because it challenges classical Western paintings by replacing Caucasian subjects with famous and regular black individuals.…
African Americans used the arts to express their cultural identity. Writings from the time…
New PFAC exhibit shows history and culture of black The Peninsula Fine Arts Center has a new exhibit, which shows one of the most unpleasant chapters in Peninsula’s history. The exhibit contains a collection of paintings, photographs and other art pieces that determine people to think about that chapter in history. The exhibition, called “Looking Both Ways”, presents the art of contemporary African-American artists and it offers an exploration of the turbulent culture and history that formed these contemporary artists.…
I have spent a lot of time exploring what it means to be black in America and to be a woman. With a journalism career spanning 17+ years as a writer and editor, I established myself as a trusted music historian, cultural critic and impenetrable voice of my generation. I have interviewed Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Common and numerous others while examining Hip Hop as a sociopolitical movement along with analyzing contemporary black culture and urban life for The Chicago Defender, HipHopDX, Soul Train and numerous other media outlets. After many years of living my dream, I became disgruntled and decided to pursue my life long goal to earn my college degree. I returned to Harold Washington College in my beloved hometown of Chicago and went…
In Harlem around 1910 and 1930 over a million Black African Americans moved out of all south to northern cities to try to escape racism and discrimination. The movement was called the great migration everybody wanted to live as equal and not to be describe as a “black”. After moving out the south to northern cities, to leave racial pronouns and discrimination behind so blacks got smart suck as poets they created high art and folk art this way to prove to everybody that we were way more than just black, to show that we were way more than just black, to show that we were smart and outgoing and had a sense of mind. These African Americans created folk art this was their opportunity to escape discrimination and racism. They wanted to be look at…
Many African Americans pursued opportunities to create paintings, sculpture, and other forms of artistic self-expression. Many, of course, had to create their opportunities to create. In my paper I will compare and contrast a few artist lives and works of art. The four African Americans artist I will talk about are Robert S. Duncanson, Edward M. Bannister, Mary Edmonia Lewis, and Henry Ossawa Tanner —All four free-born.…
The history of the African American liberation in the United States has been defined by the efforts of the collective. Within that collective, individuals utilized their own personal gifts, passions, and crafts to give voice to the African-American community and take a stand against the systematic oppression black people were subjected to. Of these efforts, various forms of art were, and have been, extremely instrumental in the fight for civil rights in the United States. The multitude of poets, painters, and musicians painted the picture of the plight of African Americans and vocalized their struggles and ideals of freedom and equality. One of the most renowned and profound pieces of art detailing this activism and progressiveness can be seen…
The place was very large. I assumed the man who took us was rich. He was rich enough to allow us to sleep and eat at his home. I wish that was the case. He was rich, but he did not care for us.…
’s essay titled, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”, the author effectively utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos to convince her female African American audience that although their creative abilities have been stifled through centuries of oppression;…
I have felt many pressures, race is such a big problem among black people but as community can get over the hump of being pressured into a few stereotypes. From my own personal experience being a young black man growing up in many places of black being the majority such as Detroit, Chicago, New York I felt an amazing amount of comfort around these areas. Once I move down to La Vernia Texas, being enrolled into an all white school with a lot of Mexicans and the only black people could only fit on a bench in a hallway that we called “The Black Bench” in high school, I attended La Vernia school district for 7 years from 4th grade all the way to 10th grade in high school. My first encounter with this whole move, and experience this new…
Black writers and musicians have often struggled with creating pieces by Black people for Black people. The white gaze, which sees the world through a white person’s perspective is what Black artist and writers have tried to avoid in their work. Toni Morrison once said, “...life has no meaning without the white gaze.” She was criticizing the notion that blackness cannot exist by itself, but only as a contrast to whiteness. The essence of Black pieces have been…
During 1970’s the feminist movement and black power movement was at its height. This was a time for reform and a discussion on issues of racism, equality and justice raised by Black Americans and women. After many years of oppression, black people and women raised their voices in protest and marched in the streets of Washington D.C. to express their need for civil rights. The black feminist art movement came forth to address the issues of sexism and racism felt by most black women artists. And in doing so, this gave black women artists the support they needed, while ensuring that their voices were heard.…