African

Powerless African American parents beat their children out of the fear that one day they could lose their bodies. It was only after the birth of his son, that Coates was able to understand the love behind the grip of his mother’s hand. He understood what happens to parents who fear not just the criminals among them but the police who lord over them with all the moral authority of a protection racket. While explaining his realization and why so many black parents beat their children, Coates says,…

and carelessly that this cruel punishment became the norm in that time. Keeping African-Americans as slaves was normal, until its end in 1863, but blacks were discriminated against even after that point in time. Lynching involved putting a person to death or forcing them to experience an inexplicable amount of pain, yet it was still popular, particularly in the South. In the article “The Press and Lynchings of African Americans” written by Richard M. Perloff, the poem “Strange Fruit” written by…

Good hair… What exactly is “good hair”? Kinky, twisty, wavy, or straight—African- American (AA) hair comes in many ways. There is so much spectacle surrounding AA hair. There are hair shows surrounding it, special hair care products, books, and movies that place the spotlight on this unique curly hair. To conduct research on the spectacle of African American hair, I first went and saw the movie “Good Hair” featuring Chris Rock. The movie was created because of Chris Rock’s daughter crying to him…

With the end of slavery, newly freed African Americans established brand-new identities for themselves. From behaviors that were considered respectable for the time, to rejecting all social norms, each black person sought to define him or herself in a way of his or her choosing. Black women, in particular, took on a range of identifications. How each woman choose to define herself, and the reasons behind her definition varied. Black Women who belonged to clubs, such as the National Association…

African men and women within the realm of the African diaspora have historically decorated their heads in inventive and unique ways. Its central transcending position makes the head an ideal site for the aesthetic and symbolic elaboration of the body. In many African languages, as in English, the word "head" is used metaphorically. Some common meanings of kun, the word for head in the Bamana lan- guage spoken in Mali, include leader, main, premier, highest, superior, chief, and source. Among the…

are today and set the stage for the current decision of African American football players leaving school early. Going further into the numbers behind this mindset reveals the underlying social variables. African-Americans have a statistical advantage when it comes to making the professional leagues; 1 in 3,500 black males turns professional compared to 1 in 10,000 white men who become a professional in sports. On top of that, 66% of African-American men between the age of 13 and 18 believe they…

This chapter highlights the true challenges that African Americans have faced for centuries, and quite frankly they are still encountering the harsh realities that keeps us improvised, powerless, and neglected. White conservatism has dominated the nation for years and African Americans have struggled severely at the hands of European colonizers who invaded their land, enslaved and exploited them, and forced them to embrace the dominant white conservative values, norms and beliefs. Furthermore,…

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,…

“We should also understand that slavery should be viewed as a starting point for understanding the African-American. (Akbar)" We must realize the legacy that slavery has left on our mental state and change our behavior accordingly. We must rebuild our culture from the ground up. Learning to celebrate ourselves and unite with one another to become stronger than we ever were, this is the only way to ensure the longevity of the black culture in America. “The problem that has been created for the…

African-Americans are considered the poorest group of people in United States, as we saw in the Poverty, Class and Race chapter that they are among the poorest people. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown a decrease in unemployment both nationwide and in Ohio, but the rate of unemployment for African American people is almost twice when compared to that of whites. This difference in the rates has been going for the last 50 years and it is still a big problem for the nation. According to the…