The Gullahs continue the lineage of the slaves who lived on the coastal islands and low country along the southeastern United States. From their diverse roots in Africa, they developed a distinct culture, incorporating elements from different African cultural traditions, languages and religion. Evidence of this culture in its rural communities is deeply embedded in the rituals, folklore, distinctive arts, crafts, religious beliefs, cuisine, language and music of Gullah. Food has always played an important role in African-American social traditions. Gatherings, and celebrations, are often accompanied by great food. Gullah cuisine is considered one of the oldest traditions practiced in America today. The Gullah diet consisted of food available
The second edition of “African American Religious History: A Documentary Witness,” covers the religious experiences of African Americans—from the late eighteenth century until the early 1980s. My paper is written in a chronological order to reflect on the progress blacks have made during the years—by expounding on the earliest religion of Africans to black religion of today. Race Relation and Religion plays a major role in today’s society—history is present in all that we do and it is to history that African-Americans have its identity and aspiration.
Many interactive adventures await guests at every turn. The Kocha’ Aabiniili Amphitheater is conveniently located in the center of the Cultural Center. This 360 degree area allows up to 320 guests to witness living history performances such as concerts and communal presentations (chickasawculturalcenter.com). Here, you can interact with today’s Chickasaw people as they invite visitors to take part in real life stomp dances. Equally respective, is the Chikasha Inchokka' (“Chickasaw house”) Traditional Village. The Chickasaw people recreate historical living throughout this village by displaying true to life Native housing such as a Council House, summer house, winter house and replica mound. This exhibit is a true adventure in the everyday life of the Chickasaw people. Connect with Native Americans while partaking in native games such as stickball, chunkey and marbles. Additionally, the village displays traditional gardening techniques in the Spiral Garden. An ancient technique referred to as the“Three Sisters” method is exhibited which uses intercropping to grow beans, corn and squash. Furthermore, sample Chickasaw cuisine at The Aaimpa’ Cafe which features traditional Native food such as fry bread, Indian tacos, buffalo burgers and pashofa (Chickasaw corn soup) or a classic dessert such as grape dumplings
Many blacks added their skimpy diets by gardening small plots given to them for growing their own vegetables. Many involved in survival fishing and hunting, which produced wild game for the table. Foods such as raccoon, squirrel, opossum, turtle, and rabbit were hunted by the slaves, until the 1950s, very common charge among them still largely rural and Southern African-American population. Native Americans of the U.S. South also supplemented their diets with meat like deer, derived from the hunting of native game. Venison was a very important meat staple due to the richness of white-tailed deer. They to also hunted rabbits, squirrels and opossums. Cattle, adopted from Europeans, in the form of hogs and sheep, were kept. When game or livestock was killed, the entire animal was used. Besides the meat, it was not unusual for them to eat meats such as liver, brains and intestines. This tradition remains today in trademark dishes like chitterlings (commonly called chit'lins) which are fried small intestines of hogs. livermush (a common dish in the Carolinas made from hog liver), and pork brains. The fat of the animals, particularly hogs and pigs, was reduced and used for cooking, frying and baking. Many of the European settlers in the South learned a lot of different Native American cooking methods. Cultural dispersion was set in motion for the Southern dish. Poor blacks in the South made many of the same dishes coming from the soul tradition, but styles of preparation sometimes varied. A lot of similar techniques popular in soul and Southern cuisines are shared with early cultures all over the world, including Rome, Egypt, and China. Southern food has developed from over 1000 years of exchange, origination, and
This research paper are for those who tend to eat food specifically geared toward their culture and have never veered from it. One would see this research essay as a form of reference/reasoning to their many questions regarding the upheld idea that soul food is the only predominant food choice in the typical African American home. It also signifies the reason it is held at the highest standards of those within the African American race/community. It also centers around those who wish to enjoy other foods but are culturally stuck to eating only things that are generalized to what is considered a norm within their community or race. My goal is to educate those who have been deterred form trying new foods, due to lack of support
Africanisms in America are a highly surveyed topic for the black community. Joseph E. Holloway describes Africanisms as “those elements of culture found in the New World that are traceable to an African origin” (Holloway 2). I believe, that africanisms are the traditions and cultural behaviors of African Americans that resemble the some of the same traditions and cultures in Africa. Which makes you ponder about what current elements does our culture use that ties back to Africa. Which in fact there are several africanisms that still exist. African Americans have retained an essence of Africa in their speech, hair care, clothing, preparation of foods, and music by over centuries of separation from the Dark Continent.
Thanksgiving is a holiday in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November every year. Although the way holidays are celebrated over time, thanksgiving has always been a holiday feast. However, Thanksgiving is more than just eating food together with your family. For instance, some families do charity work for the poor people and create a Thanksgiving dinner for them, other family’s watch sport in addition to the food that they eat together. One part that is common at almost every Thanksgiving dinner is the type of food that is served. Families in the United States have celebrated Thanksgiving for hundreds of years, but the way it is celebrated has slightly changed from the first Thanksgiving. To be able to explain
African-American is a politically correct term used to refer to blacks within the United States. The roots of many African-American rites can be traced back to African cultural rites. However, it is important to note that not all blacks in America identify with African cultural roots. Therefore, some of the rites found within what many in the United States call African-American culture stem from Caribbean and other cultural traditions. For this reason, when making end of life decisions or funeral arrangements the “cultural identification, spirituality and the social class” the individual identifies with must be taken into account. The black majority within the United States identifies with Afrocentric traditions and perspectives. For this reason the term African-American will be used within this paper to denote the black population found in America as comparisons are made regarding how end of life decisions are viewed and made by African-American culture verses the traditional western European beliefs of American culture (Barrett, 2002).
I was introduced to Gullah Geechee culture through a children's show named Gullah Gullah Island when I was in third grade. Later in high school, I came across a film about a Gullah family living off the coast of South Carolina in 1902 titled Daughter's of the Dust. Since then, I've read several books and watched documentaries about how this isolated community was able to retain several African cultural practices. I often suspect based on what many of my elder family members have said about the elders who have passed on (including my late grandmother), that there may be some connection to the Gullah Geechee through my great-grandfather. Like Prof. Walker, my family is from South Carolina and I've heard stories about the accent my grandmother
African- American folklore is arguably the basis for most African- American literature. In a country where as late as the 1860's there were laws prohibiting the teaching of slaves, it was necessary for the oral tradition to carry the values the group considered significant. Transition by the word of mouth took the place of pamphlets, poems, and novels. Themes such as the quest for freedom, the nature of evil, and the powerful verses the powerless became the themes of African- American literature. In a book called Fiction and Folklore: the novels of Toni Morrision author Trudier Harris explains that "Early folk beliefs were so powerful a force in the lives of slaves that their masters sought to co-opt that power. Slave masters used such beliefs in an attempt to control the behavior of their slaves"(Harris 2).
The diet of any culture is important to consider when looking at the lifestyles of others to fully understand how they live. The basic diet of the Jewish is termed koshe...
This research paper is for those who tend to eat food specifically geared toward their culture and have never veered from it. One would see this research essay as a form of reference/reasoning to their many questions regarding the upheld idea that soul food is the only predominant food choice in the typical African Americans home. It also signifies the reason it is held at the highest standards of those within the African American race/community. It also centers around those who wish to enjoy other foods, but are culturally stuck to eating only things that are generalized to what is considered a norm within their community or race. My goal is to educate those who have been deterred from trying new foods, due to lack of support
Black culture is the epitome of what defines America’s understanding of cool. It is difficult to define what it means to be cool without stating the influence or impact of the culture. The idea of cool developed as a social attitude implemented by black men during slavery which they used as a defense mechanism in order to cope with exploitation and injustice. It is now spread by hip hop culture which has integrated itself into mainstream society. As a result, black culture continues to play a vital role in America due to its innovative and creature nature.
People have been living in America for countless years, even before Europeans had discovered and populated it. These people, named Native Americans or American Indians, have a unique and singular culture and lifestyle unlike any other. Native Americans were divided into several groups or tribes. Each one tribe developed an own language, housing, clothing, and other cultural aspects. As we take a look into their society’s customs we can learn additional information about the lives of these indigenous people of the United States.
Paula Giddings (1995) says that black men are only known for their devience because they are linked to the black "lascivious" women who are "the foundation of a groups morality" because of their gender. (1995, 415) "Jennifer Morgan (1997), in her analysis of early European explorers' writings on Africa, supports Giddings's view, arguing that these writers "turned to black women as evidence of a cultural inferiority that ultimately became encoded as racial difference" (1997, 191). Indeed, these travel narratives, dating from 1500 to 1770, often depicted African women's bodies as mythic and monstrous, in which their exposed breasts and genitalia, appearing animalistic and abundant, supported popular views of Africa's "lack of civilization."
The food that African people has brought to the United States is soul food. Soul food was brought to the United States by the African slaves. It mainly have a bigger impact on the southern part of the United States but it is eaten all over the United States because some southerners would move from the South and take soul food mentality with them. It was accepted because the slaves had to cook for their slave owners and that is all they knew how to prepare. It also became widely recognized because once slavery was over a lot of women worked as a housekeeper or a cook in the North and the