Analysis Of Steve Biko's Black Conscious Movement

1233 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Black power movement in usa

The beauty of blackness is a question that may be hard to answer for some people and easier for others. The beauty of blackness goes beyond the physical characteristics of a person. Things that are incorporated into answering the question is black beautiful are traditions, values, and history. This question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. The answer to this question may be different and have different perspectives. Blackness is frowned upon and shamed in the eyes of some people. In the eyes of others blackness is seen as an iconic way of living and sometimes blackness open up the roots of pain and hardships African Americans had to face back during times of slavery. African Americans were brought to the continent of North America …show more content…

Rock during a speech in 1858. It was then 100 years later; African Americans would begin a movement illustrating the words of John S. Rock (Black America Web, 2013). This movement would encourage men and women to embrace their blackness, which included women to stop straightening their hair and stopping to attempt to lighten their skin tones (Black America Web, 2013). This movement became one of the most prominent in the writings of Steve Biko’s book, “Black Conscious Movement”. This book helped to dispel the stigma of internalized racism and help people embrace their own identity of …show more content…

I say this because of the shift the African American culture has taken especially in the natural hair movement. Today you see more and more African American wearing their natural hair. There are fewer number of people processing/straightening their hair. The beauty of blackness is a topic that is going to receive different viewpoints and explanations. Viewpoints of this topic for various reason the ideas and concepts of the past will come into play when deciding if black is beautiful or not. One’s up brings and family traditions along with personal opinions will be key factors when trying to explain this question. In my opinion black is beautiful because “black” is a part of me. I am a darker skin African American woman who prefers darker skin over lighter skin. I also prefer kinky curl natural hair over processed or straightened hair. The way I live and the way I was raised are all ideas and concepts of what I know to be the meaning of “black”. I believe the slavery/segregation are the gateways and reasons as to why black is seen as beautiful. I say this because African American people never gave up the fight or stop fighting to what they wanted and what they believed which made them beautiful. I also say black is beautiful because from a personal perspective I seen many other races who try to “be/act black” by doing things such as dressing like black people, talking like

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Tommie Shelby's We Who Are Dark

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through out history in the United States what it means to be a black person has taken on different meanings. This is a result of forced the segregation that occurred during the post slavery era. Whites wanted to keep the Caucasian race “pure” and in order to do so anyone that had one drop of black blood in them was considered black. This is very different from the way today’s society identifies black people. Presently, a black person is more likely to be identified by the color of their skin or their phenotype instead of their genotype. However, the boundaries for the black community are very permeable and black people come in all shades. Blackness can be defined as the set of beliefs, music, language, morals and ancestry that blacks tend to

    Read More

  • Richard Aoki and The Black Power Movements

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    An individual who was developed from the black power movements, was Richard Aoki, a third generation Japanese American. He had spent time living in the internment camps as a child during the second world war. When he grew up, he became one of the founding members of the Black Panther Party, and the only Asian American to have held a formal leadership position as "Field Marshall". He worked in the Black Panther party by arming them with weapons and training them in firearm usage. He continued his work by helping lead the Third World Liberation Front strike at Berkeley in 1969. This demonstration was to draw together the experiences of the oppression that third world minorities had experienced throughout their colonization period, from the United States. Experiences such as genocide of native Americans, enslavement of Africans, colonization of Chicanos, and the Asian immigration exclusion acts. The movements were created in order to achieve independence and demanded political power for those third world minorities who were had been, and were still being oppressed. They employed tactics such as, "informational picketing, blocking of campus entrances, mass rallies and teach-ins. Popular support was often met with repression in the form of police arrests, teargas and campus disciplinary actions." This impactful demonstration led to a large number of Asian American students, to become involved in community based organizing efforts, to increase awareness and strength for the Asian American movements. These students worked to produce vital means in which they were able to attain more information on their roots and the struggles that their ancestors had gone through. By fighting to create college curriculums that represented their histori...

    Read More

  • Black Natural Hair Essay

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some black women have taken it upon themselves to fight what they perceive as racial discrimination against black women maintaining natural hair. It is not uncommon to see many young women creating blogs to share insights about how natural hair can be maintained and the need for African women to accept this as part of their identity

    Read More

  • Formation At The Black Panthers, Malcolm X, And Black Lives Matter Movement

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    On February 7th during Super Bowl 50, Beyoncé took the field during the halftime show and shocked the world. She performed her new song “Formation”, which addressed all the criticism she received throughout her career, praised her African features, and paid tribute to Black History Month symbolizing The Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and Black Lives Matter Movement. This shocked everyone because they never thought out of all people Beyoncé would perform such a “racist” song. This performance received a lot of negative feedback which caused people to protest the NFL headquarters and say that she is promoting violent attacks against the police. Beyoncé’s super bowl performance was her way of stating she is unapologetically

    Read More

  • Stereotypical Black Women

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    When I lived in Atlanta approximately 1 year ago, growing up as a child I would hear the term black queen. To my understanding a black women and a black queen are one in the same, but growing up the two words became different meanings. People began to change and no longer were they practicing their queen ways. People were now becoming ignorant and began following the crowd instead of being themselves, setting them apart as just black women. Black women have been around for several centuries and in that time we were vigorously known as black queens all over the world such as in, Africa. We were known for our strength, security, stability, and power also for our greatness. As poet Maya Angelou said, “I’m a woman phenomenally, phenomenal woman that’s me.” A black woman is a very powerful being and to me a great phenomenon, but why are black women not embraced as queens anymore? Personally I think being a black women and a black queen is a stereotype within itself. Black women cannot be considered black queens anymore until they start being themselves and not what society has made them out to be. The black women of today will always be profiled by people because it doesn’t seem that they want to accept who they really are, leaving them in the category of just a black woman. So, does history truly repeat itself? Will society ever come awake from this slumber? Several of the major stereotypes about black women are that they are being portrayed wrong. Just like in the Article Mother Tounge by Amy Tan when the mother was profiled by how good her English was it is similar to black women who are profiled by the stereotypes of today.

    Read More

  • Understanding the 'Black Lives Matter' Movement

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    Today there are many controversial subjects discussed throughout the media. One of the most discussed is race and the Black Lives Matter movement. Recently, I came across an article titled “The Truth of ‘Black Lives Matter’”, written by The Editorial Board. The article was published on September 3, 2015, to the New York Times. In the article, The Editorial Board writes about what they believe African Americans are facing as challenges in society today, including the all-too-common police killings of unarmed African-Americans across the country. The Editorial Board is right that some African Americans have been treated unfairly, but all ethnicities have been. Life is a precious thing that comprises all ethnicities. This brings us to ask; why

    Read More

  • Rebuttal of Bell Hooks’ Article, Straightening My Hair

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    The article Straightening My Hair by Bell Hooks makes her argument of finding the reason of why African American women straighten their hair. She first states that Black Americans straighten their hair because it is the stage of transformation; it closes the door of innocence and opens the door to adulthood. Slowly, she starts changing her views. She comes up with the statement that African Americans do not straighten their hair for reasonable reasons, but to imitate the characteristics of white women. She informs that black people repeat this process because they have low self-acceptance of their roots and background, and that they have lost beauty in themselves. My argument against this statement is that it is erroneous to claim that the straightening of African American hair is misinterpreted as their acceptance into the white community; straightening of hair is the symbolism of impending womanhood, closing the door of innocence, and sharing a time to meditate by relaxing your soul.

    Read More

  • Black Liberation Theology

    1822 Words  | 4 Pages

    Black Liberation Theology can be defined as the relationship that blacks have with god in their struggle to end oppression. It sees god as a god of history and the liberator of the oppressed from bondage. Black Liberation theology views God and Christianity as a gospel relevant to blacks who struggle daily under the oppression of whites. Because of slavery, blacks concept of God was totally different from the masters who enslaved them. White Christians saw god as more of a spiritual savior, the reflection of God for blacks came in the struggle for freedom by blacks. Although the term black liberation theology is a fairly new, becoming popular in the early 1960’s with Black Theology and Black Power, a book written by James H. Cone, its ideas are pretty old, which can be clearly seen in spirituals sang by Africans during the time of slavery nearly 400 years ago.# It was through these hymns that black liberation spawned. Although Cone is given credit for “the discovery of black liberation theology,” it’s beliefs can quite clearly be seen in the efforts of men like preacher Nat Turner and his rebellion of slavery in mid 1800’s or Marcus Garvey, one of the first men to “see god through black spectacles” in the early 1900’s. More recently black theology emerged as a formal discipline. Beginning with the "black power" movement in 1966, black clergy in many major denominations began to reassess the relationship of the Christian church to the black community. Black caucuses developed in the Catholic, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches. "The central thrust of these new groups was to redefine the meaning and role of the church and religion in the lives of black people. Out of this reexamination has come what some have called Bla...

    Read More

  • The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual

    903 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Cornell West reading on Dilemma of the black intellectual; West discussed three major points about the black intellectual: On becoming a black intellectual, black intellectuals and the black community, the future of the black intellectual. West also discussed on the black intellectual are as humanist. The Dilemma of the black intellectual is beyond and above the racist heritage according to West. The Dilemma of the black intellectual is a reflection of ones culture since the beginning of human race. Whites used black’s intellectual as a mnemonic device to imprint vital inhabits to isolated and insulated world of blacks minds through history.

    Read More

  • Racism Within The Black Community

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    The African American community is supposed to be united under the Black race, but that is where the problems come in. Under the ethnicity of African Americans, and have pride in their skin color and are supposed to be joined together, there is a system of separation within the different shades of “Black.” In the black community, there are all kinds of shades of black, yellow, light, brown, dark brown, and other shades. According to Dr. Ronald Hall, a social work professor at Michigan State University, "As a result of having been colonized particularly by Spaniards, the British, etcetera, a lot of people of color internalize and idealize values for lighter skin because that is considered the norm.... ... middle of paper ...

    Read More

  • Summary Of Brent Staples's 'Black Men And Public Space'

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this narrative essay, Brent Staples provides a personal account of his experiences as a black man in modern society. “Black Men and Public Space” acts as a journey for the readers to follow as Staples discovers the many societal biases against him, simply because of his skin color. The essay begins when Staples was twenty-two years old, walking the streets of Chicago late in the evening, and a woman responds to his presence with fear. Being a larger black man, he learned that he would be stereotyped by others around him as a “mugger, rapist, or worse” (135).

    Read More

  • The Civil Rights Movement

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the meantime, black leaders and other black citizens of influence, are urging the black race to continue to develop and maintain a sense of pride in their culture. The phrase and song title made famous by the soul singer, Mr. James Brown, “Black and I’m Proud” and the sister phrase “Black is beautiful” is a reminder to blacks (and whites) that they have much to be proud of.

    Read More

  • The New Negro Movement

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shortly after Rachel was written in 1916, the New Negro Movement began to gain traction in the African American community. This broad cultural movement focused on promoting a public image of African Americans as industrious, urban, independent, and distinct from the subservient and illiterate “Old Negro” of the rural South. Unlike his predecessor, the New Negro was self-sufficient, intellectually sophisticated, creative, knowledgeable and proud of his racial heritage (Krasner, Beautiful Pageant 140). While these concepts had been promoted since the turn of the century, it was not until 1917-1918 that they began to crystalize as a concerted effort among African American intellectuals. These men actively supported the creation of black drama because they recognized that “At a time when African Americans had virtually no political recourse, their voice could best be heard through…a creative and humanistic effort to achieve the goal of civil rights by producing positive images of African Americans and promoting activism through art” (“New Negro Movement” 926). The New Negros therefore shared the same overall goal as black intellectuals such as DuBois, but believed that black artists should focus on presenting the reality and beauty of the “black human experience” instead of an idealized vision of what life should be. Ultimately, the transition from “political” art to that which held creativity in high esteem was complex and divisive. Fortunately, just as Dubois emerged as the primary advocate of the former Political Theatre, so too would Alain Locke help guide the New Negros to support the idea of Art Theatre.

    Read More

  • Ron Karenga's Black Cultural Nationalism

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    The people of the black culture need a motivating force behind their community. They need a black aesthetic to motivate them and incline them to support the revolution. The black aesthetic itself will not be enough to motivate the people; they will need black art to help them understand what they are supporting. The art in the black culture needs an aesthetic to get the message across to its viewers and allow them to understand the meaning behind pieces of artwork. One of Ron Karenga’s points is how people need to respond positively to the artwork because it then shows that the artist got the main idea to the audience and helps to motivate them to support the revolution. In “Black Cultural Nationalism”, the author, Ron Karenga, argues that

    Read More

  • The Black Power Movement

    2020 Words  | 5 Pages

    The fight for equality has been fought for many years throughout American History and fought by multiple ethnicities. For African Americans this fight was not only fought to gain equal civil rights but also to allow a change at achieving the American dream. While the United States was faced with the Civil Rights Movements a silent storm brewed and from this storm emerged a social movement that shook the ground of the Civil Right Movement, giving way to a new movement that brought with it new powers and new fears. The phrase “Black power” coined during the Civil Right Movement for some was a slogan of empowerment, while other looked at it as a threat and attempted to quell this Black Power Movement.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Steve Biko's Black Conscious Movement

Open Document