African-American Racial Identity

Counseling diverse clients ethically involves knowledge of one’s own cultural group, values, and awareness of one’s current stage of racial identity development as well as an understanding of minority clients’ stage of racial and cultural identity (Sue, & Sue, 2013). As a White student counselor I read the article titled, “Racism and White Counselor Training: Influence of White Racial Identity Theory and Research,” by Sherlon Pack-Brown (1999) and reviewed Sue and Sue’s (2013) stages of racial and cultural identity in order to gain personal knowledge and insight.

I enrolled in school in the suburbs from third grade on up, I forgot anything that I learned and I immediately began to enjoy our new neighborhood and school system. When my father passed away my siblings and I stopped talking about our race, and my mother did not bring it up either. My grandparents on my moms side were also much assimilated, growing up I do not remember having any conversations about my black identity. I saw my grandparents on my father’s side only on birthdays and special holidays. However, it was not enough time for them to teach us about our identity. Growing up black, I have no strong connection to my racial identity. I think it was very obvious to my black peers because I did not connect with them, this made me feel

In the quietness of unfair racial discrimination lurked an unquestionable desire to taste the realities of justice, fairness, and freedom. African-Americans were alienated and divided in a way that forced them to lose the essence of they were as a collective body. An identity was ascribed that presented African-Americans an imbecilic and inferior race. They were given an undesirable identity; one encased in oppression. Webster dictionary defines identity as the “condition or character as to who a person is.” Without having a sense of identity, the true nature of the person is lost. The African-American was lost in America. They were forced to assimilate with the masses, assuming their identity and culture while shedding their own. This is a dangerous state of existence; an existence marked with mockery and shame. Nothing can be worse than loathing of self. Questioning why your skin is so dark, why your hair is a different texture, why your nose is so broad and your lips so full. When looking in the mirror the reflection glaring back was one filled with anger and despair. This was the collective mindset of many blacks as the result of continued confrontation with “irrational prejudice and systemic economic exploitation.” In response to this continued subjugation, black advocates declared a quest for “their own liberation by rhetorically constructing an ideology with a new collective identity for themselves.” An identity addressing black “ideological alienation” while focusing on black solidarity and nationalism. The historical analysis of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. presents multiple perspectives concerning his philosophical outlook on black identity. These perspectives ignite a creative dialogue between the past ...

Comparing and contrasting models of identity development in people of color with racial identity models for whites, in Chapter 12 they address the issue of White identity development and discuss how it may impact clients of color. These specialists point out that while the Racial/ Cultural Identity Development model in people of color proves beneficial in our work as therapists, more attention should be devoted toward the White therapist's racial identity.

My initial conceptualization is that Biko is under a lot of stress. It’s his second year of college and he is pursuing a double major. That alone in itself can cause substantial stress. Not only is he dealing with academic stress but he is also having problems with his girlfriend Tanisha. Biko and Tanisha are not on the same page when it comes to premarital sex. Biko wants them to be sexually active and Tanisha doesn’t because of her religious beliefs. Biko also struggles to control his anger and has said that he feels like he is losing control and feels helpless and hopelessness. He is concerned how his anger will continue to cause problems with his social relationships. He has tried to channel his anger into other activities like working

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).

African Americans have faced a lot of challenges and struggles in the past, more than just what other people actually know about. They have been beaten, scorned, and embarrassed for centuries unable to do anything but what they were told. Slavery in the United States first began in Virginia, in 1619, when African slaves were brought to the North American colony of Jamestown (Slavery in America - Black History - History.com, 2009). A Dutch ship had brought 20 Africans ashore to the British colonies which lead to slavery spreading throughout the American colonies. Slavery was also practiced throughout the 17th and 18th centuries throughout the American colonies (Mason, 2006). As a result of that the African continent was deprived of some of its healthiest women and men. African-American slaves helped build the economic foundations of the new nation as well during that time. Early in the 17th century European settlers turned to African slaves for a plentiful labor because they were cheaper. Late in the 18th century the land that people owned and used to grow tobacco had soon exhausted the land and caused the South to face an economic crisis. During the time of the crisis that the South was experiencing, the textile industry in England was leading to a huge demand for American cotton (Mason, 2006). American cotton was a southern crop whose production became limited because of the difficulty of removing the seeds from the raw cotton fibers by hand. In 1793, a young Yankee school-teacher whose name was Eli Whitney, invented the cotton gin and it was used to solidify the central importance that slavery had to the economy of the South (Hammond, 2012). Whitney’s device was shortly afterwards copied all over within only a few years. This th...

From an editorial called Republicans and Racial Fears, Steve Chapman writes about how having an African American as a president would, in theory, heal many social injustice issues for minorities within the United States. However, having an African American as a president didn’t fix these problems, instead citizens called him racist against “whites” and people didn’t believe he was a true American citizen. Chapman’s main argument in his article is about how the winner of the upcoming election in 2016 could be determined by their attitudes on racial issues. Today in America, social issues have once again become a central headline across news outlets all throughout the country. Donald Trump is persuading American citizens that we are losing our

There is nothing more self-deprecating than not being able to fit in with what society deems as normal. My multiracial heritage made me feel like I could never fit in with anyone because I had to belong to a certain group of people. The first time I realized this was in seventh grade, when I was laughed at for having a biracial last name and ridiculed for not being someone who was entirely one race. Then it seemed, (at least at that age), that people only saw color. I was someone whom people could not automatically classify as belonging to one, specific race. This made me realize that in our society, our labeling of individuals is rampant because we want to feel at ease through the simplistic identification of skin color with background. Associating skin color with a certain background ‘helps’ others conform to stereotypical perceptions which makes it easier to characterize another’s identity. These stereotypical perceptions are then ingrained into one’s brain and one can easily apply the stereotypical perceptions to a certain race.

Racial identity is a topic that many of us try to avoid. When brought up in discussion, we tend to brush it off, ignore it, or deny it. This issue has been a problem that the United States academic system has been facing since the development of this country. The more we dismiss this as a problem, the more it will have an effect on us. In the educational system, the government does what it can to provide a safe, comfortable environment for us as students to learn in. In order for it to be fully comfortable and to have the ideal learning space, the issue of racial identity must be addressed. When this issue is acknowledged, most times it is in relation to minorities, but there is always to sides to every story. Yes, it is important to recognize that the problems or issues will not be the same in comparison to the majority group but it is important to note that there is a story for each racial group. Racial identity will help each group gain a deeper, fuller understanding of each other. Having a deeper understanding of each other’s racial identity will allow us truly have the ideal learning space that we all need.

Even as several types of research on United States immigration have emphasized on diversity in other ethnic and racial groups, while the scholarly focus on the importance of ethnicity amongst African-Americans remains underdeveloped. This research essay, therefore, intends to explore the manner in which the African-American identities are developed through the race prism and important social dynamics operating in the race shadow including divergences in color, class, migration circumstances and the nation of origin (Flemming and Morris 10-15). Thus, rather than dwelling on a single African-American identity propagated by the political discourses and the pop culture, this essay perceives ‘African-Americanos’ as a hanging signifier developed

I’m one of those people who look racially ambiguous. There are a lot of us: Tiger Woods, Barack Obama and Steph Curry, to name a few. Aside from exceptional athletic and speaking abilities (and obvious sense of sarcasm), another thing I believe I have in common with those three is that we were all asked at one point, the infamous question, “What are you?”. Though to some it may be considered an intrusive or patronizing question, I do not mind it at all. As it allows me to discuss my ethnic background in such great detail that the listener often has to feign interest all throughout my spiel, which can be quite amusing. In short, my father is a white American and my mother a black Brazilian, which makes me a latino, biracial African American.

The history of jazz began on the late 19th century and it was influenced by black American music, African rhythms and European harmonies.

The identity of an individual is formed during their adolescent years and the development of that identity plays a crucial role in an individual’s psychological well-being. Intercultural communications concern with identity is how it influences expectations about an individual’s social role and the guidelines it provides for communication and interaction. The texts definition of identity is that it is “abstract, complex, dynamic, and socially constructed” (p. 215). Identity is not easily defined, and many scholars have provided an assortment of descriptions as to what identity is. The numerous definitions are not intended to confuse people, but to show that identity is an abstract concept, which makes constructing a single description agreeable by all difficult. However, identities are not static and change over time, which is a “natural process of life experiences” (p. 215).

In Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon examines the different socially, culturally and independently conceived aspects of his identity. Throughout the text, Fanon explains how living in a white supremacist world presents many obstacles on his journey towards finding his identity as a black man. Consequently, he examines various ways in which he can overcome these obstacles but also wonders if he should stop relating his self-identity to his blackness altogether. Fanon inwardly evaluates himself and in the last paragraph of Black Skin, White Masks he creates a synthesized bildungsroman of sorts. Sentence by sentence of this paragraph, more and is revealed about Fanon and his perception of himself. In this last paragraph, Fanon uses metaphor