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What is the importance of studying u.s african american history
What is the importance of studying u.s african american history
The education of African Americans
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Growing up, in school, I was taught a miniscule about African American history. I feel like it was at least spoken a bit about, starting in Kindergarten. The teachers taught us every year over and over about Martin Luther King (most of the same information every time) and each year we had a special assembly for him (Martin Luther King Oratorical). During this assembly, the children could read their own poetry or recite a poem or 2 that had been written previously about Dr. King. Our teachers touched lightly on the Civil Rights Movement as well, however, that is just it, they “touched LIGHTLY”. That was all in Elementary School, I do not recall learning anything about African American History in middle school. In high school, a few teachers
Black History is taught very similarly to White-American History except there are far more specific and obscure dates to remember and there is little focus on conflicts and experiences and more focus on oppression and heroism-you know- the way the hero found a way to overcome insurmountable odds. Which is great, and definitely true, however Black History shouldn’t be marginalized to a few success stories because “while leaders and their biographies could inspire us, the real study of history involved looking at trends and tensions across time and place, rather than the de-contextualized trivia and quotes that Black History looks like in many classrooms”
Most public schools in the United States kept it simple and straight to the point. They taught, what we know as, “Black History” from the media’s standpoint. This concept neglects the true meaning of black history in the educational system, making it hard for African Americans to be prideful in who they are. Knowing history other than what the school systems tells us African Americans would not only give us more knowledge, but would allow us to stand up against others when try to put down our history. Media gives us mainly negative perspectives with very little positives of our
Slavery is one of America’s biggest regrets. Treating a human with the same beating heart as a low, worthless piece of trash only because of skin color is a fact that will forever remain in our country’s history. Those marked as slaves were sold, tortured, demoralized, raped and killed. After the Emancipation in which slavery was illegalized, many would think that the horrors were over and that America as a whole started a new leaf. Unfortunately, the man of the South, refusing to move forward tried to keep the colored man down as best they could. Their premeditated plans and actions to find an excuse to continue torturing and killing the Negro man continued for years, which are documented in “A Red Record”. This story captures the grueling events African Americans were put through and the unfairness of the times. By capturing and sharing this history it will make sure these mistakes can never be repeated again .
African Americans who came to America to live the golden dream have been plagued with racism, discrimination and segregation throughout a long and complicated history of events that took place in the United States dating back to slavery to the civil rights movements. Today, African American history is celebrated annually in the United States during the month of February which is designated Black History Month. This paper will look back into history beginning in the late 1800’s through modern day America and describe specific events where African Americans have endured discrimination, segregation, racism and have progressively gained rights and freedoms by pushing civil rights movement across America.
African American history plays a huge role in history today. From decades of research we can see the process that this culture went through and how they were depressed and deculturalized. In school, we take the time to learn about African American History but, we fail to see the aspects that African Americans had to overcome to be where they are today. We also fail to view life in their shoes and fundamentally understand the hardships and processes that they went through. African Americans were treated so terribly and poor in the last century and, they still are today. As a subordinate race to the American White race, African Americans were not treated equal, fair, human, or right under any circumstances. Being in the subordinate position African Americans are controlled by the higher white group in everything that they do.
When reading, “The Propaganda Of History”, by W.E.B. Dubios, he explained how children, and by the way he spoke I believe he was talking about white children, were specifically taught that African Americans were, “all ignorant, lazy, and dishonest.” They were also taught to believe that the “Negros”, were the reason for bad government in reconstruction.
Next is John Henrik Clark, who refers to African America Studies as Africana Studies because he believes that Black tells you how you look, not who you are. He goes on to state that he calls African American Studies “a dilemma at the crossroads of history” (Clark 32). This is because European people knew history well enough to distort it and use it, as well as political weapons such as the gun and bible, to control the world. This is the reason why a look at African culture will show what Africana Studies are about or should be about. Africana Studies should embrace the Africans all around the world, in places like Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean Islands even those in Asia and the Pacific Islands. Clarke states that Africa is
At 17, the young man who was called by history to reveal black history was an untutored coal miner. At 19, after teaching himself the fundamentals of English and arithmetic, he entered high school and mastered the four-year curriculum in less than two years.
Black history month is an observance in the United States that is celebrated in the month of February to remember all of the important African Americans in history. This observance is still celebrated annually and brings forth a debatable question such as is there still a need to celebrate black history month. I strongly believe that Black history month still should be celebrated for several reasons one being that children need to know how African Americans contributed to society. Young African American children need to know their ethnicity background. The legendary icons who fought for whom was considered “colored” people need to be acknowledged. If were not for them the children in today's society would still be faced to deal with segregation. They need to have an understanding of what our ancestors and important African Americans had to go through to get us where we are today. We should celebrate black history month because it represents African Americans as a whole. By celebrating this month it shows that we fought for our rights and never gave up. It shows that we went through ...
The time has come again to celebrate the achievements of all black men and women who have chipped in to form the Black society. There are television programs about the African Queens and Kings who never set sail for America, but are acknowledged as the pillars of our identity. In addition, our black school children finally get to hear about the history of their ancestors instead of hearing about Columbus and the founding of America. The great founding of America briefly includes the slavery period and the Antebellum south, but readily excludes both black men and women, such as George Washington Carver, Langston Hughes, and Mary Bethune. These men and women have contributed greatly to American society. However, many of us only know brief histories regarding these excellent black men and women, because many of our teachers have posters with brief synopses describing the achievements of such men and women. The Black students at this University need to realize that the accomplishments of African Americans cannot be limited to one month per year, but should be recognized everyday of every year both in our schools and in our homes.
W.E.B. DuBois (1868 – 1963), a Civil Rights activist began to confront the popular point of view and stereotypes of African-Americans (Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital Library, 2011). Discouraging images became a part of the accepted society, but were also implanted in the educational and scientific institutions of the United States. The initial founders of ethnic studies set out to discredit bogus theories and propaganda about African-Americans. The civil rights movement challenged the political and cultural authority of white America and confronted educational institutions that discriminated and demoralized African-Americans because of their race. As warriors of this cause, they were adamant about institutional equality, the end of discriminatory practices, and curriculum reform.
There are many experiences throughout one's life that can have great influence on their development as a person. In my own life I have had experiences that have influenced and molded me into the person who I am today. The experience that has influenced my development was deciding to learn about my own history. This experience occurred in the eighth grade when I decided to do my own research on Black history after realizing that throughout elementary and middle school I was only taught very little and schools only focused on Harriet Tubman and Dr. King and excluded everything and everyone else important to Black history. I found this to be very harmful to the students since the majority of children in public schools in my city are of African
Of course, we learn some things about the important people and events in African American history, but some of the most important things remain untold, which will take more than a month to learn about. The Fight for Freedom and Rights When Afro-American’s came to America in hopes of having a better and easier way of life, and after they arrived, it was a total opposite of what they expected. The following are a couple events that took place in different locations for the fight for freedom and rights. The first was Bloody Sunday which took place in Selma, Alabama. This particular event was the march of black activists from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to improve the state of being for African-Americans.
This subtle racism relates back to the concept of the Dream as well. As Coates states “Very few Americans will directly proclaim that they are in favor of black people being left on the streets. But a very large number of Americans will do all they can to preserve the Dream.” The subtle racism that exists in the school system is designed to keep African Americans below white Americans. It doesn’t plainly do it, but the intent is in the language. No one directly proclaims that schools are designed to sanctify the failure and destruction of black lives, but a large number of educators will speak of “personal responsibility” when the system fails African Americans. This language is an example of subtle racism. It implies that the African Americans students are less qualified, less responsible, and less worthy than their white peers. And when the system does fail black students, white American will say it tried it’s best. White American would distance itself from the years of history that put African Americans in such a disadvantaged position to begin with. Coates says this distancing from subtle racism is equally intentional as the distancing from obvious racism. As Coates states, “The heirs of those Virginia planters could never directly acknowledge their legacy or reckon with it’s power.” He also suggests that when white Americans do acknowledge history, especially in regards to the success of previous black people, it’s always in token situations. It’s always in token situations where the history books spoke of black people only as sentimental “firsts” — the first black five star general, the first black congressmen, first black mayor, first black president. This “tokenization” of blacks is subtlety racist. Sure you acknowledge the achievements, but it is less about the achievement and more about the fact that it was the first person of a specific color to do something. That diminishes