AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE

In the United States, 'African American culture' or 'Black culture' includes the various cultural traditions of African American communities. It is both part of, and distinct from American culture. African Americans are officially defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as people having origins in any of the black race groups of Africa.^[1] Their culture begins with Africans who were held as slaves in America. Although the ability of these slaves to practice their cultural traditions was greatly restricted, some of those traditions survived by being blended with elements of American culture.
After emancipation these uniquely African American traditions continued to grow. While African Americans were no longer bound by slavery, African American culture often developed separately from mainstream American culture because of the persistence of racial segregation in America. Consequently African American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet remains a distinctly unique culture apart from it. Music, art, literature, religion, food, holidays, and many other elements of American culture derive influence from African American culture. Additionally, African American culture draws many of these same elements from other American ethnic groups and from African cultures.^[2]

History of African American culture

From the earliest days of slavery, slave owners sought to exercise control over their slaves by stripping them of their African culture. African slaves managed to maintain many elements of their culture. These cultural elements became blended with European American culture to form a distinct culture that is both African and American. The culture of slaves also had an impact on the dominant American culture. Language, music, religion, agriculture amongst others were impacted by early African American culture.

Zora Neale Hurston was a prominent literary figure during the Harlem Renaissance.

Harlem Renaissance

Main articles: Harlem Renaissance

The first major explosion of African American culture occurred during the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s and 1930s, African American music, literature, and art gained wide notice. Authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen and poets such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen wrote works describing the African American experience. Jazz, swing, blues and other musical forms entered American popular music. African American artists such as William H. Johnson and Palmer Hayden, working mainly through improvisation, created unique works of art featuring African Americans.
The Harlem Renaissance was also a time of increased political involvement for African Americans. Among the notable African American political movements founded in the early 20th century are the United Negro Improvement Association and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Nation of Islam, a notable Islamic religious movement, also began in the early 1930s.^[3]

Black cultural movement 1960s and 1970s

The Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s following the non-violent American Civil Rights Movement. The movement promoted racial pride and ethnic cohesion in contrast to the focus on integration of the Civil Rights Movement, and adopted a more militant posture in the face of racism.^[4]
The works of popular recording artists such as Nina Simone (''Young, Gifted and Black'') and The Impressions (''Keep On Pushin'), as well as the poetry, fine arts and literature of the time both shaped and reflected the growing racial and political consciousness of the time.^[5]
Among the most prominent writers of the Black Power Movement were poet Nikki Giovanni;^[6] poet and publisher Don L. Lee, who later became known as Haki Madhubuti; poet and playwright Leroi Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka; and Sonya Sanchez.
Another major aspect of the Black Power Movement was the return to a Black, or African, aesthetic, a return to a collective cultural sensibility and ethnic pride that was much in evidence during the Harlem Renaissance and in the celebration of ''Négritude'' among the artistic and literary circles in the U.S., Caribbean and the African continent nearly four decades earlier. : the idea that Black is beautiful. During this time, there was a resurgence of interest in, and an embracement of, elements of African culture within African American culture that sometimes suppressed or devalued in Euro-centric America. Natural hairstyles such as the afro and African clothing, such as the dashiki, gained popularity. More importantly, the Black aesthetic encouraged personal pride and political awareness among African Americans.^[7]

Art, music and literature

As with the rest of African American culture, the experiences of slavery along with surviving elements of African culture have shaped and influenced traditional and modern African American literature, art and music. The very legislation that was designed to strip African slaves of culture and knowledge, however, served to encourage the development of music and literature through oral traditions.^[8]

Music

Main articles: African American music

African American music finds its earliest roots in the typically polyrhythmic songs from the ethnic groups of West and sub-Saharan Africa. Historically, African American music is far more than entertainment. The African oral traditions, nurtured in slavery, encouraged the use of music to pass on history, teach lessons, ease suffering, and pass on messages. Features common to African American music styles include call and response, syncopation, percussion, swung note, complex multi-part harmony. During slavery, Blacks blended traditional European hymns with African rhythms to create spirituals.^[9] In the 1800s African American music began to play a pivotal role in American popular music. Ragtime, jazz, blues, and swing are among the American musical genres that developed in the late 19th and early 20th century in the African American community. The early 20th century also saw the creation of the first Black Broadway shows, films such as King Vidor's ''Hallelujah!'', and operas such as George Gershwin's ''Porgy and Bess''. Rock and roll, doo wop, soul, and R&B developed in the mid 20th century. These genres became very popular in White audiences and were influences for other genres such as surf. The Black Cultural Movement of the 1960s and 1970s fueled the growth of funk and later hip-hop forms such as rap, hip house, new jack swing and go go. African American music has experienced far more widespread acceptance in American popular music in the 21st century than ever before. In addition to continuing to develop newer musical forms, modern artists have also started a rebirth of older genres in the form of genres such as neo soul and modern funk-inspired groups.^[10]

African American national anthem

Main articles: Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing

In addition to the American national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, African Americans also sing Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing as a national anthem. Written by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson in 1900 to be performed for the birthday of Abraham Lincon, the song was a popular way for African Americans to voice their patriotism and their hope for a better future in a nation that treated them as second-class citizens. The song was adopted as the Negro National Anthem by the NAACP in 1919.^[11] African American children are taught the song at school, church or by their families. Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing is traditionally sung immediately following The Star-Spangled Banner at events hosted by African American churches, schools, and other organizations.^[12]

The Cakewalk was the first African American dance to gain widespread popularity in the United States.

Dance

Main articles: African American dance

African American dance, like other aspects of African American culture, finds its earliest roots in the dances of the hundreds of African ethnic groups that made up Black slaves in the Americas as well as influences from European sources in the United States. Dance in the African tradition, and thus in the tradition of slaves, was a part of both every day life and special occasions. Slaves in North America were more severely restricted from dancing than slaves in the Caribbean and South America. These slaves, however, often found ways around such rules. For example, if lifting one's feet was seen as dancing, then slaves would use shuffling along with hip and torso movements to create dances such as the ring shout, calenda, and juba.
In the 1800s, Black dance began to appear in minstrel shows. These shows often presented Blacks as caricatures for ridicule to large audiences. The first African American dance to become popular with White dancers was the cakewalk in 1891. Later dances to follow in this tradition include the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, and the Jitterbug. During the Harlem Renaissance, all Black Broadway shows such as Shuffle Along helped to establish and legitimize African American dancers. Black dance forms such as tap, a combination of African and European influences, gained widespread popularity thanks to dancers such as Bill Robinson and were used by leading White choreographers who often hired Black dancers.
Contemporary African American dance is descended from these earlier forms and also draws influence from African and Caribbean dance forms. Groups such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have continued to contribute to the growth of this form. Modern popular dance in America is also greatly influenced by African American dance. American popular dance has also drawn many influences from African American dance most notably in the hip hop genre.^[13]

Midnight Golfer by Eugene J. Martin, mixed media collage on rag paper

Art

Main articles: African American art

African Americans have participated in the visual arts since their earliest presence in America. Black artisans such as weavers, blacksmiths, and potters were held as slaves throughout the American south. After the American Civil War, it became increasingly acceptable to display the work of African American artists in museums and galleries. Cultural expression was still limited by the dominant European aesthetic and by racial prejudice. To increase the visibility of their work, many African American artists traveled to Europe where they had greater freedom. It was not until the Harlem Renaissance that African American art began to be noticed in America. During the 1920s artists such as Richmond Barthé, Aaron Douglas, and photographer James Van Der Zee became well known for their work. The great depression and subsequent years saw a decline in African American art. The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, however, saw a resurgence of African American Art. Notable contemporary African American artists include David Hammons, Eugene J. Martin, and Kara Walker.^[14]

Literature

Langston Hughes, a notable African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

Main articles: African American literature

African American literature has its roots in the oral traditions of African slaves in America. The slaves used stories and fables in much the same way as they used music. These stories influenced the earliest African American writers and poets in the 18th century such as Phillis Wheatley and Olaudah Equiano. These authors reached early high points by telling slave narratives. During the early 20th century the Harlem Renaissance saw a number of authors and poets such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Dubois, and Booker T. Washington engage on how to respond to discrimination in America. Authors during the American Civil Rights movement, such as Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of racial segregation and Black nationalism. This tradition continues today with authors who have been accepted as an integral part of American literature with works such as '' by Alex Haley, ''The Color Purple'' by Alice Walker, and ''Beloved'' by Toni Morrison achieving both best-selling and award-winning status.^[15]

Language

Generations of hardships imposed on the African American community created distinctive language patterns. Slave owners often intentionally mixed people who spoke different African languages to discourage communication in any language other than English. This, combined with prohibitions against education, led to the development of pidgins, simplified mixtures of two or more languages that speakers of different languages could use to communicate. Slavery in America: Historical Overview
Examples of pidgins that became fully developed languages include Creole, common to Haiti,^[16] and Gullah, common to the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia.^[17] African American Vernacular English is a type variety (dialect, ethnolect and sociolect) of the American English language spoken by some African Americans that shares some grammatical and orthographically features with Creole and West African languages. While AAVE is academically considered to be a legitimate dialect, it is often viewed by teachers and other members of the middle-class, regardless of race or ethnicity, as either slang or the result of a poor understanding of the English language.^[18]

Names

African American names are often drawn from the same language groups as traditional European names found in the United States. This is drawn from the practice of renaming a slave to a more recognizable name. Names drawn from the Bible or classical Greek or Roman literature were common.
Freed slaves often retained these names along with the surnames of their former owners or the names of popular historical or contemporary figures of social importance. Returning to traditional African names was not practical for two reasons. First, many slaves were several generations removed from their African ancestors and largely separated from African culture. Second, a traditional American name helped a freedman or -woman better fit into American society.
The practice of adopting neo-African or Islamic names did not gain popularity until the late Civil Rights era when greater efforts to recover African heritage inspired the selection of names with deeper cultural significance. A precursor to this practice was that of making up names. In an attempt to create their own identity, growing numbers of African American parents, starting in the post-World War II era, began creating new names based on sounds they found pleasing such as Marquon, Davon, LaTasha, or Shandra.^[19]

Religion

While African Americans practice a number of religions, Protestant Christianity is by far the most popular.^[20] Additionally, 14% of Muslims in the United States and Canada are African American.^[21]

A river baptism in New Bern, North Carolina near the turn of the 20th century.

Christianity

Main articles: Black church

The religious culture of African American Christians is known as the Black church. During slavery, many slaves were stripped of their African belief systems and typically denied free religious practice. Slaves managed, however, to hang on to some practices by integrating them into Christian worship in secret meetings. These practices, including dance, shouts, African rhythms, and enthusiastic singing, remain a large part of worship in the Black church. Black churches taught that all people were equal in God's eyes and viewed the doctrine of obedience to ones master taught in White churches as hypocritical. Instead the Black church focused on the message of equality and hopes for a better future. ^[22] Before and after emancipation, racial segregation in America prompted the development of organized Black Denominations. The first of these was the AME Church founded by Richard Allen in 1787.^[23] A Black church is not necessarily a separate denomination. Several predominantly Black churches exist as members of predominantly White denominations.^[24] Black churches have served to provide Blacks with leadership positions and opportunities to organize that were denied in mainstream American society. Because of this Black pastors became the bridge between the Black and White communities and thus played a crucial role in the American Civil Rights Movement.^[25]

Islam

Main articles: Black Muslims

Generations before the advent of the Atlantic slave trade, Islam was a thriving religion in West Africa. Slaves in the Americas were often forcibly converted to Christianity and while first-generation slaves were often able to retain their Muslim identity, their descendants were not. In the decades after slavery, some Black leaders sought to provide freed slaves with self-esteem and an opportunity to reconnect with their Islamic roots. The best known of these movements is the Black nationalist and Black supremacist Nation of Islam founded by Wallace Fard in 1930 and lead by Elijah Muhammad from 1934. Much like Malcolm X, however, who left the Nation of Islam in 1964, many African American Muslims now follow traditional Islam.^[26] A survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations shows that 30% of Sunni Mosque attendees are African Americans. African American traditional Muslims are sometimes viewed as "invisible" because many in America assume that a Black Muslim is a follower of the Nation of Islam.^[27]

Traditional African religion

Main articles: African traditional religion

Increasing numbers of African Americans are returning to the traditional religious practices of their West African ancestors. These religions, which include Voodoo, Santeria, and other traditional religious practices, often involve blending of elements of Catholicism with the traditional practices of various West African ethnic groups but can be simply the traditions in their purest forms. These religious groups often encounter conflicts with neighbors because of noise from ritual drumming and concerns over animal sacrifice. In the United States, however, the first amendment protects their freedom of religion.^[28]

Family

When chattel slavery was practiced in America, it was not uncommon for families to be separated through sale. In the post-slavery years, however, the African American family became the backbone of the community. As late as 1960, 78% of African American families were headed by married couples. This number steadily declined over the latter half of the 20th century. A number of factors including attitudes towards education, gender roles, and poverty have created a situation where, for the first time since slavery, a majority of African American children live in a household with only one parent. This one parent is typically the mother.^[29] While these figures appear to indicate a weak African American nuclear family structure especially within a large patriarchal society, they must be considered in conjunction with the important role played by the extended family in African American culture. Mutual aid systems amongst extended family members provide amongst other things, child care, emotional and economic support. Older family members pass on cultural traditions such as religion and manners to younger family members. In turn, the older family members are cared for by younger family members when they are unable to care for themselves. These relationships exist at all economic levels in the African American community, providing strength and support both to the African American family and the community.^[30]

Soul food

A traditional soul food dinner consisting of fried chicken, candied yams, collard greens, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese.

Main articles: Soul Food

The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the U.S., such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, grits, watermelon, indigo dyes, and cotton, can be traced to African influences.
African American foods reflect creative responses to racial and economic oppression and poverty. Under slavery, African Americans were not allowed to eat better cuts of meat, and after Emancipation many often were too poor to afford them. Soul food, a hearty cuisine commonly associated with African Americans in the South (but also common among blacks nationwide), makes creative use of inexpensive products procured through farming and subsistence hunting and fishing. Pig intestines are boiled and sometimes battered and fried to make “chitterlings,” or "chitlins." Ham hocks and neck bones provide seasoning to soups; beans and boiled greens (turnip greens, collard greens, and mustard greens). Other common foods, such as fried chicken and fish, Macaroni and cheese, cornbread and hoppin john (black-eyed peas and rice) are prepared simply.
When the African American population was considerably more rural than it generally is today, rabbit, possum, squirrel, and waterfowl were important additions to the diet. Many of these food traditions are especially predominant in many parts of the rural South.^[31] In many places, Soul Food is being replaced with healthier alternatives because of the increased risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes from consuming foods high in fat and starch. These efforts are being met with some resistance as they involve deviating from centuries of culinary tradition.^[32]

Politics and social issues

Since the passing of the Voting Rights Act, African Americans are voting and being elected to public office in increasing numbers. As of January 2001 there were 9,101 Black elected officials in America.^[33]
African Americans are overwhelmingly Democratic. Only 11% of African Americans voted for George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidential Election.^[34]
Social issues such as racial profiling,^[35] the racial disparity in sentencing,^[36] higher rates of poverty,^[37] institutional racism,^[38] and lower access to health care^[39] hold importance in the African American community.
While the divide on racial and fiscal issues has remained consistently wide for decades, seemingly indicating a wide social divide, African Americans tend to hold the same optimism and concern for America as Whites. In the case of many moral issues such as homosexuality, religion, and family values, African Americans tend to be more conservative than Whites.^[40]

Traditional dress

The cultural explosion of the 1960s saw the incorporation of surviving cultural dress with elements from modern fashion and West African traditional clothing to create a uniquely African American traditional style.

Kente cloth

Main articles: Kente cloth

A man weaving kente cloth in Ghana.

Kente cloth is the best known African textile. These festive woven patterns, which exist in numerous varieties, were originally made by the Ashanti and Ewe peoples of Ghana and Togo. Historically, kente was a fabric worn by royalty but has evolved into more widespread usage. Kente is traditionally a fabric worn for important ceremonial occasions. In the same way as a tuxedo in Western culture, the wearing of kente brings honor and prestige to an event.
Kente fabric also appears in a number of Western style fashions ranging from casual t-shirts to formal bow ties and cummerbunds. Kente strips are often sewn into liturgical and academic robes or worn as stoles.^[41]

Traditional African clothing

Since the Black Arts Movement, traditional African clothing has been popular amongst African Americans for both formal and informal occasions. African style clothing appears in a number of varieties commonly using the Kente pattern. Men typically wear kente in a style similar to a toga or a dashiki. While women wear it in a style similar to a wrap dress or skirt. Women also use kente fabrics as a head tie.

Holidays and observances

As with other American racial and ethnic groups, African Americans observe ethnic holidays alongside traditional American holidays. The celebration of these African American ethnic holidays are not necessarily limited to just African Americans. For example Martin Luther King Day is observed nationally as one of only three federal holidays named for individuals.^[42]

Black History Month

Main articles: Black History Month

In 1926 African American scholar Carter Godwin Woodson organized the first Negro History Week, to focus attention on previously neglected aspects of the black experience in the United States. Woodson chose February to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, as well as the anniversary of the founding of the NAACP. Renamed Black History Week in 1972, the observance was extended to become Black History Month in 1976. During February, lectures, exhibitions, banquets, cultural events, and television and radio programming celebrate the achievements of African Americans. Since 1978, the U.S. Postal Service has participated in Black History Month by issuing commemorative stamps honoring notable African Americans.^[43]

Martin Luther King Day

Main articles: Martin Luther King Day

Within days of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Congressman John Conyers of Detroit introduced a bill calling for a national holiday honoring Dr. King. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, various states enacted such a holiday, but Congress did not. Finally, in 1983, the U.S. Congress established a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. The holiday is observed annually on the third Monday in January, a day that falls on or near King’s birthday of January 15. Like Black History Month, Martin Luther King Day emphasizes community service as well as educational and cultural observances, such as lectures and exhibits about King’s life and philosophy.^[44]

Kwanzaa

Main articles: Kwanzaa

A woman wearing traditional West African clothing lighting the candles on a kinara for a Kwanzaa celebration.

African American scholar and activist "Maulana" Ron Karenga invented the festival of Kwanzaa in 1966, as an alternative to the increasing commercialization of Christmas. Derived from the harvest rituals of Africans, Kwanzaa is observed each year from December 26 through January 1. Participants in Kwanzaa celebrations affirm their African heritage and the importance of family and community by drinking from a unity cup; lighting red, black, and green candles; exchanging heritage symbols, such as African art; and recounting the lives of people who struggled for African and African American freedom. Each day of the celebration reflects on one of the Nguzo Saba (Swahili: seven principles): umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity), and imani (faith).^[45]

Emancipation Day

Main articles: Emancipation Day

On January 1, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slave held in locations in conflict with the United States were free. When union soldiers took control of an area, they would, amongst other things, read this proclamation and enforce it. Because of this various states, territories, and municipalities celebrate emancipation on the day when the law was enforced in their region. Texas (June 19), Puerto Rico (March 22) and Washington, DC (April 16) have established official local holidays to celebrate emancipation.^[46]

Malcolm X Day

Another important African American holiday is Malcolm X Day, which is celebrated on May 19, to commemorate the achievements of Malcolm X, a prominent Black nationalist during the days of the Civil Rights Movement. While not typically an official observance, Malcolm X Day is celebrated in most American cities with a significant African American population, including Washington, D.C.^[47]

References

1. The Black Population: 2000
2. African American Voices: Slave Culture
3. The Harlem Renaissance
4. Black Power
5. Black Power
6. Nikki Giovanni
7. Black Aesthetic
8. African American Culture through Oral Tradition Maggie Papa, Amy Gerber, Abeer Mohamed
9. African American Music: An Introduction, , Earl L., Stewart, Schirmer, ,
10. The Music of Black Americans: A History, , Eileen, Southern., W. W. Norton & Company, 1997,
11. Lift Every Voice and Sing
12. Lift Every Voice -- 100 Years Old
13. African American Dance, a history!
14. African Americans in the Visual Arts
15. To Shatter Innocence: Teaching African American Poetry, , Jerry W., Ward, Jr., Routledge, ,
16. Creole language
17. Gullah
18. Black English Vernacular (Ebonics) and Educability A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Language, Cognition, and Schooling
19. Finding Our History: African-American Names
20. The Study of African American Religion
21. American Muslims Population Statistics
22. The Church in the Southern Black Community
23. African American Religion, Pt. I: To the Civil War
24. Amazing grace: 50 years of the Black church
25. Religion and the Black Church, Abdul Alkalimat and Associates, , , Twenty-first Century Books and Publications, ,
26. African-American Muslims Huda
27. Black Muslims seek acceptance from fellow Americans, adherents
28. African Religions Attracting Americans
29. Uncovering the Truth: Understanding the Impact of American Culture on the Black Male Black Female Relationship
30. The Black Extended Family, , Elmer P., Martin, University of Chicago
Press, 1980,
31. A History of Soul Food
32. Backstory: Southern discomfort food
33. Black Elected Officials: A Stastical Summary, 2001
34. The Black Vote in 2004
35. Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security, and Human Rights in the United States
36. Racial Disparity in Sentencing: A Review of the Literature
37. Poverty in the United States: Frequently Asked Questions
38. Institutional Racism
39. Dying for Basic Care
40. The Black and White of Public Opinion
41. Wrapped in Pride: Ghanaian Kente and African American Identity
42. 5 USC 6103
43. Extra!: History of Black History Month CNN Student News
44. Working-Class Hero
45. Fundamental Questions About Kwanzaa
46. History of Juneteenth
47. Malcom X's Birthday

External links

★ Encyclopedia Smithsonian: African American History and Culture

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