Reflection On Black History

Throughout the month of February, Black History Month is celebrated. What was originally negro week, founded by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and then later changed to Black History Month in 1976, by President Nixon, celebrates the lives and discoveries and impacts African-Americans have had on the U.S throughout history. Shukree Hassan Tilghman, the director of the documentary “More Than a Month,” explores the importance of black history and tries to get rid of Black History Month. The director’s message in “More Than a Month,” is that black history goes so much deeper than just a month of celebration, and to show true respect, Black history should be American history.

Black history in the Olympics has come to be a very important topic that has not been dealt with in many history classes. The purpose of highlighting the importance of black history throughout the Olympics is to provide a better understanding towards how the American society was improving and transitioning before the end of segregation which happened after 1962. Example athletes such as John Carlos and Jesse Owens stand out and show the world how proud they are to be a part such an outstanding event by the side other hard working competitors. ​

Black Legend and White Legend The Black Legend represents how Columbus, and other conquerors such as the Spanish during that century ruined the Americas by creating fear, and then slaughtering all the natives in order to gain the land. The White legend talks about how the Spanish or anyone who conquered the Americas made it a better place to live in for the colonizers and the Natives. The black legend is important to be noted in history books as they show how ruthless the colonizers were towards the natives, and how they ruined these people in order for us to gain the land that we live on, which is the white legend. Apocalypto has explained certain points on why the Black Legend is the right legend when it comes to explaining the

As Hunter mentions, “By the end of the (19th) century, African Americans had deployed a multitude of strategies in the workplace, in their neighborhoods, and in the political arena to protect their personal dignity and the integrity of their families and communities”. In order to address these topics, she recurs to newspaper articles, personal testimonies, historical documents, and photographs, among others; in order to compile a series of life experiences that give proof about the complex situations that African American communities faced and their relation to the organizing process of African American

Carson Cook Composition II Dr. Smiley 4 March 2015 A Black Man That Changed History The most important black American leader of the nineteenth century, orator, abolitionist, writer, Frederick Douglas did many great things. Frederick had many obstacles as a young child forced into slavery and throughout his life. He would finally escape a life of slavery at the age of twenty. After escaping he would go on to do immeasurable things for his people and make an impact in the world.

Professor Khalil Girban Muhammad gave an understanding of the separate and combined influences that African Americans and Whites had in making of present day urban America. Muhammad’s lecture was awakening, informative and true, he was extremely objective and analytical in his ability to scan back and forth across the broad array of positive and negative influences. Muhammad described all the many factors during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries since the abolition of slavery and also gave many examples of how blackness was condemned in American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Professor Muhammad was able to display how on one hand, initial limitations made blacks seem inferior, and various forms of white prejudice made things worse. But on the other hand, when given the same education and opportunities, there are no differences between black and white achievements and positive contributions to society.

It was the early twentieth 100 , and the world had already changed trehands dously compared to the world of their parents and grandparents. Slavery had ended in United States more than half a century earlier. While African American English still faced tremendous economic and social obstacle in both the northern and southern DoS , there were more chance than there had been. After the Civil War (and first slightly before, especially in the Union ), Department of Education for Negroid American English -- and total darkness and white char -- had become more common . Many were not able to attend or complete schooltime time , but a substantial few were able not only to attend and complete elementary or secondary winding school, but college .

As white people do you ever ask yourself if your race does not play a part in our perception? I get it that being black gives people an intimate knowledge of the affects that reparations would give to them and the role it would play in their lives, but do any white people ever ask if a myopia (if you don 't know what that means is a condition of seeing things clearly up close but relatively blind to the far things) and a certain amount of privilege changes your point of view? Reparations aren 't about "white people" paying blacks for stuff their ancestors did. They 're about the United States of America compensating for depriving a piece of its population of human rights for generations, through slavery, forced segregation and Jim Crow.

The sentencing disparity for drug use by race is disproportionate for African Americans because of The War on Drugs. Matthew Lassiter (2015) explains, “In 1951, Harry Anslinger, the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, collaborated with senate of criminal investigations to target black ‘dope peddlers’ who were luring pretty white blondes into drug addiction”(2015:128). According to Lassiter (2015), Anslinger believed that peddlers, who destroyed teenagers’ lives, required the most sever punishment (2015:129). Using this rhetoric, presidents like Nixon and Reagan would shape the way drug laws are enforced.

Throughout chapter three of The Myth of the Negro Past, Melville Herkovits writes about the African culture back before slaves were brought to the Americas. He refutes many previously thought ideas that African Americans have no past or shared culture which the myth in the title of the book. In chapter three entitled, “The African Cultural Heritage,” Herskovits argued that African Americans descended from a people with a rich series of cultural traditions (Willaims 3). One of the aspects that Herkovits looks into is death in the African family and funerals rites. The ties between ancestors and gods are extremely close in Dahomey and the Yoruba cultures, he even says the power of man doesn’t end when that person dies,

How much of American history do you know? Black history is a part of America’s history, but why is it not deeply taught in schools? In schools we often talk about white American leaders or wars America has won, but not much history of other cultures in America. We may hear a little information about certain minority leaders who fought for a change, but not much facts. If today’s youth aren’t being taught about the thing’s their ancestors have gone through and all the things that has happened and why, many will grow up ignorant.

The establishment of Black History Month started as Negro History Week in 1969, which paved the way for Black History month in 1976. Historian Carter G Woodson created the idea to spotlight to accomplishments of African Americans. In 1915, Woodson helped the association for the study of negro life and history. Woodson believed that publishing scientific history would transform the way others saw Africans and people with African decent known as African Americans. Woodson wanted African Americans to be popularized by the findings of black intellectuals.

Years later, President Ford extended the week into an entire month. It began as an infrastructure to help eradicate the neglection of African American history; nonetheless, over the years, there has been much debate concerning the annual celebration. Although Black History Month has received backlash from both African Americans and Caucasians, it is still a necessity in today’s life because it provides historical information that the youth cannot find in textbooks and recognizes neglected people who have fulfilled great actions. Historically, African American history has been deemed as an unimportant subject.

I am an African American female whom is a descendent from the African Slave and a native American refugee. My culture runs deep in my veins and I am a product of the strength of my mother and father. While growing up I understood we were on the poverty line. My family lived in a small home with 3 bedrooms and occupied 7 people. I grew up in a small southeast Georgian town named Statesboro.

African American Studies was a great experience. Has opened my eyes to my surrounding and the world around me. This course with Dr. Sheba Lo, was something out of me confront zone. I learned so many things from race to cultural to the importance aspect of African American. We are isolated to an environment that hide so much history that we all don’t think they are important to who we have become.