African American Studies Reflection

Module 1 How did this reading and analysis change, extend, and/or align with your notions of how the world works? In the chapter excerpt, Breaking the Silence, Chris Knaus made me realize that regardless of your race does not mean you have an easy life. People underestimate the fact that everyone has problems. You can be rich or poor, black or white, tall or short, etc. Whether it should do with race or not.

As a black female, I feel as if it is an obligation of mine for me to truly understand what it means to be a minority in America. To prosper, we must know our roots. However, I am exposed to the history even less than the average amount because my family is not from America. My parents merely came to America knowing nothing about it except that it is the land of absolute freedom where dreams can come true. Growing up, I believed this concept adamantly, after hearing my father’s stories of his journey repeatedly.

The exercise we began class with truly opened my eyes to how much I focus on race in both a positive and negative way. I characterize my self as black and Dominican, both groups that have been oppressed by the majority, but by doing so I feel great pride and face adversity. Associating one trait with both the extremes of most problem and one with which I encounter a lot of problems exists as strange. I believe the pride comes from overcoming the adversity and achieving the unthinkable against all odds. Here at UVA, I exist in two of the smallest ethnic groups on grounds.

In Chapter 1 and 2 of “Creating Black Americans,” author Nell Irvin Painter addresses an imperative issue in which African history and the lives of Africans are often dismissed (2) and continue to be perceived in a negative light (1). This book gives the author the chance to revive the history of Africa, being this a sacred place to provide readers with a “history of their own.” (Painter 4) The issue that Africans were depicted in a negative light impacted various artworks and educational settings in the 19th and early 20th century. For instance, in educational settings, many students were exposed to the Eurocentric Western learning which its depiction of Africa were not only biased, but racist as well.

Stasis Interrogation Essay Parents talk about having ‘‘the talk’’ with their children as they grow from childhood to adolescence. This ‘‘talk’’ is associated with teaching youth about sex or drugs; but Dana Canedy, an editor for the New York Times, had a different type of ‘‘talk’’ with her son. Her conversation was on proper conduct in the presence of the police.

Growing up, I was too young to think or care about race. I always identified myself as a person, not a race. As a child, my mother told me that if anyone asked me what I was to tell them I was the color of love. Poetry has always been a way that I have expressed myself and what I turned to in order to realize I was not alone in this world. Since I have been reading and going to see poetry performed for so long the poem that I connect most with is not a poem that we have read or analyzed in class.

“Black Men and Public Spaces” Diagnostic Essay Brent Staples in “Black Men and Public Spaces,” illustrates the inescapable prejudices and stereotyping that African-American men face in America. He does this by relating to his audience through his personal experiences with stereotyping, and sharing his malcontent on how these events have made him alter his way of living. From “victimizing” woman, watching people lock themselves away, and having to whistle classical music to calm the nerves of people around him; Staples builds a picture to help people better sympathize and understand his frustration. Although Staples describes himself as a college graduate, a journalist, and a softy in the face of violence, he details that the overall public deems him a dangerous criminal.

The Cosmic Race, by José Vasconcelos, is about the new race that will arise in Latin America from the mixing of all races and the society they’ll create. It is an extremely influential essay in Mexico and still widely regarded today. In the The Cosmic Race it is said that America is the ancient home of the now lost Atlantean civilization (Vasconcelos 7). The downfall of the Atlanteans spawned four races: the Indian, the Black, the Mongol, and the White (Vasconcelos 9). Latin America, the essay argues, will be the homeland of the new Neo-Atlantean race as it already the racial melting pot of so many races (Vasconcelos 17-18).

Whatever the educated and often professionally successful person previously thought her position in society was, now she is challenged, as random white persons casually but powerfully degrade her. This moment is always insulting and even a relatively minor incident can have a significant impact. (Anderson 253) Anderson is simply restating, how a competent and successful individual will face discrimination if their race is different from the white-ruling class. He describes how anyone from a different race will be forced to self-evaluate their social status as an individual. His description of self-evaluation is similar to the time when I was in high school, every time that I felt I had finally, become equal to my peers and enjoyed the same

For my cultural experience I chose to go to the Cincinnati Underground Railroad Freedom Center and tour the center as well as the Kinsey Collection of African American Art and History. I found myself changing in attitude as I walked through the center, I entered feeling “highly educated” so to speak, I had been learning about the history of African Americans since first grade. I knew about slaves, I knew about what they did to escape, I knew they worked hard and lived bad lives, however the freedom center made these realities true realities for me! I think there’s always been a bit of a disconnect with the fact that the most gruesome parts of our history actually happened, so although it was hard to come to terms with, I think this experience was important for me, eye opening, and forced me to really take a

After reading “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki, Chapter 6 of “Chicana and Chicano Art” by Carlos Jackson, and Surveillance by Ashaki M. Jackson, I learned about how collectively minorities face oppression based on their race and how even through all the adversity they faced they still considered themselves to be American although others did not consider them to be. In the beginning of “A Different Mirror”, it describes how the end of WWII sparked a fire for minorities desire to be considered first class citizens such as white americans. Throughout the readings I also learned about how and why many minorities migrated to America. All in all this week's readings really opened my eyes, from the powerful poems in Surveillance to how chicano art has been publicly

1. What factors differentiate the history and experience of African Americans from those of Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans? The factors that would separate African Americans from racial ethnic groups would be their involuntary immigration and initial enslavement. Other groups came in hopes of political freedom and economic opportunity. While African Americans history and experience were based upon economic exploitation, the denial of freedom, denied their language, history, culture, ancestral ties and homeland affiliation.

I have learned that African American studies courses are very vital to American history and culture. I have had the opportunity, through lectures, readings, research, class discussions, notes and personal opinions to be enlightened. With the trough of new knowledge that I have acquired from this class I am able to carry on meaningful conversations and dialogues about the African American and the struggle for equality. Unlike gender inequality that transcends both white and black, the African American struggles were confined to a single race. Growing up, I acquired little to no knowledge about Africa and its history.