African American English Language

Asagai is from the country of Nigeria and because of this he also has Nigerian culture. This very different black culture does not fit in with the black culture of south side Chicago and is even shamed by many such as George. Despite this Asagai confides in Beneatha about avoiding assimilation. Asagai represents the culture of blacks before their slavery in and oppression in America. Everything from his music and clothes that he gave to Beneatha to his attitude towards American black culture suggests that he disapproves of the new black culture he is engulfed in.

Culture is the perception and interpretations of the elements, symbols and values by members of a group, and how they are distinguished from another group in a society (Banks, J.A, Banks & McGee, 1989). Culture appropriation, based on Young (2015), is the adoption and appreciation of the aspects of a culture by the people from another culture. Dreadlocks, locs, or locks have been closely associated to the African culture as a symbolism of freedom and strength. In recent years, dreadlocks are being increasingly appropriated by the whites, and this has caused an uproar among the blacks. However, I believe that culture appropriation may not be as negative as how they have pointed it out to be.

The Reconstruction Era was a period of ‘repair’ and progression of African-Americans, throughout the North and South. African American figureheads of the Reconstruction Era racial uplifts focused heavily on education and practical knowledge, while Hurston offered a different perspective. Although Zora Neale Hurston is now a ‘literary genius,’ her contemporaries criticized her, saying she was hindering the advancement of Blacks. Her literature described by Richard Wright had “no theme, no message, no thought. ”(PBS 1).

The speaker of the poem is 22, he is black, he was born in North Carolina and went to several schools including Winston-Salem, Durham and now he finds himself in college on a hill in Harlem. This can indicate what happened with the great migration when African Americans were moving from the South to Northern environments. The Civil Rights movement was about to begin, but equality still needed a long time to come. The speaker can be described as ambitious and tenacious as he continued with his education.

More than that, African – American literature presented the African - American experience from an African - American point of view. In the early republic, African – American literature represented a way for free blacks to negotiate their new identity in an individualized republic. They often tried to exercise their political and social autonomy in the face of resistance from the White public .Thus, an early theme of African - American literature was, like other American writings, what it meant to be a citizen in post –Revolutionary

An African American living in the 1960’s with hopes of being able to vote, work, or to go to school were all just dreams, things that they thought didn’t exist for colored people. In the early 1960’s Martin Luther King Jr. being a black himself, was an advocate for black rights. He was the author of many inspiring newspaper articles, books and speeches. His most well known out of the many are the “I Have a Dream” speech and the “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, which were both written in times of despair. MLK used many techniques to persuade his audience, he mostly used pathos and logos.

Instead, Stephen Crane describes not only the unnecessary ruthlessness and cruelty of many white Americans towards former African American slaves but also the silent acceptance of this hatred and the feeling of powerlessness of the freed slaves in the United States during this Reconstructive Era. Stephen Crane preferred to write short stories and novels that had actual historical meaning and references; he used different elements like the selections of a particular audience, point of view, and tone to accomplish writing these kinds of literary works. In “A Dark Brown Dog” he chose to write about the hardships of freed slaves during the Jim Crow South in a third person point of view. This is because while reading a story in a third person point of view, the reader is more likely to be able to analyze and understand the

Regardless , this period marks the beginning of the discourse of the colonized and the colonizer. They were obviously looked down as the “other” in England. Racism during that era was more common and brutal. The superior race often alienated out the West African immigrants for their unique style of dressing and varied customs. These people were referred to as “beasts” and “cannibals” by the 'elite ' Western culture.

Because of their struggle for survival, Afro-American people developed strategies, which led to a significant linguistic development: the combination of “aspects of English grammar with distinctive physical gestures, semantics, syntax, pitch and rhythm (idem). As a survival strategy to cope with the demands of the dominant culture, Afro-American language has two forms. First one is formal speech behaviour that involves the use of standard English, and second one is everyday speech with non-standard English. As Du Bois pointed out: “The Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, - a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one 's self through the eyes of others...

He became double-conscientious after being rejected in part of his childhood. This is true for many Negroes in America who considered themselves as problems. Double consciousness is viewing oneself from a different perspective particularly, others’ perspectives. (Bois, 2005 [1903]) African Americans developed multiple identities for the different social situations. It is suggested that Negroes had struggled to deliver their message to the world because they didn’t want to overemphasise Africanism in America while simultaneously preserving their African identities, in order to form their own message based on their history.

Du Bois interviewed thousands of residents in Philadelphia about their living conditions, from this study he concluded that the things that the black people endured was an inequality based on their race. “The Souls of Black Folk” in 1803 is considered his greatest work, it focused on how racism effected the African American community. In this book he also talked about Book T. Washington, he believed that Washington didn’t fight for equality for all as the 14th amendment stated should happened. This led to formation of the Niagara Movement, a group of African American leaders and scholars that oppose Booker T. Washington conservative platform. Although the Niagara Movement didn’t last long it lead to the formation of the NACCP (National association for the Advancement of Colored

As the African Americans see the term as somebody who is a "dark want to-be and has a hip bounce apparel style. " Other thoughts of this is that a wigger is somebody who "attempt to talk dark, yet would not most recent a day in the city." This term stigmatizes

African American history is a corrective balance to the single story of American History because it exposes one to another side of history. It erases the concept that whites built America. African American history allows you to know that there is more to America than just what you learn in American History. It is not just white america because African Americans contributed a great deal to the development of america. A student who takes american history will began to believe that whites are the only people who contributed to the development of America.

As this is a word that comes from a descriptive word, this may discriminate and dehumanize people who are of darker skin as they feel like that this is the only thing that they are. This word is usually used as a racial insult, and it is considered extremely offensive. The word is linked with violence and brutality from whites using this derogatory term to describe what black people are”. This happens to support the claim because it states of how the word is used towards people even if they have darker skin. As for the second side if the word should be considered appropriate, they believe that it should be appropriate.

I feel like once every African American gets the same education as every white person, racism may come to an end. While African Americans were slaves, their education was limited. Some slave owners allowed their slaves to have education and some prohibited them to have an education. From my point of view, I still think that is how America is today. African Americans are allowed to have an education, but in some areas they do not get the proper education they need.