African American culture
Parents: African - American - culture
Related: black - African American music - black pride - African American literature - African American cinema - blaxploitation - black science fiction - slave trade - negritude -
People Spike Lee - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Films: Bamboozled (2000)
Novels: Native Son (1940)
Fred Hampton (1948 - 1969)
Definition
An African-American is an American of predominantly African descent. Most African-Americans are descendants of persons brought to the Americas as slaves between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. (Those whose ancestors were brought as slaves to the Caribbean, or to Latin America, but who have come to the Unites States as free people, are sometimes classified as African American, but are sometimes classified as "Latin American" instead. Those who have come from Africa in the 20th or 21st centuries are often identified by their country of origin -- for example, "Nigerian-American.")
While the term had been used in print in some circles at least since the 1920s (and often shortened to Afro-American, the name of a famous Baltimore newspaper founded in 1892) it came to much wider use in the United States since the 1970s as the preferred term, as requested by some black Americans themselves. As of 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau identifies 12.8% of the US population as Black or African American.
The term's use has sometimes been criticized as political correctness; those who prefer the term say it is a matter of respect and politeness. However, using the word black is accepted by most and is more accurate. "African American" incorrectly implies that all blacks are African, and that all Africans must therefore also be black. Of course this is untrue. A person can have dark skin and be from any number of non-African countries such as Jamaica, Haiti, or even western nations like Britain or Germany. Likewise, many fair-skinned people live in Africa. A white man from Zimbabwe, Libya, Egypt, or South Africa (among others) would technically be an "African American," despite the fact that he could never seriously claim to be one under the existing racial definition of the term. However, the black-specific term Negro which was widely used until the 1960s, is today generally considered inappropriate and derogatory by many, largely because of its close association with the term nigger.
Another term, colored, was widely used in the early 20th century and is part of the name of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but it too has fallen out of favor, although Colored has recently gained popularity, particularly on the political left.
The term African American is subject to accidental or intentional misuse in that it defines a group both in terms of race and in terms of citizenship. This can make clear discussion of topics related to race difficult. When speaking specifically of black United States citizens, the term is correct, but not all blacks are African-American: for example, an African citizen visiting the US.
A discussion of this subject can be found in the journal article "The Politicization of Changing Terms of Self Reference Among American Slave Descendants" in American Speech v 66 is 2 Summer 1991 p. 133-46 In The Movie Roots by Alex Haley you cán see the story of the african born slave Kunta Kinte. --http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American [2004]
African American culture
African-American culture is an amalgam of influences, the most persistent of which has been the cultural imprint of Africa. The first slaves to arrive in America brought African languages, music, religious practices, foods and foodways, value systems and other cultural traditions with them. Over time, these aspects of African culture have blended with other influences to form a unique culture.
African-American music is one of the most pervasive African-American cultural influences in the United States today. Hip Hop, Rock, rap, R&B, funk, and other contemporary American musical forms evolved from blues, jazz, and gospel music, which themselves evolved from the spirituals sung by slaves. The music of slaves has its roots in the call and response of West African music. African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is a dialect of English commonly spoken by African Americans. AAVE has had a noticeable effect on the development of American English, particularly in the South, and has become well-known worldwide due to the expanding influence of American culture overseas.
Many African American authors have written stories, poems, and essays influenced by their experiences as African Americans. Famous examples include Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright,Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#Culture [Apr 2005]
Homophobia
[...] What hasn't changed is the gap between rap and house, an antipathy which exists between these two forms of soul music. [...] According to Frankie Knuckles, this goes to the core of attitudes towards gays, especially amongst the black community. "The fact that house got started in the gay clubs makes it tough for some of them to deal with it." This is about more than musical taste; for Frankie, it goes to the core of the future of minority groups in the US. And, ironically, it's rap, with all of its violence and too-frequent lapses into intolerance and homophobia, that has pushed things along.
David Lubich
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