My Heritage Is America

African-Americans have fought on many of liberty’s battlefields from the pre-emancipated plantation to the killing fields of the Civil War. African-Americans have always been willing to fight not just for their freedom, but for their country as well. Yet, their country never lived up to its founding document that asserts that, “All men are created equal; ”instead,

African Americans have endured many trials and tribulations over the centuries. Our people have suffered from war, violence, and anguish simply because of the color of our skin. Our history has been so blatantly missing from textbooks and the K-12th grade educational atmosphere. Our educational system continues to neglect the history of our African American ancestors and fail to provide them with the educational resources to inform them of our past and allow them to learn about the true origins of our culture. We have made many significant contributions to the world but those have also been highly ignored as well.

Over the course of this semester, I was introduced to many people, ideas, writings, and discussions that sparked my interest and enlightened me on African American history. However, I feel like this was just the beginning of my journey of learning the history of my people, as there is still so much out there to be brought to the surface. Prior to taking this course, I was always ignorant on the topic of African American history and simply made the connection to slavery. Additionally, I was unaware of other black activist, movements, and struggles that I had the chance to witness for the first time in this class. I came to a realization of how deprived of this information I was, because other historic events have been deemed more important. A quote that stuck with me throughout the course that was made by Arthur Schomburg was, “... African history and negro history, are the missing pages of world history”.

In today’s society, many have come to believe what they have been instructed over the years, whether it is fiction of facts. Living in a world, where only certain race can be seen as superior to others. Schomburg was a pioneer beyond his times. In the article “The Negro Digs up His Past”. The beginning of this essay revealed a powerful statement, “The American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future” (Arthur Schomburg). It is very clear, Schomburg realized the importance of being knowledgeable on your true history. “History must restore what slavery took away, for it is the social damage of slavery that the present generations must repair and offset”. Therefore, I acquiesce with such statement, it is up to the present generation to fight, and to aspire on restoring what was taken away. As we acquired more intelligence, today’s generation must continue on indoctrinating one another on our true history. However, let’s not forget, slavery was not the onset of the Negro history; when in fact, slavery interrupted the Negro history. Meanwhile, long ago, before slavery, Africans ruled the world, built nations, mastering in architectural ideas, philosophies, etc. Nonetheless, it is crucial for the Negro to dig up his past, for from it; today’s Africans shall conceive their true potential, and their ancestor’s greatest achievements. Just as Schomburg found his motivation after being told “Negroes has no history. On the other hand, he then stated “The Negro thinking

A heritage does not define a role in society. The lives of Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass and Barbara Ehrenreich all demonstrate the human ability to thrive despite the real implications of one’s heritage. While they may hold different beliefs concerning the importance of the culture of their progenitors, they all lead lives undefined by the roles expected by society based on their heritage.. King and Douglass both identify with their ancestral roots. Ehrenreich remains decidedly unaffiliated with her ancestry, a result of her being raised without any cultural traditions. Conversely, society defined both King and Douglass by the color of their skin and expected them to be the willing victims of slavery and segregation. They broke those roles by becoming

We are reminded of that history with every breath we take of injustice. The unfair treatment of blacks can mostly be attributed to lingering after effects of the end of the civil war and the bitter-sweet downfall of the confederacy. Violence that claims the pavement that we walk on and the lives of those who are our future. Poverty takes hold of the lives of the youth. The dehumanization of those who do not fit the social confines that have been drafted by those who try to crush the people they consider beneath them: It creates a new, invisible barrier that many choose to hold as the definitive disparity that cordially distinguishes the blacks from the

Over the last one hundred and thirty years African Americans have little by little-gained freedom for themselves as slaves and domestic servants. Now as a culture they are legally capable of obtaining jobs and positions in all areas of private and public organizations, (Hayes, A. F., & Preacher, K. J., 2010). This particular ethnic group are known to be instrumental in holding their cultures together through times of constant struggle. They have used rallies, protests, silent marches and received help from volunteer organizations to fight for rights as well as obtain justice in a racist and sexist society. This work explores the troubles African Americans face in Americas society today, through stereotypes and how gender roles as African Americans differ from each other as well as the American population.

Commencing with the straightforward, yet unethical act of introducing slaves, regardless of race, to America, racial tension wedged itself into America’s atmosphere in the past, its conscience in the present, and legacy in the future. As America’s racial history did not reflect the most pleasant aspects of the events and concepts in America’s history, its racial history, however, profoundly reflected the racial relations we, as individuals and a collective society experience today, with present events regarding racial issues able to be traced back to racial conflicts in history such as the civil rights movements, racist laws designed to maintain the social hierarchy, and white supremacist groups that exist to this very day.

In todays’ society many African Americans’ including myself do not know where there furthest ancestor came from let alone existed; to be honest, the only people of African descent that really know where they come from are those who were born and raised in Africa due to their family not moving. All we know or assume is that our ancestor was brought from Africa; however, that is as much as we know, most African Americans including myself embrace Africa as the motherland but we tend to wonder how deep is our ancestral lineage is rooted within this illustrious continent of Africa. It is no surprise that the slave trade is the reason to blame for our broken connection back to Africa; one can say that the slave trade was economically beneficial to society at that point; however, everything about this unethical and morally repugnant trade, has plagued the African American community till this day. We as a people were set up to be disunited when our ancestor were put in shackles and put on a boat that sailed to the new world .And to this day the constant oppressive nature purposely continue to try to divide and conquer our race, so that we continue to erase any notion of Africa. If disunity is the key of the oppressor; then we must be that strong and resistant door that does not open or budge, which ultimately symbolizes unity we must displayed day in and day out.

My family’s Native American heritage has influenced me by encouraging me to assist the poverty-stricken Lumbee community that I grew up in, whether that be by volunteering my time, energy, or resources. Growing up as a member of the Lumbee community, I have witnessed firsthand the struggles that many Native American families face, including living paycheck to paycheck, being ridiculed for our heritage, and alcohol abuse in many households. My culture has instilled in me the desire to educate the youth to be proud of their heritage despite the derogatory stereotypes that people associate Native Americans with. Unlike many children I was raised with, I have the opportunity to go to college and become only the second person in my family to do

My heritage is engrained in the hearts of my ancestors who came to America many years ago. They came from their home countries to live a better life in the new world. It was a new experience that millions of new immigrants felt, however, each experience is different on a personal level for each immigrant. This is the story of my ancestors.

Does your heritage make an impact on how you live today? To be honest I am not really affected by my Moroccan heritage, but I would like to start some more traditions with my family. Some things I would like to start doing are eating more Moroccan foods, learning about their religion, and learning about how they live.

Doris Lessing’s “No Witchcraft for Sale” yes another story based around racism. “No Witchcraft for Sale” is based on a young black servant and a young white boy. As they grow and mature, they grow from close friends into just friends. As they grew up they grew further apart in their friendship as race and racism become a factor in their lives. One day as the young white boy , Teddy, is playing around and spits in the eyes with venom of a snake. During that time there was no way to save the young man's eyes, as he would go blind. But Gideon, the young black servant, runs an snatched up a few leaves off of a plant. When returning after a few minutes he put the green leaves into his mouth and chewed them. He then spat into Teddy’s eyes. He turned to the teddy’s mother and reassured her that Teddy would be fine. Word quickly spread of this young native boy that knew how to reverse the effects of the snake's venom. Scientist became aware of this miracle that only the natives knew. They soon visited Gideon and asked persistently for what the plant was. They bribe him with what he could become after he shows them. He could become a rich individual. After a long while he “gives in” he then takes them on a six mile hike where he leads them to “the plant”. He shows them

s a sociology major, I was broadly aware of the complexities of race relations within the U.S and I thought the class would simply solidify notions that I had previously held to be true. In reality, the class taught me a lot of invaluable information about the socio cultural spheres of Africa and how systematic relationships between the U.S and Africa have historically produced and reproduced the conditions in which Africa finds itself today. Our ideology, and I’m sure other classmates will agree, has been infiltrated with biased and Eurocentric images of justified world domination through early childhood socialization in the Texas public school system. The construct in which we have been placed in encourages complacency and a sort of traditional patriotism. Patriotism that can be described as the simple acceptance of the physical and social state of the country without openly challenging long held beliefs and practices, even if these beliefs enable structural violence against black communities by part of police enforcement, facilitate the active criminalization of blackness, brutalities, murders and institutionalized racism. The social forces that affect and produce our perceptions of Africa have been so seamlessly integrated into our conditioning, even as early as primary school, that I had been unable to recognize the racist schools of thought we have inherited from our colonial predecessors through outlets that are so seemingly benign, such as children's movies. The

Coming from an Asian-American immigrant family, all throughout my life, I have had very little contact with African-American people up until I entered college. Thus, despite having a normal education and learning about racial bias, Anti-Black racism influences, etc., there has been an underlying perspective that I have had concerning African-American people due to the messages I received from both my family and the media which contributed to a more negative outlook on them in my early life. However, as I entered college and continued to meet more people while broadening my horizons, my experiences with African-American people and the messages I received from friends and school at this point in life truly showed me how wrong both some of the media, certain people, and my family’s views on the African-American people were. Despite not identifying as an African-American myself, I personally believe it is important to care about the current African-American experience because if one race/ethnicity does not receive the equality that other races do, such as White people with their concept of White supremacy and White privilege, then it will eventually affect the experience of all Americans.