Afro Amer 005 Essays - Christianity And Slavery, Free Essays

Afro Amer 005 Essays - Christianity And Slavery, Free Essays Afro Amer 005 Dr. Carr 09/28/2017 Response Essay 2 Abstract In discussing framing questions 2, how did Africans preserve and affirm their ways of life use their cultures as a means to resist enslavement, we talk about the experience and contributions of the Africana history and learn about the shaping of the African citizenship. We also discuss The Coming by Daniel Black which explains the fundamentals of the Middle passage and how they were separated but still managed to keep their cultural practices. Critical Review of Scholarship In the text readings done in class, we have found many answers to the questions that ties around framing question 2, How did Africans preserve and affirm their ways of life and use their cultures as a means to resist enslavement? In the text readings, there are many factors pertaining around framing question 2. In The Coming, Daniel black says, "Our body were the trademark, we believed, of a sacred majestic people. Now the ugliness of our situation made us begin to loathe the body we'd once loved. It was a gradual occurrence at first, more a thought that a truth, but we knew that once planted, a seed soon reveals all that it bears." I believe Black was talking about when we became slaves and how we started to lose ourselves becoming what the white people wanted us to be. We began to hate ourselves because of the situation we were put in. Discussion Also in The Coming , Black says, "The pain of what happened next lives in our collective memory. It mauls our souls each day. Yet it must be told. Silence guarantees no healing. It promises that the child's life would be forgotten and that its mission might one day, be thought significant. Silence is the enemy of history, and history is all we have." Another reading we looked at, Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Something torn and New: An African Renaissance talks about the dismemberment of Africa and how it had two stages. In the reading, it also explains how Europeans colonized the culture and created it through time and space. "The result was that everyone in the African diaspora from the tiniest Caribbean and Pacific island to the American mainland lost their names: Their bodies became branded with a European memory" ( Thiong'o . 14) For my essay, I will be introducing several texts from these sources stated above and sources from my notes in class. How did Africans Preserve and affirm their ways of life and Use their cultures as a means to resist enslavement? To answer this question, we can by trying to go back to when we were enslaved. In our history, we have social constructs and cultures we implemented in order to keep the culture alive. In class, we discussed the difference between and anthem and a hymn. "Lift every Voice is the black national anthem. White people have the Star-Spangled Banner which was written by Francis Scott who was a lawyer who housed slaves which he wrote about in the third verse of the national anthem. The anthem was supposed to bring about unity but it did the opposite of that. Why do you think there is a Black National anthem? In class, Dr. Carr discussed that the national anthem discussed the false promises of freedom. The phase of enslavement started when the Europeans colonized our culture and took it from us. To elaborate, our knowledge knows nothing of Africana studies because of the dismemberment of our history. The passage of enslavement happened in 6 stages; 1. Travel from European Country to Africa, which included exchange of goods. The second phase was the initial capture which happened between Africans where they promoted violence by Europeans for forced labor. In The Coming, Black says "We'd all been taught that, in a circle, there is no beginning, no end. Energy flows without ceasing. One can enter and exit without ever disrupting it. Something magical happens when people gather in a circle. Individual identities swirl into a collective self, which wields far more spiritual force than any one person alone." Elaborating back to the framing question, Black explains how we preserved our culture. During the passage, all the Africans were split up