West African and African American Cultures - Before and After Emancipation - Assignment Example

Introduction Africa had a great variety in cultural diversity, with various ethnic groups having their own cultural manifestations. European immigrants to the New World of America, engaged in trans-Atlantic slave trade, and brought millions of Africans to meet the demand for cheap labor in America. They were transported from different areas in Africa, particularly from West Africa, to Central Africa. Enslaved Africans brought their homeland’s culture to America, resulting in “cultural interaction, integration and assimilation” (Holloway, 2005, p.18). After the Emancipation of the African Americans in 1863, their struggle for equality and citizenship resulted in their assimilating some aspects of American culture while retaining their original heritage to a small extent. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the cultures of West Africans and African Americans as constructed and reconstructed before and after Emancipation. Discussion Africa was the home of “people with different languages, traditions, histories and religions” (Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p.vii). The diversity of cultures was evident in the different types of group structures they lived in: some in ancient kingdoms such as those in the oldest of recorded history, and others in small family groups. Some of their societies had men leaders, and others had women as chiefs. The Gods they worshipped were of different forms, and some believed in one, while others in numerous Gods. People from all religions, Muslims, Christians and others, whether they lived in towns or villages, participated in world affairs, taking central roles in them. Egyptians achieved great development in medicine, language and architecture, which had a significant impact on Greek and Roman culture. Emergence of the African American People from Enslaved Africans Millions of Africans were shipped to America between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries to work as slaves in the plantations, in the construction of towns and cities, as domestic help and for various menial jobs (Holloway, 2005). The African American’s perspectives regarding the meaning and significance of Africa remains unclear; thereby affecting the identity problems of black people in America. The western stereotypical view of Africa as a land of wild people and wild animals affects the way African Americans think about Africa. The white disparagement of Africa was mainly to support imperialist interests and to rationalize “slavery and oppression of the descendants of Africa in their land of captivity” (Magubane, 1987, p.viii). Black people were deprived of autonomy and control of their own future. The main purpose of racism and cruel ideological persecution was to induce self-contempt and alienation from Africa. In order to find a new place in the world of white supremacy, black people had to find a new identity (Eyerman, 2001). During the civil war and reconstruction, the foundations of American democracy were challenged, while establishing the place of African Americans in that democracy (Kelley & Lewis, 2005). Emancipation Even after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect from 1863, freedom from slavery took place gradually, and did not occur simultaneously all over the southern part of America, with its plantations and slave strongholds. It was clear that even after freedom was attained, the black people would not be treated as equals, on par with the whites. Several African American abolitionist leaders were highly motivated in leading their fellow Africans back to their homeland, where they could live a better life as equal citizens, and work towards nation building (White, 2005). However, the factors that discouraged African Americans from returning to their homeland included: the settlers of African origin having troubled relationships with the surrounding African tribes; the adverse impact of African diseases on settlers, and most importantly the feeling that America was their own country. Over the passage of several centuries, and as their birth place, it formed the basis of their identity. Moreover, after all their sacrifices to America, they felt that it was a great injustice on them if they had to leave due to racism. Black pride called for black separatism, self-improvement and self-reliance. The system of slavery was so deeply entrenched, that it took the American civil war (1861-1865) to bring it to an end (White, 2005). Though the African Americans were not treated equally, and were forced to remain in subordinate roles, resulting in dissatisfaction and a feeling of alienation from their own homeland of Africa, it is important to note that many of the cultural manifestations found among the African Americans were those they had retained from their place of origin. These included various spheres of everyday life such as their language and linguistics, as well as religious practices, and artistic culture related to art, music and folklore. The African Origins of African American Culture Enslaved Africans on the shores of America, though “coming from various ethnic groups and speaking many languages” (Kelley & Lewis, 2005, p.ix) strongly experienced a sense of community. Further, they learnt the English language, they adopted Christianity, and transformed the religion. Others held closely to their faiths such as Islam, while many combined their own faith with that of their master. Scholars have attempted to define an African American culture separate from European American culture, discovered a large number of “cultural and linguistic properties of African origin and labeled them Africanisms” (Holloway, 2005, p.19). Since most of the slaves were brought from West Africa, the term Africanism was used synonymously with West Africanism. This implied that the cultural heritage of the majority of the north American slave population was originally West African, and this culture was homogenous. Holloway (2005) argues against West African culture being homogeneous or composed of similar elements, and states that the culture was conglomerate or a combination of several cultures, and was heterogeneous or diverse. It is significant that there was a theoretical controversy emerging from scholars’ attempts to identify the major African cultural groups that added to the development of African American culture. Although the West Africans’ advent in North America was in vast multitudes, the most homogenous culture among the enslaved Africans was among the Bantu of Central Africa, and had the greatest impact on the development of African American culture. Particular African cultural areas can help to “address the problems of multiplicity in the origins of Africanisms in North America” (Holloway, 2005, p.19). The Survival and Continuity of African Culture Among the African Americans Language is one of the predominant means by which African culture has survived in America. Extensive linguistic similarities in the grammar and phonology are evident between African American language and the “languages of Africa and Sierra Leone Kreo” (Holloway, 2005, p.8). This resilience exhibited by the African languages is remarkable when taking into consideration that for the last five centuries in America, African Americans have been under pressure from all aspects, to lose their distinctive characteristics and to follow an exclusively Anglo culture. African continuities in African diasporic communities have also been found to exist in “an undocumented naming system among African Americans” (Holloway, 2005, p.9). Further, there is evidence of West African communication style among the African Americans whose linguistic structures and patterns are similar. This is a significant finding, in view of the persistence of African linguistics despite the Anglicization and acculturation of African Americans in mainstream American culture. An example is that every African language south of the Sahara has common characteristics such as being tonal and using pitch differentiations to distinguish words, a technique similar to the use of stress in European languages. Increasingly distinctive African intonation is identified by greater evidence of African rhythm, tone and pitch in the speech of African Americans (Asante, 2005). Another example of the continuity of Africanism in African American speech is the Yoruba’s particular tense distinctions which do not have a differentiation between the past and present indefinite forms of a verb. “When it is necessary to make a distinction between past and present, the Yoruba make an adverb of time” (Holloway, 2005, p.9). The English language learned and spoken by the imported Africans contained typical African linguistic patterns, since it was deeply influenced by the phonological and syntactic structures characterizing the language of their origins. Religion is another aspect of African culture which continued to be present in the New World. Religion formed the basic foundation of the Africans’ culture and explains the vast number of Africanisms that are evident among the African Americans. Examples of the most commonly seen Africanisms among the African Americans are the “ring shout, the passing of children over a dead person’s coffin in the Sea Islands, and the placing of objects on top of graves” (Holloway, 2005, p.9). Most Africans believe in God, and they also consider spirituality as the core element in human beings’ lives. According to Gaston (2005), voodoo and its spiritual world was once recognized by New Orleans as the State Religion, thus revealing the extent to which the religious practice of voodoo had been retained among the African Americans. Thus, there are many religious customs and traditions in America which can be directly traced back to Africa, such as: particular relgious beliefs, practices, rituals, activities, cults and deities. West Africa’s Dahomean religion of Voodoo is a highly structured, complexly formulated religious and magical system which includes symbols, rituals and duties that are followed by its faithful supporters. The term Voodoo originally means spirit or deity in the Fon language of the Dahomean religion, and its history in North America is evidence of its retention by the African Americans. The research study conducted by Gaston (2005) demonstrates how the Voodoo religion was brought to North America almost completely in its original form. New Orleans has reconstructed historical Voodoo practices such as cult initiations, and worship through songs and prayers from West Africa and Haiti. Washington (2005) explains Gullah Christianity as a vital folk religion from West and Central Africa, which has been practiced in South Carolina. It has a unique system, in which worshippers are believed to be linked with their traditional past. Gullahs considered death to be of great significance, but did not fear it, considering it as a passage to the next life as an ancestor; and that death “represented a continuity between the communities of the living and the dead” (Holloway, 2005, p.10). The African beliefs on religion encouraged the Gullahs to live their lives fully and richly. Their customs denote their recognition of the power of death and undertook practices to please God and the “power of darkness” that is, death, by “night vigils, singing and praying around the bedside of the dying” (Holloway, 2005, p.10), to strengthen a dying person. Gullah Christianity originated in Kongo and Angola among the Bakongo and the Ovimbundum, and is commonly practiced in most Bantu-related cultures. Similarly, African religious retentions have been observed in Florida, and sacrificial practices in Santeria, an African Cuban religion in the United States. Artistic Culture in the form of aesthetics, folklore, music and other creative arts practiced in Africa have been transplanted in America, where it appears in newer forms (Patton, 1998). Culture is seen in the legacy from the past and the existing artefacts. In African American folk art, to a great extent, African retentions are Bantu in origin. Thompson (2005) illustrates that Kongo influences are seen in the Charleston dance pattern and the challenge stance in the Kongo, with both hands on the hips known as the pakalala. This classic akimbo pose of the African American woman denotes the issuing of a challenge. Another example is that Mississippi has become a world baton-twirling center based on the African Haitian ritual dancing with twirling batons and “striking a Kongo pose when confronting a ritual group” (Holloway, 2005, pp.12-13). Black American aesthetic and musical culture in America emerged from the impact of the Kongo on African American culture. Examples are the national music of Brazil, the samba, and one of the most sophisticated forms of music in America, jazz. Africanisms survived in the music of America because blacks retained their ties to their place of origin. This music bond helped African Americans to “survive and create a meaningful existence in a world where they were not welcome” (Holloway, 2005, p.13). These traditional practices, particularly their music with the original African styles, vocabulary and idioms, helped them to adapt to social upheaval and change. Folk culture in the form of dance, drama, food and medicine resurfaced in the New World, and folk tales such as Brer Rabbit became classics, all over the world. Slave songs lived on, and their food such as juba later appeared as the dance called juba, renamed as the Charleston. Significantly, not only African Americans, but also white American culture has been impacted by African influence, especially in music, social structure, religion, agriculture, folklore, religion and food. Conclusion This paper has highlighted the relationship between the cultures of West Africans and African Americans as they manifested before emancipation, and as reconstructed after the African slaves in the New World of America attained liberty. American blacks were renamed as African Americans only a few decades ago, and after slavery they continued to struggle for equality against a system that does not welcome their presence both in contemporary times as well as through American history of the past centuries. This impacted their need for drawing strength from their place of origin, for finding solace and meaning through traditional forms of culture, including dance, music, religion, language, and creative arts. Thus, African culture survives and continues to enrich the lives of African Americans, and in some respects exists in the culture of white Americans also, through a natural exchange of cultural influences among the races. References Asante, M.K. (2005). African elements in African American English. In J.E. Holloway (Ed.). Africanisms in American culture. Edition 2. The United States of America: Indiana University Press. Chapter 3, pp.65-81. Eyerman, R. (2001). Cultural trauma: Slavery and the formation of African American identity. New York: Cambridge University Press. Gaston, J.R. (2005). The case of Voodoo in New Orleans. In J.E. Holloway (Ed.). Africanisms in American culture. Edition 2. The United States of America: Indiana University Press. Chapter 5, pp.111-151. Holloway, J.E. (2005). Africanisms in American culture. Edition 2. The United States of America: Indiana University Press. Kelley, R.D.G. & Lewis, E. (2005). To make our world anew: Vol 1: A history of African Americans to 1880. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 4, pp.169-226. Magubane, B. (1987). The ties that bind: African-American consciousness of Africa. Edition 2. New Jersey: Africa World Press, Inc. Patton, S.F. (1998). African American art. New York: Oxford University Press. Thompson, R.F. (2005). Kongo influences on African American artistic culture. In J.E. Holloway (Ed.). Africanisms in American culture. Edition 2. The United States of America: Indiana University Press. Chapter 10, pp.283-325. Washington, M. (2005). Gullah attitudes toward life and death. In J.E. Holloway (Ed.). Africanisms in American culture. Edition 2. The United States of America: Indiana University Press. Chapter 6, pp.152-186. White, D.G. (2005). Let my people go: 1804-1860. In R.D.G. Kelley & E. Lewis (Eds.) To make our world anew: Volume 1: A history of African Americans to 1880. New York: Oxford University Press. Chapter 4, pp.169-226. Read More