3. Identify some examples of West Afrian heritage or survivalisms among African Americans - Essay Example

Some examples of the West African heritage among the African Americans The aim of the African-American Movement was to preserve the African-American experience heritage as well as to ensure that this heritage is interpreted in the American history properly. Museums serving this purpose can be found in different neighborhoods of the African Americans. African Americans established institutions like The African American Museum in Cleveland and African American Museum and Library at Oakland to teach their cultural history and investigate it which has been conventionally achieved through oral traditions.

Another example of West African heritage among African Americans is the Black Arts Movement as a cultural explosion to witness the incorporation of the surviving cultural attire with contemporary fashion elements and the traditional clothing of the West Africans. This led to the development of a traditional style which was uniquely African-American. The most popular African textile is Kente cloth. Originally, the Ewe and Ashanti peoples of Togo and Ghana used to make such festive woven patterns.

Kente fabric can be seen in different fashions of the West Africans including casual t-shirt, cummerbunds, and formal bow ties. African Americans have been wearing the traditional African clothing both formally and informally since the commencement of the Black Arts Movement. Vibrant colors, trade beads, mud cloth, and jewelry and couture made with Adinkra motifs are other manifestations of the commonly witnessed traditional African dress elements in the African American culture. Another aspect of fashion commonly found in the African American culture is use of appropriate dress for worshipping.

In most Black churches, people are expected to present themselves in the best possible way for worship.