Black Family Reunions in the Cincinnati Region - Research Paper Example

Black Family Reunions in the Cincinnati Region African American families use the Black Family Reunions to gather, share and exchange ideas on the need to maintain strong family bonds. Family reunions in Cincinnati also serve as ample venues for identification and making of new friends. Family reunions in the US act as appropriate venues at which families exchange cultural values and strengthen their social bonds. In addition, family reunions are occasions that involve passage of certain cultural values from the older members of the families to the younger members of the families. Family reunions among Black Americans are meant to preserve certain features and qualities linked to particular families and societies. Black Americans also use family reunions as venues to memorize their coming to America and their lives as slaves of America. Family reunions also provide avenues where certain individuals in the Black America communities can search for lost relatives and sometimes trace their roots. Family reunions among the Black community in America takes place at varied periods of the year. Some family reunions in the views of Smith commences on Christmas day, while others happen on 4th of July (487). The Most important fact about family reunions is that they occur every year. According to Smith, the most historic family reunion in America was the 1986 National Family Reunion Celebrations held at the National Mall in Washington DC (486). The Black Family Reunion of 1986 focused on restoring the liveliness of Family Reunions in the US. The National Family Reunion of 1986 attracted various individuals among them government agencies, private and public institutions, corporations and families from different ethnic aspects. According to Vargus, reunions great celebrations Black family reunions takes place at an annual basis and takes two to three days of busy celebration. In the reports of Ebony, African American families institute regular meetings of 50 to 350 attendants usually tabled at hotels and tourism centers. Black family reunions are simply unity congregations intended to bring together sparse and related families. Black family reunions are occasions for consolation and reconciliation of fractured families that faced the broth of slavery in America. In addition, Black family reunions in Cincinnati are avenues for making and strengthening peace and friendship, which are the core components of unity. Furthermore, Black family reunions offer ample environment for educating the youths concerning the principles of ethics in the societies thereby preparing disciplined and respectful members of the society. Black Americans have been using family reunions as points where divorced spouses reconcile and resume marital ties. Black family reunions are open celebrations that accept the presence of any member of the family with disregard of gender and age. The reunions encompass the presence of larger members of the extended family. Vargus reports that planning of most reunion meetings among the Black families takes place in funerals where the long-term relatives meet and get introduced to each other (3). In some reunions, participants in the Black family reunions incorporate various relatives who at times have very diverse economic, religious and political backgrounds. Vargus reports that the reunions also include the sick and disabled members of the families (3). At times, reunions brought together divorced spouses who could reconcile on their own and get back to each other. The reunions could also include close friends with no blood relations. Vargus adds that Black family reunions include step children, adopted children, biological children and the in- laws of the families. Furthermore, the Black family reunions open doors for single black spouses and girlfriends and boyfriends to intermingle (Vargus 4). In some cases, Black family reunion included descendants of old and slave owners invited by the Black Americans in search of their ancestors in the plantations. Vargus notes that family reunions among the Blacks have deep rooted traditions among the African American communities (2). This is because the African tradition had great respect and recognition for the families as reflected in the religious, economic and political power attached to the families. African tradition families were mainly dependent on the magnitude of love for sustainability. For the reason of love, African traditional families expanded to include various members of the society who shared extended relations. Due to slavery of Africans in America, most of the family structures faced instability due the stringent rules that prohibited the slaves from marrying and owning families. Slavery also denied them the opportunity to exercise control over their children. Despite the strict rules and denial of fundamental rights in the foreign land, African slaves exercised their love for each other by protecting themselves from any element of abuse. The slavery of the Africans in America also functioned to disjoint families by moving relatives to different regions where they worked under full admonition of their masters. Vargas mentions that the currently existing Black families in America recollected after the end of fierce slavery period (2). At the end of slavery, men and women reconciled to start the process of raising families as per the customs of the African community. Vargus reports that the concrete love that existed among the African slaves attributed to effects of racial discrimination they faced from the white hosts (2). The end of slavery returned the formerly breached rights of marriage and making family back to the Black slaves, an opportunity they utilized exhaustively (Vargus 2). It is the end of slavery return of freedom that African Americans started the search for their lost relatives who were equally enslaved in the country. According to Vargus, serious great need of comfort and defense from the lethargies of discrimination continued to glue the relationship of African Americans (2). African Americans started by displaying wonderful care to each other as families recognized their extended members and neighbors. Vargus further mentions the development of love among African Americans grew due to the need of Africans to arrange them and avail social and human services among themselves. `The Black family reunions incorporate extensive exchange of ideas and information among diverse families. Vargus reports that participants in the Black family reunions reiterate the need for peace and friendship within the families (4). The participants also educate each other on the fundamental measures for making a good family. In addition, the families tend to recognize the significance of child education and respect for the elders. Black family reunions also provide venues for identification of individuals by exchanging family status and economic capabilities of various families. Black family reunions also provided a sense of belonging to individual participants as well as exchange of love and concern (Vargus 4). Reunions also provide opportunities for young individuals to develop role models from among the participants in the reunion. In the views of Vargus (6), family reunions provide education especially for the young participants. Older family members participating in the reunions use these opportunities to advice the young members of the families concerning acceptable ethical conducts. In addition, older participants in the Black family reunions enlighten the youth on the need for hard work and peaceful coexistence in the societies. Vargus discloses that most of the Black family reunions in the Cincinnati region focus on the need for supportive growth and development of the families. Family reunions among the Blacks have acted as grounds for rich families to contribute and sponsor certain activities for the poorer families. Family reunions have also turned into family investment schemes where various members dispose of excess income. The reunions have also assisted in the raising of funds used to finance certain occasions like funerals, birthday ceremonies and school fees. Black family reunions in America have assumed the roles of charity organizations as most of them love helping each other and will always contribute relief and distribute to peasant families through churches and other social facilities (Vargus 9). According to Smith, Black family reunions have acted as venues for promotion of art and skills as the celebrations involve basketball games and music competitions (488). In essence, Black Family Reunions have transformed into avenues for empowering individuals through creation of jobs, education, houses and supportive economic developments (Smith 488). Love is the main symbol of the Black family reunion among the African American community. Black families organize meetings with particular intent of bringing together different people from diverse economic, religion and social backgrounds. It is the symbol of love that unifies different families in the sharing of ideas and views concerning life. Love has made the Black Americans move to the plantation farms in trace of their ancestors whereupon they ended up reconciling and establishing relations within the descendants of the slave masters. Another evident symbol of the Black Family Reunion is the family unity. The family unit takes center stage of relation among the African American community. Every event that takes place in the Black Family Reunions revolves around family matters. Individual participants attend the ceremony in companion of the family members where different issues rise and shared among the participants in the Black Family Reunion. The Black family reunions rely on the level of trust among individual participants. For families to relate in way, trust has been among the determining factors of how strong the relation become. Work cited Ebony Magazine. Black family reunions. Johnson Publishing Company, 2006. 61(9). Smith, Jessie. Encyclopedia of African American Popular Culture, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, CA: ABCL-CLIO Publishers, 2011. Print. Vargus, Ione. More than a picnic: African American Family Reunions. 2002. Web. October 25, 2011. Read More