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African Culture in America by ross brian
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African Culture in America |
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Business
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When immigrants set foot in a new land, they create new footprints, as they bring along with them their way of life - their language, customs, values, religious beliefs and artistic forms - and reshape the new society by weaving new texture and colors into its very fabric. The Africans were no different. The rich traditions of Africa combined with colonial America to create a new ethnicity - the African-American. Today the imprint of Africa is evident in many aspects of life - politics, economics, language, music, hairstyles, fashion, dance, religion and cuisine - where they have been adapted and have helped transform the national culture of America.
The early slave trade, which was the largest forced migration in the world, re-established African cultural traditions, as they contributed greatly to the cultural and historical composition of America. In religion, Christianity is an excellent example of how Africans merged with their American counterparts. Christianity spread rapidly throughout the slave communities during the Great Awakening. While slaves were Christianized and somewhat assimilated to the White culture, they kept elements of their native culture alive.
An important recognition of African-American culture occurred during the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s and 1930s, African-American music, literature and art gained wide prominence. Authors and poets wrote works describing the African-American experience. Jazz, swing, blues, rock-and-roll and other musical forms, as in bluegrass with its signature instrument, the banjo, entered popular American music. The Charleston dance had the greatest influence than any other imported African dance.
African tales laid the foundation for American nursery rhymes along with folklore. Examples include Brer Rabbit, Brer Wolf and Brer Bear. The Hare and Hyena, corresponds to Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox tales. Stories of Uncle Remus are African in origin. The Chicken Little story is also part of this tradition and originated unaltered from Africa. These stories found their way into American culture as told by enslaved Africans in America.
African-American artists also created unique works of art. Africans influenced white (European American) culture and planters adopted some aspects of African customs and practices, such as the African agricultural methods of rice cultivation and open grazing of cattle. They were expert cattlemen and responsible for introducing African husbandry in America. Not many are aware that Africans and their descendants were America's first cowboys.Old ways die hard, and this is especially and fortunately true in the case of cuisine. African influences impacted American cooking and food, for example, gumbo and rice. Foods like watermelon, black-eyed peas, sorghum and millet entered on to the American platter. Black-eyed peas were first brought over during the transatlantic slave trade as food for the enslaved and became one of the most popular food crops in the southern part of the America. Other crops included the American peanut, Okra, yam, kidney and lima beans and sesame - all brought on slave ships.
Other aspects of Black origin adopted by white Americans include hand slapping, hair styles, clothing fashions and handshakes. Early Africans also brought with them highly developed skills in metal working, leather work, wood and stone work, pottery and weaving. Black architects executed conservative classical designs to reflect American cultural values. A prime example of African architectural influence is the porch. With interchange of views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture, the African imprint on American soil is here to stay.
These stories found their African Culture In America way into American culture as told by enslaved African Culture In America.
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