African Americans experience oppression through literature, artwork, and black culture. How African American people can put a end to oppression and how oppression ever started is the content of this essay.
The African American culture is unique because of our songs , and the food we eat. “Blues music was evolving across the country out of the traditional african slavery spirituals , work calls and chants” (20th Century Music). The songs that our ancestors used to listen to is unique because while they was in slavery they still knew how to have fun whether its dancing to the rhythm to the string or dancing to the beat to the drums and banjos. African American people eat food that’s called soul food which is cornbread , collard greens , macaroni and cheese, candy yams, and fried chicken. “This type of food was originated from the South” ( Hayford, 2016). Then it started to move all across the world.
African American people first started experiencing oppression is during the early 1691 till 2016 when the first black person was brought to Jamestown , Virgina. “ Throughout the 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants, who were mostly poor Europeans” ( Slavery in America).
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Americans typically brought black slaves because they was more healthier then the poor Europeans and they had a more healthy immune system meaning they were able to have babies and help the plantation grow. Then in 1793 cotton gin was created causing more and more slaves to come and pick the cotton gin for their masters, and in 1954 segregation started in schools when black people cannot attend the same school as whites , restaurants black people couldnt eat at the same place as white people, and public bathrooms they had a bathroom for black people and a bathroom for white people.
This lithograph demonstrates oppression through black face. “Black face is when white performers would paint their faces black to resemble african americans”(Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotype). White people would do this for entertainment while they was doing this they were making fun of the african american culture.
“Thomas Dartmouth Rice, known as the “Father of Minstrelsy,” developed the first popularly known blackface character, “Jim Crow” in 1830. By 1845, the popularity of the minstrel had spawned an entertainment sub industry, manufacturing songs and sheet music, makeup, costumes, as well as a ready-set of stereotypes upon which to build new performances” (Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotype).
Works Cited
- “Blackface: The Birth of An American Stereotype.” National Museum of African American History and Culture, 22 Nov. 2017, nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/blackface-birth-american-stereotype.
- Hayford, Vanessa, and Vanessa. “The Humble History of Soul Food.” BLACK FOODIE, Vanessa Hayford, 2016, blackfoodie.co/the-humble-history-of-soul-food.
- PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/20th-century-music/.
- “Slavery in America.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery.
