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Cultural Influences On African American Culture

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African Americans are one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States and are primarily from West Africa. However, immigrants from the Caribbean, Central America, East Africa, and South Africa are also part of one of the largest cultural groups in the U.S. Many African American ancestors did not come by their free will; they were either sold or traded by slave traders. Throughout history, blacks have been mistreated and discriminated; understanding the history and the contributions made to American culture, allow practitioners to treat and counsel patients more effectively. African culture has significantly influenced American music, fine arts, and foods, by adding its unique flavor and flare. Slaves brought to plantations were initially kept from working near or at the main plantation homes. It took a few years for the slaves to learn the English language and the new American culture. Though assimilation was forced, they still managed to maintain their cultural values and formed the new black Creole culture. Slaves worked on farms, plantations, railroads and in mines. The American Revolution was the …show more content…

The availability of ingredients forced slave’s to adapt traditional dishes. Cultural influences from the British, French, Spanish, and Native Americans added inspiration to new recipes. Pork is the primary protein source among African Americans. Other staples include greens, okra, corn, and squash. West African staples include fish, corn, cowpeas, yams, rice, tropical fruits, and insects. Ethiopian staples include plantains, millet, beans and coffee. East African diet is predominantly vegetarian, and their staples include cassava, corn, plantains, and peanuts. Meal cycles and etiquette vary widely by regions. Special occasions typically depend on religious affiliations; however, African Americans celebrate Christmas, Kwanza, New Years, and large Sunday dinners with

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Gumbo, Fried Chicken, Okra, and Collard greens those are a few of the foods African Americans eat on Juneteenth and Kwanzaa. These foods are very important to many various people in many ways. The main reasons people celebrate Junetenth is to celebrate the freedom of the last 250,000 slaves after the Civil War And the reason people celebrate Kwanzaa is because Kwanzaa originated in the turbulent 1960s to instill racial pride and unity in the black Racial group. One of the great foods eaten on these holidays is gumbo.

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848 Words | 4 Pages

For example, meals like grits and hot-water cornbread have been linked to West African porridges that were made with millet and other indigenous grains after the 1600s. The use of herbs, heavy seasoning and cooking oil in African-American cooking are linked with the West African cuisine, specifically the Igbo and Mande tribes that cooked with palm oil. West African eating customs also influenced African American eating habits such the use of corn bread to soak up remaining sauce. The close ties between what became soul food and West African eating practices would both “other” and unify slaves. Slave masters would often control the food that was offered to slaves in order to gain a sense of security.

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3179 Words | 13 Pages

African American Gospel Music and Its Influential Power Have you ever listened to a song that moved you to the point where it seemed that all your heartaches and troubles disappeared? Have your spirits ever been lifted by simply listening to a few lyrics of a certain song? If you answered yes to either of these, you may have experienced the same type of feeling that comes over many people when they listen to African American Gospel Music. This genre of music has changed throughout the years but has remained a constant component in the African American Culture. Gospel artist such as Thomas Andrew Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, and James Cleveland played a crucial part in laying the foundation for the gospel artists of today.

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1255 Words | 6 Pages

Most of them ran away to Florida where the Spanish greeted them with food, clothes and freedom. The slaves in the northern part of England's colonies did not have as hard work. They were farm-hands, dockworkers, sailors and house servants. In the south they were farm workers and they needed to harvest labor intensive crops with worse treatment and were separated from their family. They way that they transported the slaves was horrible.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

Slavery before the American Revolutionary War was predominantly in the southern territories. It was so common as a source of livelihood that “slaves could be found working at virtually every kind of job from building roads, clearing land, cutting timber for firewood, and herding cattle and pigs in the countryside to such urban skilled occupations as carpentry, shoemaking, blacksmithing, stoneworking, butchering, milling, weaving, and even goldsmithing” (Davis 129). Plantation owners would own hundreds of slaves at a time that they would not only sell or trade their slaves, but also leased them by their owners for a good profit. Slaves were also not regarded as human beings but rather property, or material things, holding no more value than

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686 Words | 3 Pages

Soul food originated from the rural south during the time of american slavery. During slavery, African slaves were only given leftovers and undesirable cuts of meat from their masters, so they had to devise inventive ways to enhance the taste of them. Soul food is heavily based on animal ingredients, cornmeal, pork products, and fried dishes are usually cooked with hydrogenated vegetable oil like shortening or Crisco. Intense flavor is a primary characteristic of soul food, with its rich comfort foods combining spicy, salty, and sweet flavors at the same time. A few common soul food dishes include: chicken, collard greens, peach cobbler, grits, cornbread, banana pudding, black eyed peas, chitlins, ribs, and sweet potato pie.

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1480 Words | 6 Pages

In these gatherings, the slaves would bring watermelon, fried fish, sweet cakes, sweet potatoes pies, fried chicken, collard green, black-eyed pies, and hot water cornbread. Where the bad choices of food began, in back in slavery. The masters would throw out the scraps of food for the Slaves to eat. So, a lot of the food habits that African American women have started when they had to be creative on foods to make eatable.

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416 Words | 2 Pages

African-American culture is rooted in struggle, determination, love, and empowerment. It is a culture that cannot be defined or put in a box due to its intricate and evolved nature. Creating, celebrating, and cultivating African-American culture is essential on campus and in the greater New Orleans area. Black Student Unions or Black Student Associations are one way that we create African-American culture on college campuses. Having African-American owned businesses is a way of creating culture in the community.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

The African American culture takes pride in cooking and food in general. Food is mostly provided or prepared for any occasion like family reunions, cook outs, holidays, and funerals. My mother and her cousin, Sherrie would decide who house to celebrate holidays or cook outs and each person would cook and prepare the food for any of our family gathers. My mother also prepared traditional southern meals in our home. Home cooked meals are a value in the family as well as the African American culture.

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1353 Words | 6 Pages

Being enslaved was not an easy job for African Americans. African Americans survived slavery through their connection with their culture. They then went on to contribute to the economic and social development of the South and America. African Americans survived the institution of slavery and Africanized the American South. They helped free themselves by sticking together as a family, resisting, as well as wanting slavery to change.

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1362 Words | 6 Pages

The U.S. has been influenced by different cultures, trends, and movements. For instance, protest movements and hip hop have been used by African Americans as an avenue to tackle social injustices and other issues. South central L.A. chief rapper of the group N.W.A (Nig*** with Attitude), Ice Cube, seems to have firsthand experience about the hardships of the ghettos. According to the rapper, if one sits calmly at night, he or she is more likely to hear nothing but gunfire, which he has heard so much in his neighborhood (1). At night helicopters are always flying with their spotlight on, looking for someone.

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320 Words | 2 Pages

The most prominent faith systems that they follow are Christianity and Islam. The traditional African American diet consists of hot breads (biscuits

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651 Words | 3 Pages

I am an African American female whom is a descendent from the African Slave and a native American refugee. My culture runs deep in my veins and I am a product of the strength of my mother and father. While growing up I understood we were on the poverty line. My family lived in a small home with 3 bedrooms and occupied 7 people. I grew up in a small southeast Georgian town named Statesboro.

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1153 Words | 5 Pages

Southerners didn’t have all of the heavier foods that the Northerners had. They had more vegetables due to the amount of farms in the South. One vegetable that was a main staple for the soldiers in the South were peas. Many fruits at the time were filled with lots of bacteria and it would cause diseases and sicknesses when eaten, so it was avoided as much as possible. Tobacco took the place of most of the foods because it was easy to find and distribute.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

If you were to look at a single culture, you would probably find so many differences between this culture and the one you consider yourself to be. Now if you consider that group only, and look at the individuals within it, would you find similarities across the board or would you find variation between people? The odds are that you would not find similarities across the board due to many different reasons. In order to illustrate this we will look at individuals within the African American culture as well as the culture in general to see if they are similar or if they are completely off based. We realize that studying everything about their culture would be very hard to do, therefore we are only going to collect evidence on the topics of marriage

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