Negro Here and Colored There: The Quest for African American Identity
An ever-more globalized world contributes to the complexity of the different interwoven heritages that we have today. In his 1995 memoir Colored People, African American writer and critic Henry Louis Gates quotes from the opening lines of his personal statement in his college application: “My grandfather was colored, my father was Negro, and I am black” (201). Also asserting this claim of multi-faceted and shifting identity are the following literary works: Brown Girl Dreaming, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, “The Secret Latina”, and Americanah. This paper will examine the complexity of Black Americans identity as "African Americans", noting how place, historical moment and local experience impact individual heritages.
Gates’ quote indicates the evolution of African American’s identity. According to Tom W. Lewis’ article “Changing Racial Labels: From "Colored" to "Negro" to "Black" to "African American"”, “Blacks lost their core personal identities. Tribal affiliation, kinship ties, language, and many other cultural attributes were destroyed when Blacks were enslaved by an alien culture in a foreign land” (496). Many Africans brought to the United States during the periods of slavery were stripped off the cultures and values, and reconditioned to live in
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I can salsa. My Spanish isn’t shabby. You may look at me and not know that I am Panamanian, that I am an immigrant, that I am both Black and Latin” (Essence): Chambers claim gives us an insight to the intricacy of identity. Unlike the returnee to Africa from Angelou’s memoir, who experienced cultural shock, chambers prior experience of the Panamanian culture through her engagement with her mother and aunts shapes the way she adjusts to the life at Panama. This proves that our personal experiences shape our identity and not necessarily the labels we are predispose