ipl-logo

Soul Food Research Paper

912 Words4 Pages

According to Woodson (1933), “The oppressor…teaches the negro that he has no worth-while past, that his race has done nothing significant since the beginning of time, and that there is no evidence that he will achieve anything great. (page #”) In other words, Woodson implies that throughout history, negroes were deceived of their past and were wrongfully taught that they contributed nothing to society except for their role as slaves; more specifically their history was subjugated. The course, Introduction to African American Studies is designed to recover the subjugated history of African Americans. It is also formed to give an overview of the culture, race, racism, family, and other specific topics such as women and voting rights in America. …show more content…

They were not viewed as people, instead they were portrayed as property and profitable labor. Ironically though, slavery benefitted the Africans more than they realized. This epoch developed the culture of African Americans, helped them embrace their religion, and formed resistances using coded languages. A lot of the culture that we see in black people today stemmed from slavery. “Soul food” is a type of cuisine that originated from the slaves. They used the food that was given to them, usually the worst of what was available, and turned it into something great that exemplified them. Soul food allows African Americans in today’s society to represent their roots and where they came from while music allows them to express their selves and their stances on today’s topics. For example, a lot of hip hop artists today are African American and their lyrics are derived from what they believe in and their opinions. However, today’s music and music from the slave era are different in many ways. Slaves made their music representations of their religions and used it to inspire them and give them hope. The music that they created in addition to their trust in God allowed them to stay hopeful in the worst time of their history. Some songs were often used as resistance opportunities and coded messages that only other slaves could interpret. Harriet Tubman sang the song “Wade in the Water” when she conducted the underground railroad to signal the slaves that she led. The importance of it was that slave owners and non-slaves would only think of it as a song and not as

Show More
Related
427 Words | 2 Pages

The author, Douglas R. Egerton, has his M.A. and Ph.D. from Georgetown University. His grandparents were slaveholders and believed that slaves were property. He became interested in race relations because of grandparents and the television series “Roots”. He specifically concentrates on race relations in the American South. He is now a history professor at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.

Read More
1206 Words | 5 Pages

In the book Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome written by Dr.Joy DeGruy she explains how the past events in American history has lead to post traumatic slave syndrome. She explains that the way African Americans were treated during the slave era and after has had an everlasting effect on African Americans. The book goes on to describe how America has been denying its past and has not helped to integrated and level all the playing fields for African Americans. The book brings to light how we can try to contribute in making America a fair and equal place for all as most claim it to be. Through the book DeGruy talks about the four major contributing factors for the reason why America is the way it is.

Read More
2974 Words | 12 Pages

The truth—the unpleasant, horrible truth—must be known because it is so significant. This has been one of the most impactful readings in school because it doesn't hold back. Although learning about slavery is neither joyful or simple, it reveals the truth that slavery still has a bearing on Black Americans' lives and experiences. Despite the need of educating about slavery, it appears that classroom discussions regarding the subject are doomed to failure in some classrooms. There are petitions to remove slavery from textbooks all around America.

Read More
838 Words | 4 Pages

The black folk were freed by the abolition of slavery, yet this new freedom was not so. Ther identity was forever fractured between black and American, and even after they internalized the whites’ perspectives of them, they still wanted to be both without the disadvantages and racism. They were degraded, dehumanize, and shamed for their lack of education and job skills. In 1865, the Freemen’s Bureau was established by Congress to provide them with aid after living in slavery and not owning tools, homes, or land.

Read More
999 Words | 4 Pages

James Baldwin's speech "A Talk to Teachers" addresses how the paradox of education is when one begins to examine and become aware of the society in which he is becoming educated in. The purpose of education is to merely teach a person how to look at the world for himself - to create an identity for one's self. When he starts to question the universe and then learn to live with that of which he questioned, an identity is then created. Baldwin uses diction, repetition, and parallelism to argue that Negro students are being taught myths and lies about their ancestral history leading to the alteration of their dehumanized identity.

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

Most of the members who helped slaves escape were part of the free black community, one of the fugitive slaves was Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman helped hundreds of escaped slaves to the North with the underground railroad. Risking her life she went back to the south to help families and other slaves with the plantation system, she was known as one of the best conductors. The underground railroad was important because it helped free many slaves from the South as it brought them to the North.

Read More
734 Words | 3 Pages

The slaves were brought over initially to help the production and meet the demands for cash crops such as tobacco and cotton. African slavery in the U.S started as a tool for agriculture production and developed into a huge racial divide between caucasians and African American that is still prevalent today, years after slaves were emancipated in the U.S in 1863. In the book “Capitalism and Slavery,” author Eric Williams claims that "Slavery was not born of racism; rather, racism was the consequence of

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

As a result slaves did not enjoy being slaves at all. Instead they sang to express their

Read More
1642 Words | 7 Pages

From this, derives a bond with the reader that pushes their understanding of the evil nature of slavery that society deemed appropriate therefore enhancing their understanding of history. While only glossed over in most classroom settings of the twenty-first century, students often neglect the sad but true reality that the backbone of slavery, was the dehumanization of an entire race of people. To create a group of individuals known for their extreme oppression derived from slavery, required plantation owner’s of the South to constantly embedded certain values into the lives of their slaves. To talk back means to be whipped.

Read More
735 Words | 3 Pages

Therefore, we have to acknowledge the difficult past African Americans had to endure, but despite that past they were still able to impact the cooking in the south and thus in one way or another give the south a part of their identity. Lastly, without Soul food there just be a huge chunk of African American history missing in the United States. Since the very first African American arrive to the state's, soul food has been there to lead them into finding a sense of belonging and in some ways regaining joy that was stolen for them when they were forced into slavery.

Read More
519 Words | 3 Pages

Soul food is a strong and powerful staple in the African American families. It is the basis of black culture, it’s what has brought so many families together through the good and the bad. When I consider soul food I think of macaroni and cheese, fried chicken and catfish, collard greens, cornbread, and sweet potato pie. But there are some foods I think shouldn’t be considered soul food such as chitterlings “chitterlingss”.

Read More
837 Words | 4 Pages

Soul food is just what the name insinuate. It is richly flavored and cooked food that is cooked from the heart with love. Some people might say soul food is a home cooked meal, but to my family soul food is a tradition, a way of life handed down from generation to generation. During the era of slavery, blacks were often given the undesirable cuts of meats that slave owners would not eat. Although slaves were given the undesirable cuts of meat, such as pig feet, tails, intestines, chicken livers, and necks they were creative and resourceful, turning these foods into delicious dishes.

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

Soul food is part of the African-American group since the time of slaves, and continues as tradition. It has become part of their culture. The Process of cooking soul food is also a way of socialization for the African-American community. Although soul food brings African-Americans together, some of the foods in their diet are a cause of stratification within the minority group

Read More
704 Words | 3 Pages

Have you ever wondered how life was for the slaves in the South? Slaves in the South suffered through many consequences. For example, they suffered through many whippings with cow skin if they didn't obey their master, they also got separated from their family mostly the fathers, so, they can be sold to a very mean slave owner. Even if they were living a miserable life on the farms, they had their own culture and they managed to even get married in the farmland or where they worked. Not only did the slaves live on the farm.

Read More
1716 Words | 7 Pages

The African – American 's Assimilation into White America America is often considered the land of opportunities, a place where people can have a fresh start, a clean slate. America is a land that is made up of immigrants. Over the centuries America has been a place where people dream to live in, however the American dream wasn 't as perfect as believed; there were issues of race inferiority, slavery and social inequality amongst other problems. When a person arrives into a new society he has a difficult task ahead of him- to assimilate into that new society- which includes the economical, cultural, political and social aspects. In the following paper I will discuss how the African American, who came as slaves to America, has fought over the centuries to achieve equality in a white society that discriminated them.

Read More

More about Soul Food Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document