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