The exhibition on African-American gallery was done on 19th October 2018 at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture. After visiting the museum, it helped me to increase my knowledge about the history of the African-Americans and their culture from slavery, through the Second World War, to the present. The role of this research paper, therefore, will be to highlight the African-American history and culture gallery through the use of the various sociological theories and the various arts collected at the gallery.
African-American Family
In the first exhibition which came from the African-American gallery, it comprises a picture which depicts the African-American family and the formation of their communities ("National Museum of African American History and Culture"). Indeed, the image also expounds how this two institutions remained significant in the development of the African-American society and how it impacted the daily life of the individuals. The family is the most essential institution which makes up the society, and it can either comprise of the extended family which consists of aunts, uncles, and grandparents or a nuclear family which includes of the father and mother figure (Armstrong 1). According to Macionis, the family is a social institution found in all societies which serve the purpose of uniting people to care for one another including the children. With the beginning of slavery in the 1500s, this saw the drastic increase of African-Americans in America as slaves. The majority of the slaves’ place of origin was in West and Central Africa where the concept of family and community played a significant role in the lives. Indeed, the African American history and culture gallery claim that the family unit was essential to the African-Americans and their descendants because of threat from slavery and racism. For them to overcome such social injustices, then it was necessary to create and renew the bonds of a family continuously. As a result, this made them build neighborhoods, towns, social organizations, and commonplaces of worship.
With the growth of the African-American community, the family and the community as a whole made it possible for the African-Americans to not only survive but have the ability for self-determination within the larger communities. Through self-determination, the African-Americans were thus able to create a distinctive American community as over time the blacks indicated the power of their commitment towards each other and their community. The structural-functionalist theory avers that the family is the backbone of a society and it is a very impaortant institution in the society (Leeder 50). Indeed, the family is responsible for raising the youths, forms a foundation of emotional, financial, spiritual, cultural, and educational support.
The Fruits of the Labor
The second exhibition comprises of a picture which shows how the African-American community contributed to the economic and the political aspects of America during the slavery period till date ("National Museum of African American History and Culture").
The majority of the African-Americans ranging in tens of thousands in numbers arrived in Maryland through violence and coercion. Indeed, the African-Americans played a pivotal role in influencing the economic and political aspects of Maryland because of their diverse culture and manpower in the industrial sector. Repatriated from their African homeland, many of the slaves were forced to enter America through slave trade with the slave owners taking advantage of the plight of the African man forcing them to work on their farms such as the tobacco plantations, ironworks, and shipyards in harsh working conditions, low wages, and through violence. The experience of the slave and free Africans changed dramatically after the emergence of plantation agriculture. Because of the market success of cash crops such as sugar, tobacco, rice, and cotton, this increased the labor demands, and only the African-American society could be the central labor source.
The Africans arrived in America with long traditions and many adaptable skills. Such skills made the African ready to work under any conditions they were set to work with their labor transforming the physical and cultural landscape of Maryland. Indeed, the African-Americans did the majority of the menial work and this in most cases required a lot of physical power. The blacks also experienced prejudice and were viewed as a minority while the slave owners benefited from the work performed by the African-Americans. With the capitalist nature of the American society, the slave owners benefited from this labor with the private owners of companies concerned about profits regardless of the working conditions of the employees. Indeed, the wealth that arose from slave labor financed the American Revolution and emboldened the Patriots.
Racial Discrimination
The third exhibition will be analyzing racial discrimination in America. The picture below is that of an African-American woman who had the opportunity of working outside their homes after the end of the American civil war ("National Museum of African American History and Culture"). However, despite the resilience exhibited by the Africans in the workplace, racism denied the majority of the African Americans opportunities to work. Nevertheless, in spite of their condition the Africans and their descendants proved resilient and resourceful. The black women were viewed as domestic and agricultural workers, and as a result, they were denied opportunities to showcase their talents and their different abilities.
While the 20th century saw a drastic change in the American workforce and black women succeeded in joining the march of Americans to the cities, and factory jobs, they faced the most significant discrepancies in their wages and racism for them to sustain industrial employment. When the black women got the opportunity of working in the industrial sector and cities, they gave their best, and this had a positive impact on society and their families as a whole. With time, the African-American lost the real value of the family as an institution. According to Armstrong, the social learning theory played a role in affecting the behaviors of the African-American society (1). The social learning theory supports the view that people learn behaviors of those people that surround the black community and this significantly eroded the black community perception of the role of family.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, it is evident that the African-Americans in Maryland have faced many challenges and this is despite having a positive impact on the economic and political aspect of the place. While slavery brought many African people into America, they faced many social vices such as slavery where the slave owners forced them to work under low wages and in severe conditions. However, in spite of the state the Africans and their descendants became subjected to, they were resilient and resourceful. Indeed, the fact that they had preserved their traditional skills and newly developed new ones for better opportunity made it easy for the African-Americans to set an example of excellence for the future generations in America.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Neshonia. "The Importance of Extended Families in the African American Community: A Qualitative Analysis Using Social Learning Theory." 2012 NCUR (2012).
Leeder, Elaine J. The Family in Global Perspective. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2004. Print.
Macionis, John J. Society: The Basics. 13th ed. London: Pearson Education, 2007. Print.
"National Museum of African American History and Culture." National Museum of African American History and Culture. N.p., 2018. Web. 18 Nov. 2018.
