Many African Americans were deprived of a strong sense of their "African" identity during the three centuries that separated them from their immigrant forebears. People were given names based on the region they originated from, with no consideration given to their ethnic background. Because they acknowledge that Africans and Africa are the source of their identity, African Americans are becoming acknowledged as a "New World" identity. After settling in America, African Americans "created themselves," and as a result, their history in terms of politics and the economy is identical to that of the New World countries that their forebears worked so hard to found. (Painter 5). African Americans formed their individual version of Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries a time when understanding of the past of Africans increased, and they were able to discuss what the history of Africa meant for them (Painter 6). The perception of African Americans concerning Africa has significantly changed through time. Some of the things that have contributed to the change of how they identify themselves include individual contact, the relationships in power with other nations globally, and access to knowledge.
The culture and religion of African American are inherently political. African American got into cultures with passionately unpredictable cultural demographics. Given that Africans lived in a Nation characterized by cultural slavery, they were from time to time subjected to racist morals. African culture and religion were not resistant to the tyranny of whiteness; whiteness negatively influenced the minds and bodies of Africans. When African Americans defy the pretense and greediness of the culture they adopted, they additionally identify the value judgment linked with various cultures. They, at last, appreciate that within the four centuries Africans lived in North America, the intellect, magnificence, advancement, and racialization of the whole political economy disadvantaged the Africans (Painter 63). Almost all Africans in North America were needy and imprisoned as a result of violence witnessed in forced slavery. While working in the colonies for the British in North America, Africans were victims of colonial politics.
Slavery in the United States was implemented differently. It is essential to understand and be able to explain the distinction. The slavery was different given that the individuals who got enslaved laid the foundation of the economy in America. Slaves established valuable strengths; they found different belief of the culture they were enslaved. The slaves disallowed usual resolutions concerning ethnic inferiority and superiority. They were able to think critically and see mistreatments behind freedom and democracy (Painter 102). The American economy depended greatly on slaves a reason why at some point they took part in an armed conflict to legally free them. The distinction helps us understand why the slaves established value systems at the time of their enslavement which criticized and opposed the American society as a whole.
The image of Africans is perceived differently within the mainstream American culture, some delusions have been propagated. Painter provides a history of the African Americans during the days of slavery to the modern day characterized by hip-hop culture. Millions of Africans were transported by force to a new world and exposed to brutal slavery. The Africans were perceived as inferiors and got subjected to threatening conditions. Civil war prevailed and slowly served to liberate the Africans from bondage. Later, the terrorism of white supremacists curtailed the efforts of the African American to reconstruct.
Work cited
Painter, Nell Irvin. Creating black Americans: African-American history and its meanings, 1619 to the present. Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.
