My last word:

What a journey it has been. This year has been a learning experience indeed. For some reason, this semester was a lot harder than last semester. AFAM although tedious, really made my semester. I did not have the opportunity to have any type of AFAM class at my high school- which I’m sure many people did not either. My school did not even recognize February as Black History Month. They were so caught up in selling candy that it seemed as if they tried to avoid the publicity of the month. It’s really upsetting and infuriating to me when I think about it- but hence this class was available to take to make up for it. I STILL TRULY BELIEVE THAT Black Studies is indeed relevant within today’s society and within the African American culture. I think that it should be more relevant actually. Schools should press Black Studies as a pre-requisite to graduate alongside with the European History that most are familiar with. See when you disregard something for so long you become ignorant and immune to it. You start to conform to society and neglect the other history- the relevant history that went on. AFAM was a good class because it smoothed away all of the rough edges and opened the minds and news of not only African Americans but other races as well. We got to experience the good the bad and the ugly associated with Black Studies and relive the defining moments in history that never get old. It’s very relevant, my fellow ancestors overcame a lot and endured too much for us not to discuss it and push it to the side- no they deserve recognition every day. As far as the group project goes- I enjoyed it. I usually work alone and avoid group projects but I really though the group projects taught us in a sense how to collaborate with other people who have different backgrounds, different views and different opinions to interact with one another and collaborate our ideas to come to a conclusion. Groups help you learn what your strengths are, your weaknesses are and they help your interpersonal skills, your ability to work cooperatively with a team, to network to present an argument effectively in front of your peers and to gain confidence in your abilities. One particular thing that I liked about Group projects was the vast differences and diversity within the groups. I really like my group- Individual Sense(Group 9) because everyone was strong in their own way and it helped prepare us for what prospective employers will be looking for- the ability to communicate effectively and the ability to work cooperatively in groups. I feel like I probably would have never gotten to know my peers personally on my own if I was not put in a group with them and they could probably agree with me simply because people tend to stick with their own group of people because of their comfort zone. But I really learned a lot working in groups especially within the last Group project with the yearbook- just listening to my group speak on topics while at meetings or discuss research they found or were laughing over with me just listening and observing I learned more than speaking. In all the groups were significant and effective. Lastly the blogs- ahhh yes the blogs. Honestly- I liked them. They were sometimes given at times that were insignificant for me but I liked them nevertheless. I liked the topics and I like conveying my thoughts on paper rather than verbally anyway. The blogs were significant because they influenced me to stay potent and attentive. It made me check my emails and follow my syllabus and just stay on track and with the blogs it was a fun way to do work instead of the usual bland routine. I like different abstract creative assignments that I can sink my teeth into. They grab my attention more. It gave me chances to put my creativity on the worldwide web and preview and comment on my classmate’s blogs because usually you won’t get a chance to see your peer’s say-so which is always fun. The blogs were a creative innovative strategy that I recommend keeping. All in all I liked AFAM and will definitely put more of an effort to research and tap into my past. Thank you Mrs. Wynn for the experience.

Exra Credit

I was glad to have had the opportunity to attend the presentation regarding Aids/HIV Awareness. The organization that was presenting was called Guiding Right. It is directly funded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This program offers many outreach services such as SISTA & Between Brothers, Disk Reduction Counseling, Street Outreach, W.I.C. Support Groups for HIV Victims & families & free confidential HIV Testing and Counseling. The purpose of Guiding Right’s presentation was to provide an overview of media representation of blacks & H.I.V Epidemic. There were some bewildering results and statistics. Statistics show that there are over 40 million persons with A.I.D.S. Pandemic worldwide –North America consists of 890,000. What’s even more frightening and disturbing is that A.I.D.S killed more than 25 million peoples since 1981. Did you know that of 2004, 4,883, young people received a diagnosis of H.I.V. infection. Around this time to lighten up the mood Nina Johnson the H.I.V. coordinator suggested to use condoms without oil. She gave a brief overview of the dos and don’ts of condoms which was quite interesting. Now back to the point. In the 1980’s before many of us were born –H.I.V. was known as “the gay white man’s disease”. Media showed victims of the emerging epidemic as white men who were deteriorating. So in response African Americans thought: Oh, I’m not white or gay so this has nothing to do with me and so they kept finding excuses but by that time it was too late and H.I.V. had taken a stronghold in the African American community but it was not reported in the media. What was interesting but not surprising was the fact that people kept their mouths shut because they didn’t want to get stigmatized people were not talking about it-especially if someone died from it. Quick fact: Robert Wagner –Poppa Brady of Brandy has A.I.D.S. There were movies that include A.I.D.S .In 1998 “An Early Frost” was the first televised movie about H.I.CV. But the sex was implied- there was not that much of the background info they had the opportunity to educate but denied it. Media needs to stop sugar coding this issue and address it wholeheartedly. Because people especially my people are dying from this disease. I was glad I attended the presentation it was indeed informative, and an eye opener, hopefully you learned something to.

March 24, 2009- Tuesday
7:30 p.m.
Channel 50 Roll Bounce
Film
African American Family- Father, oldest son, youngest daughter
Positive Image


March 25, 2009 -Wednesday
5:30 p.m.
Channel 36 My Wife and Kids
Television Comedy
African American Family -Mother, Father, son, youngest daughter, oldest daughter
Positive Image-Encouraging

March 25, 2009 -Wednesday
5:51 p.m.
Eyewitness News
ESPN-Documentary- Derek Smith (1961-1996) former NBA player passed died of heart attack.
Local Television News
African American Family – Mother (widow) son(teenage)
Positive

March 26, 2009-Thursday
The Oklahoma Daily (Wednesday, January 21, 2009)
2:00 p.m.
Periodical
African American Family – Obama and his Kenyan (hometown) family
Very Positive -Proud

March 26, 2009-Thursday
4:00 p.m.
Channel 50 Smart Guy
Television Comedy
African American Family- Father, youngest son, oldest son, oldest daughter
Positive Image

March 25, 2009- Thursday
5:25 p.m.
Ebony Magazine
Periodical- Michelle Obama
African American Family- (Obama’s) Mother, Father, youngest daughter, oldest daughter
Uplifting, Sincere Image

March 26, 2009- Thursday
10:37p.m.
The Wall Street Journal/Health
Publication
African American Family-Mother, two children
Negative- HIV/Tuberculosis patients




After vigorously looking through diff media to find perceptions regarding African American families I was satisfied with the images that I saw., There were mainly hardworking fathers who took the role of teaching the son mainly the ways of the world and the daughter how to be independent along with the strong mothers who taught both children to aspire after their dreams but together the mother and father were equally caring and taught to never give up. There was comedy of course within the TV shows, there had to be some “ghetto” humor added but I think that can be counted as part of character and livelihood it wasn’t TOO much which was surprising. There was also the image of the man being the prominent figure hardworking trying to maintain a “king” mentality and the mother if she was present depending on the show and the situation was the strong secondary figure the gentle caring one with the last word. It was either her way or no way. Both were portrayed as strong willed. But I noticed thankfully that there wasn’t the negative stereotype of a mother being alone because the father is in jail or the father being alone because of infidelity No either the parents were together and happy having an understanding and partnership a full blown relationship or they were not together because one passed away or remarried or what have you not the typical stereotype though. Media can indeed influence our perceptions regarding African American families or any families for that matter. Media makes sure to include some form of loud, sarcastic, rebel like semi-hostile figure at least one within the black family which is not always the case, stereotypes are not always the case. Media persuades the viewers to conclude that whatever they show must be true because the media knows everything right?... However I beg to differ. Although I am pleased that the images shown were positive, the media does not always perceive African Americans in a positive light and usually the negative is always easier to remember or what’s portrayed to the public eye. This is true indeed. Few persons knew about Obamas pastor until the “incident” what I like to call misunderstanding took place- now no matter the amount of positive things he has done in his past some people will always target him for that one particular incident. I don’t understand why we hold on to things and the negative ones at that. Moreover the images regarding the African American families were constructive- and speaking on behalf of my fellow brothers and sisters they were believable and fair representation on what a black family truly is. In the end- black families stick together and fight to progress through hard times misunderstandings or mayhem and to help that transition easier add a little humor for spice.

Harlem Renaissance


Based on our lectures in class prior to the one we had regarding the civil rights movement and so forth, this conversation regarding the Harlem Renaissance gave a new light on the African American people. A new positive light. It gave the actual history of the African American people. The Harlem Renaissance consisted of a lot of new beginnings and firsts. African American literature developed with authors such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neal Hurston jazz and blues helped express the lives and culture of the African American people through passionate musicians such as Duke Ellington and Bessie Smith. The discussion regarding the Harlem Renaissance gave my peers and I the fully enriched culture and foundation of my ancestors and of what my people admire respect and try to uphold today.
The Civil Rights Movement consisted of various reforms of the African American people to stand up and fight back for justice equality and freedom. Civil Rights Movement (1896–1954) Prominent figures of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Top left: W. E. B. Du Bois; top right: Malcolm X; bottom left: Martin Luther King, Jr.; bottom right: Parks. The American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring suffrage in Southern states. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1954 and 1968, particularly in the South. By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasted roughly from 1966 to 1975, enlarged the aims of the Civil Rights Movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from oppression by whites.(Wikepedia.com)
S.N.C.C. and the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, 1963-64: A Time of Change. In 1963 A Consortiums of Civil Rights organizations including S.N.C.C, C.O.R.E N.A.A.C.P. and the Urban Coalition began a drive to register black voters and form a political party that included Negroes in Mississippi. Of this consortium SNCC was most responsible for the significant political transformation that would take over the next year and a half. The story of the Civil Rights Movement during this period is really the story of SNCC; it organized the movement and through the Mississippi movement it came into its own as a political organization.( http://www.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2745(198311)17%3A1%3C95%3ASNCCAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-2)

S.N.C.C. On February 1, 1960, a group of black college students from North Carolina A&T University refused to leave a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina where they had been denied service. This sparked a wave of other sit-ins in college towns across the South. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC (pronounced "snick"), was created on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh two months later to coordinate these sit-ins, support their leaders, and publicize their activities. Over the next decade, civil rights activism moved beyond lunch counter sit-ins. In this violently changing political climate, SNCC struggled to define its purpose as it fought white oppression. Out of SNCC came some of today's black leaders, such as former Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry, Congressman John Lewis and NAACP chairman Julian Bond. Together with hundreds of other students, they left a lasting impact on American history. This site covers the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from its birth in 1960 to 1966, when John Lewis was replaced by Stokely Carmichael as chairman. This event marks a decided change in philosophy for SNCC, and one that warrants an equal amount of attention. However, we have focused on the first six years of the movement, in order to adequately explore such events as sit-ins, the Freedom Rides and Freedom Summer
Philosophy of S.N.C.C
SNCC's original statement of purpose established nonviolence as the driving philosophy behind the organization. However, things were never that simple. In the early days, during the period of the sit-in movement, nonviolent action was strictly enforced, particularly for public demonstrations, as it was key to the movement's success. The philosophy of nonviolence hit shakier ground when SNCC began its period of community organization in the South, having to face continual threats of perhaps deadly violence from whites. On many occasions SNCC offices were sprayed with bullets or torched by local white men. In 1963 Bob Moses and Jimmy Travis, SNCC workers trying to encourage black voters to register, were shot at while driving near Greenwood, Mississippi. Travis was hit and nearly died. Soon after, the Harlem Riots took place. It was the first urban race riot, and brought the topic of black-initiated violence into public debate. Such actions were no longer assumed to be counter productive. This event, and eventually the rise of black power, led to the fall of nonviolence in SNCC. Black Power was the guiding philosophy of SNCC in its later years. It began to develop and take hold sometime after 1964, and came to prominence in 1966 when Stokely Carmichael became head of the organization.
5. Malcom’s life experiences forced him to abide by strict rules but unlike Martin Luther King he believed white people to be the enemy and was believed to be “a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans.” His detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence.” “He has been described as one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.” Martin Luther King was pro nonviolence and saw it essential that blacks fought back intellectually and with perseverance and courage rather than weapons.
6. I think that the Civil Rights certainly accomplished its goals which were to gain equality, justice and economic standards. The Civil Rights Act also banned racial discrimination in employment, voter registration, and public accommodations.
7. I definitely agree with that theory. We all did not undergo similar life experiences so we all experienced different cultural conditioning and prejudices because that’s what we’ve been taught and what we’ve been around and all that we know- which at times is not always a good thing. When you hold on to that particular perspective you have to realize that there are always 2 sides of a coin- there is always different perspectives. You have to realize that you are omitting a different explanation and disregarding a different strategy and outlook.

What priviliges do I possess?

1. Iam privileged to what every girl yearns to have- the basic mannerisms of gentlemen. Being a woman really gives you an advantage we have the power to veto if we please I mean we women are like the backbone what would happen without us?
2. I am privileged to attend my professors office hours when help is needed. I am not afraid to ask for help as a matter of fact I think I ask for too much assistance-but I just like to make sure I get the job done right and I think office hours are such an advantage you can go if you don’t feel comfortable talking about your problems in class you can develop a better relationship with your professor your professor can see that your trying and your grade will soon reflect. A win win situation.
3. I am privileged to fulfill my mother’s dream by attending the University of Oklahoma. My mother wanted to attend this school when she was in college but she had to attend Langston University instead because that was the only collge accessible to blacks but since change has evolved over the years I am now granted the opportunity to attend the college of my dreams and the college of OUR dreams.
4. I am privileged to participate in different campus activities. There once was a time when blacks did not have the right to do such a thing to get together and work as a people.
5. I am privileged with the opportunity to have strong willed women in my life-my mother is my rock she is so strong willed and she overcame so many obstacles her life and she still has a smile on her face at the end of the day and I admire and love her so much for that for the simple fact the she can say all is well even when we all knew things were pretty cloudy she kept her faith and her preservation.
6. I am privileged to have helped Obama win presidency
7. I am privileged to live in walker rather other areas
8. I am privileged to be born without any birth defects being born a premature baby
9. I am privileged to be musically inclined
10. I am privileged to have metabolism and natural strength
11. I am privileged to have never worn glasses and or braces
12. I am privileged to be qualified and eligible for scholarship and financial aid
13. I am privileged to speak a different language
14. I am privileged to be an American
15. I am privileged to have all of my senses including my common sense
16. I am privileged to have a coo Resident Advisor
17. I am privileged to be a role model for my litter brother
18. I am privileged to be literate
19. I am privileged to study abroad
20. I am privileged to be the only Jamaine I know
21. I am privileged to be a twin
22. I am privileged to have OHLAP Scholarship
23. I am privileged to have a family
24. I am privileged to have friends
25. I am privileged to use technology

What are my intial thoughts regarding privilege?

My initial thoughts about privilege focus on the history of my ancestors and forefathers. To be privileged means to have the opportunity to be granted something that others don’t have to be in a way superior to those who are unfortunate and this is exactly what my ancestors had to subside. They weren’t granted the privilege to be free, to vote, to get an equal education, to have a voice or even be considered a complete person they were neglected of a lot of things a lot of rights that they did not receive. I think about also sadly the different privileges one is provided or granted due to race white males especially are granted so many more privileges than anyone else I think regarding economics career choices, colleges you name it because society wants to keep that status quo going. I think about my ancestors and how I was blessed with the privilege to not have to become a victim of slavery had the privilege to reap the outcome of the oppression and progression. I think about my mother and the fact that she did not have the privilege to attend this university simply because of her skin color she did not have the privilege to pursue her dream but she has the privilege to watch me pursue my dream while attending the school she was deprived of going to. I also think about historical facts such as women’s rights. There once was a time when we were not granted with the privilege as the males had to vote and now I think about the election and how I feel so honored to have had the privilege to make history I am a witness and I am so thankful for that. I think about how I’m privileged to have transportation in some countries they don’t have that privilege. I think about how I’m accessible to pure water because it is used in so many ways. I think about how I am privileged to of course take this course because in high school I did not have the opportunity to become more indulged in my culture my people my heritage. I think about how I am able to attend schools where I can not only take courses with different languages but I can interact with them I can study abroad if I wanted to. I think about how am privileged to marry who I want because in some cultures women do not have that privilege they have to have arranged marriages and have no say so in their lives they are expected to conform to their society I do not have to worry about such things. Although if you think about it males of course have more privileges than anyone else white males in particular but males have always been dominant within society which in my opinion is not fair they are not more qualified they are not more capable in any way. Again its black history month so I think about all of the activists and how they not only gave us life changing and deserving privileges but also how it would have been a privilege and an honor to work side by side with them during those harsh times. I think about how I have the privilege to be African American to be a descendent of so many courageous intelligent beautiful successors. Lastly I think about how I have the privilege to leave a legacy in this world I could be an activist I even could change the world because I have the privilege to do so!

NAACP Questions:

1. Founded February 12, 1909 (100th Anniversary) The NAACP has made many vital impacts to the lives of African Americans. The NAACP’s main objective was equal rights and equal opportunity, this courageous organization is the reason why our fellow people have our freedom and our constitutional rights today. This organization helped fight for our inclusion in the 13th 14th and 15th amendments. “..The NAACP's stated goal was to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery, the equal protection of the law, and universal adult male suffrage, respectively.” (naacp.org) The NAACP fought against all aspects discrimination within the social, political and educational areas of society. “The NAACP's principal objective is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of United States and eliminate race prejudice. The NAACP seeks to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic processes.”(naacp.org)

2. The Oklahoma NAACP which was organized nationally after the primary NAACP in 1913 has contributed to the history of African Americans initially because its leader Roscoe Dunjee, was “invaluable”. “He led the forces that organized the Oklahoma Conference of Branches, which became the first such state branch in the nation”.(google.comhttp://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/N/NA001.html)
Although he and his members suffered violence and threats they endured by accomplishing many legal victories the most important being the Sipel vs. Board of Education. It’s very significant because they helped her win the case so she could attend law school right here at the University of Oklahoma.” In McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents (1950) the NAACP argued that the University of Oklahoma violated the Fourteenth Amendment when it admitted George McLaurin to its graduate college but then tried to segregate him while he was on campus. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed, ordering the university to end its discrimination.”
(google.com http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/N/NA001.html).
Also this determined organization was involved in Clara Lupers case- the sit in was right here in Oklahoma. Her persona and determination for equality for black rights impacted states in Oklahoma such as Tulsa, Enid and Lawton. The NAACP here in Oklahoma still to this day strive for such equality and advocate for justice.

3. The legal movement helped the Civil Rights Movement focus on some important issues that revolved around more than equality but deference and worthiness. “By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasted roughly from 1966 to 1975, enlarged the aims of the Civil Rights Movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from oppression by whites” Many of those who were most active in the Civil Rights Movement, with organizations such as SNCC, CORE and SCLC, prefer the term "Southern Freedom Movement" because the struggle was about far more than just civil rights under law; it was also about fundamental issues of freedom, respect, dignity, and economic and social equality.” (wikepedia.com)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1955%E2%80%931968)]

4. Similarities between the NAACP’s importance with the African American experience with that of the legal movement were evident. The Legal movement was striving for equality, freedom and the end of discrimination as well as the Civil Rights movement. Both were movements striving towards change a change not only for them but for the views of whites. Both movements had to fight both had to experience violence but the movements were never violent they fought hate with love but they fought hard and strong willed.

5. Reconstruction was a period of ups and downs for African Americans. It was the period in which the African Americans restored the remains of the Civil War. “The period of U.S. history from 1865 through 1877, during which the states that had seceded during the Civil War were reorganized under federal control and later restored to the Union”. (Encarta Dictionary) The disadvantages of Reconstruction- bad economic conditions, no placements for jobs, discrimination and exploitation. The advantages included- political gains such as “instituted free public education, improved the tax system, and reorganized the judicial system and repealed imprisonment for debt laws as well as negative labor laws” (Karenga 164.)Although all of these changes occurred The Reconstruction was not successful- The government ceased to give land to and equipment to blacks, the rise of the white terrorist societies like the KKK in spite of the 1870 and 1871 laws against such societies” ( Karenga 165) and several other reasons.

6. Some current ways in which the NAACP has been active are as follows:
2000TV Diversity Agreements. Retirement of the Debt and first six years of a budget surplus. Largest Black Voter Turnout in 20 years
2000Great March. January 17, in Columbia, South Carolina attended by over 50,000 to protest the flying of the Confederate Battle Flag. This is the largest civil rights demonstration ever held in the South to date.
2001Cincinnati Riots. Development of 5 year Strategic Plan.Under the leadership of Chairman Bond and President Mfume, the NAACP continues to thrive, and with the help of everyone - regardless of race - will continue to do so into the next millennium...
(http://www.naacp.org/about/history/timeline/index.htm)

7. After listening to our guest speakers their perspective and information enlightened me and reassured my thoughts of the relevance of AFAM. It just really hit me that if it were not for them and other brave brothers and sisters I would not be at this University today. Their courage and faith is what had to get them through. It just makes me want to strive for excellence. It makes me want to advocate and campaign for rights today. We may not be where were but we still need room for improvement. I could be that voice along with my peers we can make a difference like our ancestors did. Anything is possible.

Free Blog- February 5, 2009


Today I decided to write about my second semester of college thus far. Phew! What a journey it has been. Dont misunderstand me I dont want you to get the impression that I am complaining about my circumstances because I know that I am blessed and highly favored, I am merely venting about my current semester and acknowleding what type of semester it has been. First of all financially it has been a struggle having a fixed income is hard but you make do with what you have, school work load is increasing especially readings which I have always been difficult for me not to necessarily read the information but REMEBER it and RETAIN it. Alot more group work is required- im used to working by myself but I am getting used to it. My schedule is kind of hectic but its manageable-I have five classes on MWF my days begin at 8 and end around 5. Not including my extracirricular activies and by the end of the day I am unqestionably tired but I make myself stay up and do my work. Whats different about this semester than last semester is that last semester for me was pretty easy in a sense my classes were not as hard and I had classes spread out periodiclally throughout the week instead of all at one time. One would think that a students first semester of college would be more difficult Although I have no classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays time seems to slip out of my hands as my mother says "time waits for no one". She's right. The hardest thing about this semester is studying and keeping up with my readings. I have no problem studying I am very studious as a matter of fact BUT my professors this semster seem to keep to themselves when informing the students on what to study or atleast an idea of what to study. I am battling with studying for Philosophy and History which are my are my challengeing courses. Those professors dont know my name or even my struggle and I dont like that I dont like courses like that-everything is fast pase and confusing. Irresponsiblitly is not an option this semester ORGANIZATION AND TIME MANAGEMENT ARE VITAL . If I havent learned anything else those aforementioned characterisitcs that I have aquired. I am aware that my main priority at this point and time in my life is school but Ive also recognized that I spend so much time on school that my relationship with my father- my heavenly father has been deteriorating slowly but surely and I cant continue to allow that to happen for he is the reason I am here today. I cant keep putting him off ,I wont keep doing it. For some reason everything that I suppose didnot acknowledge first semester is evident this semster. Finaces, relationships, school work, and everything in between but I am here to tell you that I am not discouraged I will continue to strive for excellence I will not let anything conquer me or get in my way I have worked to hard to get here the journey will continue on I am a fighter I fought for my life when I was a premature baby and I WILL fight for my grades and academic excellence now Ive made it thus far Ive got friends, family and loved ones to support me what else do I need? http://http://www.826valencia.org/writing/college/006109

Homework- Free Blog Assignment- (FBA)

I decided to write about Black History Month not only because February is just around the corner but because when brought up to day in class "what people do we know besides the courageous activists that everyone is so familiar with and we all know who those important people are but when that question was asked sadly I couldnt respond any other answers besides the typical. The fact that that happened bothered me all day, it was just like an annoying itch that I couldnt scratch. I began to think on WHY I didnt know the answer and the answer took me all the way back to post secondary education I knew more about Black History in my early childhood days in elementary school when I had the opportunity to actually dress up as a person that we found interesting- not that necessarily played a major role but who we found interest in and I chose the author-Phyllis Wheatley(I enjoyed reading and writing in those days) we had the opportunity to display our info that we learned in a "wax museum" where we dressed up and described a brief biography about that person. What ever happened to those days? In middle school I cant remember a single announcement regarding black history of course it wasnt an option as a class either. High school was even worse- I went to a predominately white school in an affluent neighborhood where the last thing that was on the schools agenda was the recognition of Black History or black accomplishments in that matter. How many years is that now? 5th grade to 12th grade ? 7 years of ignorance. I didnt even take the initiative to find the information out on my own which is even worse. I just feel like Im letting my fellow people down- all that they fought for and I finally have the opportunity and the right to study MY people and their history and I wasted 7 years of not doing so. This stops now. I cant let this continue- I am thrilled to be apart of my culture and I need to show it by being active and taking initiative about learning about the truth the real history the foundation of who I am today. I need to speak with my grandmother and aunt and mother who lived during those long hard times when their voices got taken away from them- I have a voice and I will try my best to utilize it to the best of my abilities within this course- Im not a very talkative person in class but theres always room for improvement. I wish i would have learned more I wish my schools were more eager to teach us about Black History its really sad how the system is there truly is a hidden curriculum Black history is history.My point is that change needs to be made and with our nation having its FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT we are almost there. Todays question was definetely an eye opener for me. Oh p.s. I just thought of something- Why is it that we celebrate U.S. or European History every day almost in highschool ofcourse and sometimes in college but after everything my people have been through we get 28 days not even a full month of "celebration"? Really? Just as U.S. History was embedded in our brains within and throughout school so should Black History.http://http://712educators.about.com/cs/historyafricanam/a/blackhistory.htm

Blog Writing Assingment # 1

African & American Studies is sadly a course that usually gets disregarded and ovrlooked within the curriculum for school. We are ofcourse informed of the courageous acitivists Martin Luther King jr, Rosa Parks, and Malcom X but we leave it there, the history ends there in the classrooms after black history month. " You have to be careful. very careful introducing the truth to the Black man who has never previously heard the truth about himself, his own kind and the white man... ". We definetly need to be careful but also assertive. African & American studies needs to be required as an everyday course. Why not? We as students are required and expected to know and understand the history of the Europeans (U.S History) and Native Americans(Oklahoma History) in highschool however the system neglects one of the three most important groups that interacted heavily with each other to help make history of the United States- African Americans. Africans, Native Americans and Europeans generated history. We -not only as students, but as people and more specifically as a generation of our forefathers and ancestors are being deprived of the right to gain knowledge of our foundation-our backbone. We have become ignorant of our culture. EXPLAIN this concept to me: Students are required to takes courses that are prerequisites in highschool and college (usually math courses such as Calculus or Algebra II) we are even required in highschool to take mandatory Advanced Placement tests over these subjects to get college credit for it- (courses that more than likely we will never utilize or apply in our daily lives) BUT we dont get the opportunity to take an African & American studies course- a course that could leave us with wisdom and courage and inspiration. African & American studies is indeed relevant. Although it is history some of the same tactics they experienced -such as being the minority and overcoming struggle is still occuring in 2009. African American studies is already embedded within other curriculum-think about it. Art-There is African Art- pottery quilts, paintings, Music- African drums and spirituals, rituals. Dance- African dance. The hisory is embedded within all of these subjects however we wont provide the actual course in the curriculum as mandatory? I beg to differ.
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also Black Studiespl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
An academic curriculum focusing on the history and culture of Black people.


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US History Encyclopedia: African American Studies
Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > US History Encyclopedia
African American Studies, a field of academic and intellectual endeavors—variously labeled Africana Studies, Afro-American Studies, Black Studies, Pan-African Studies—that was a direct product of the social movements of the 1950s and 1960s. The quests for African liberation, the civil rights movements, and the black power and black arts movements had created an ambience in which activist members of the faculties at colleges and universities and black students who had come of age during the late 1960s sought to foster revolutionary changes in the traditional curricula. In search of relevance—to use a word that became a cliché during that period—the students wanted a curriculum that forth-rightly addressed their particular history and the social problems that adversely affected the lives of the vast majority of African Americans, not only at predominantly white colleges and universities but also the masses in African American communities as well. Consequently, all-black organizations sprang up on most major campuses around the nation and demanded courses in black history and culture. In so doing, black students shunned traditional European and European American courses in hopes of not only establishing blacks' contributions to history and society but also of engendering robustly ecumenical perspectives in the curricula.
The first African American Studies units were founded as a response to student protests at San Francisco State College (now University), Merritt College in Oakland, California, and Cornell University. With the support of the Black Student Union, and many students from other racial groups, Nathan Hare, a sociologist who had written an exposé of the black middle class while teaching at predominantly black Howard University, compelled San Francisco State's administration in 1968 to create the first African American Studies department in the United States. One year later, James E. Turner, a doctoral student, was appointed the head of the African Studies and Research Center unit at Cornell University, after widely publicized pictures of gun-toting black students were circulated by the mass media. Although there were no strictly operational definitions of what constituted the field of African American Studies in the early years, most of its practitioners concurred in the opinion that it was the study of African peoples and their brethren the world over—with emphases on history, cultures, and social problems. The purpose of the field was not only to ameliorate the conditions under which black people lived but also to enhance their self-image and self-esteem, and build their character.
Despite the idealistic goals of the founders, the economic crisis that lasted from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s wreaked havoc with the budgets of most institutions of higher learning. As a result, African American Studies came under the scrutiny and criticism of both the administrations at those institutions attempting to trim their budgets and the prominent black academics who were critical of what they perceived as the units' lax academic standards, unqualified faculties, and poor leader-ship. Although administrators slashed the budgets of many fields in the humanities, African American Studies units were especially vulnerable—primarily because they were still in a fledgling stage.
Martin Kilson, a distinguished political scientist at Harvard University who refused to join his institution's unit, and the Duke University scholar of English, Kenny Williams, raised serious questions about the intellectual integrity and validity of African American Studies. Critical of the instability and the hyper-politicization of African American Studies in the 1970s, the aforementioned scholars compelled a reassessment and fostered a reconceptualization of its curriculum and position in the academy. As a result, in the 1980s, such leading black academics as Ron Karenga, the author of a popular textbook entitled Introduction to Black Studies (1982), sought to provide a theoretical base for African American Studies with his concept of Kawaida, which provided an holistic cultural nationalist approach to black history, religion, social organization, politics, economics, psychology, and the creative arts. During this same period, Molefi Kete Asante was appointed the head of African American Studies at Temple University. That institution nurtured the department, and in 1988, it became the first institution in the country to award the doctorate in the comparatively new field.
Asante's theoretical conceptualizations were significant, for he attempted to center his work and that of his students and colleagues on the examination of African and African American culture, which he labeled "Afrocentrism." This brand of cultural nationalism deconstructs "Eurocentrism" and seeks to reclaim his peoples' "pre-American heritage."
In recent years, Asante and other Afrocentrists have been criticized for presenting a static view of history and culture, and thereby ignoring the dynamic interaction between blacks and European and European American cultural, economic, and political structures. Despite the futility of his attempt to conceptualize the field, Asante, like Karenga, made a heroic effort to set up some parameters for the focus of African American Studies.
The goal of standardization and definition of African American Studies has become increasingly difficult—especially with the emergence of other notable scholars in the field who have an ideological orientation that differs from those of the founders. Manning Marable, the political scientist, historian, journalist, and director of the Institute for African American Studies at Columbia University, for example, purveys the social democratic ideology; the sociologist Abdul Alkalimat and his heroes—Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, W. E. B. Du Bois—were socialists. In short, as the 1980s came to a close there was no single theoretical orientation in the curriculum of African American Studies that most scholars concurred in.
As the twentieth century came to a close, the most vocal and visible African American Studies unit emerged at Harvard University, under the direction of literary critic and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. The program, which at one time included the noted philosopher, orator, and theologian, Cornell West; the philosopher, Anthony Appiah; and the distinguished sociologist, William Julius Wilson, was what Arthur Lewin, an associate professor of Black and Hispanic Studies at Baruch College, call "inclusionist." In other words, Gates and his colleagues sought to foster a great appreciation and tolerance of African Americans by the American public by dispassionately informing them of black peoples' history and culture. Africana: The Encyclopedia African and African American Studies (1999) is just one example of their endeavors.
African American Studies units have been in existence for over thirty years. Nonetheless, they continue to maintain varying identities, which militates against the development of the status of the discipline. The field has made persons aware of the contradictions and paradoxes that mire both European American and African American thought on race.
Bibliography
Aldridge, Delores P. "Status of Africana/Black Studies in Higher Education in the U.S." In Out of the Revolution: The Development of Africana Studies, edited by Delores P. Aldridge and Carlene Young. Landham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2000.
Exum, William H. Paradoxes of Protest: Black Student Activism in a White University. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1985.
Harris, Robert, Jr. "The Intellectual and Institutional Development of African Studies." In Three Essays: Black Studies in the United State, edited by Robert L. Harris Jr., Darlene Clark Hine, and Nellie McKay. New York: The Ford Foundation, 1990.
Hayes, Floyd W., III. "Preface To the Instructor." In A Turbulent Voyage: Readings in African American Studies, edited by Floyd W. Hayes III. San Diego: Collegiate Press, 2000.
—Vernon J. Williams Jr.
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Education Encyclopedia: African-American Studies
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African-American studies (also known as black studies) is an inter/multidisciplinary field that analyzes and treats the past and present culture, achievements, characteristics, and issues of people of African descent in North America, the diaspora, and Africa. The field challenges the sociohistorical and cultural content and definition of western ideology. African-American studies argues for a multicultural interpretation of the Western Hemisphere rather than a Eurocentric one. It has its earliest roots in history, sociology, literature, and the arts. The field's most important concepts, methods, and findings to date are situated within these disciplines.
More than one hundred and fifty years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans still struggle for a space in academia for a legitimate voice to express their interpretations and perspectives of their historical and contemporary experiences in Africa, the diaspora, and North America. Those in African-American studies argue not only that their voices have been marginalized, but that the history of African Americans' experiences and contributions to the United States has historically and systematically been missing from the texts and the curricula. Thus, African-American studies functions as a supplementary academic component for the sole purpose of adding the African experience to traditional disciplines.
Implicit to African-American studies is the notion that the black diasporic experience has been ignored or has not been accurately portrayed in academia or popular culture. From the earliest period of the field to the present, this movement has had two main objective: first, to counteract the effects of white racism in the area of group elevation; and second, to generate a stronger sense of black identity and community as a way of multiplying the group's leverage in the liberation struggle.
The Foundations of African-American Studies
The Atlanta University Conferences held from 1898 to 1914, under the auspices of W. E. B. DuBois, marked the inauguration of the first scientific study of the conditions of black people that covered important aspects of life (e.g., health, homes, the question of organization, economic development, higher education, common schools, artisans, the church, crime, and suffrage). It was during this period that African-American studies was formally introduced to the university and black academics initiated re-search studies.
One of the important goals of the scholars of this period was to counteract the negative images and representations of blacks that were institutionalized within academia and society. This was in response to the major tenet of social science research at this time that argued blacks were genetically inferior to whites and that Africa was a "dark continent" that lacked civilization. The American Negro Academy, founded in 1896, set as one of its major goals to assist, by publications, the vindication of the race from vicious assaults in all areas of learning and truth. In 1899 DuBois published a sociological study, The Philadelphia Negro. This landmark study highlighted the conditions of blacks in Philadelphia in the Seventh Ward. The study investigated the black experience as reflected in business, public education, religion, voluntary associations, and public health.
In 1915 the founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) by Carter G. Woodson marked the beginning of a new era in African-American studies. The ASNLH was founded to promote historical research; publish books on black life and history; promote the study of blacks through clubs and schools; and bring harmony between the races by interpreting the one to the other. In 1916, Woodson founded the Journal of Negro History and served as its editor until his death. This was perhaps one of Woodson's greatest contributions to the area of African-American studies.
In 1926 Woodson and his colleagues launched Negro History Week. This event, which later evolved into a whole month, was not intended to be the only time of the year in which Negro history was to be celebrated and taught. Woodson and his colleagues viewed this as a time to highlight the ongoing study of black history that was to take place throughout the year.
It was during this time that historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) began to respond to the scholarly activities in history and social science. It was becoming clear that black education should conform to the social conditions of black people. Black colleges began to add courses in black history to their curricula; this corresponded with the call by black college students for a culturally relevant curriculum, a theme that reoccurred later with greater political influence.
In 1919, prior to the influx of HBCUs offering black history courses as a part of their curriculum, Woodson issued the first report on African-American studies courses offered in Northern colleges. He reported the following courses:
Ohio State University, Slavery Struggles in the United States
Nebraska University, The Negro Problem Under Slavery and Freedom
Stanford University, Immigration and the Race Problem
University of Oklahoma, Modern Race Problems
University of Missouri, The Negro in America
University of Chicago, The Negro in America
University of Minnesota, The American Negro
Harvard University, American Population Problems: Immigration and the Negro
Furthermore, Woodson reported that a small number of HBCUs were offering courses in sociology and history pertaining to the Negro experience. Wood-son stated that in spite of the lack of trained teachers, Tuskeegee, Atlanta University, Fisk, Wilberforce, and Howard offered such courses, even at the risk of their becoming expressions of opinions without the necessary data to support them.
The period from approximately 1940 to the mid to late 1960s marked yet another era of African-American studies in history and the social sciences, characterized by an growing legitimacy and an increasing number of white scholars entering the field. Prior to this time, black scholars did the majority of the research conducted on African-American studies.
The Emergence of African-American Studies Departments
The student strike of 1968 - 1969, held at San Francisco State University (SFSU), forced the establishment of the Division of Ethnic Studies and departments of Black, Asian, Chicano, and Native Studies. The Black Student Union at SFSU drafted a political statement, "The Justification for African-American Studies," that would become the main document for developing African-American studies departments at more than sixty universities. The demands/objectives within this document included the opposition of the "liberal-fascist" ideology that was rampant on campus (as shown by college administrations who had attempted to pacify Black Student Union demands for systemic curriculum by offering one or two courses in black history and literature); the preparation of black students for direct participation in the struggles of the black community and to define themselves as responsible to and for the future successes of that community; the reinforcement of the position that black people in Africa and the diaspora have the right to democratic rights, self-determination, and liberation; and opposition to the dominant ideology of capitalism, world imperialism and white supremacy. During this period, Nathan Hare and Jimmy Garrett collaborated to put together the first African-American studies program in the country.
African-American studies departments were created in a confrontational environment on American universities with the rejection of traditional curricula content. The curriculum preferred by these departments was to be an ordered arrangement of courses that progressed from introductory to advanced levels. Darlene Clark Hine (1990) contends that a sound African-American studies curriculum must include courses in African-American history, literature, and literary criticism. These courses would be complemented by other courses that spoke to the black experience in sociology, political science, psychology, and economics. Furthermore, if resources would permit, courses in art, music, language, and on other geographical areas of the African diaspora should be available.
Mainstream university support for African-American studies emerged in the late 1960s. This was done in conjunction with the protests of the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, and the admission of a massive influx of black students into predominantly white institutions. The preconditions for the growth of African-American studies were demographic, social, and political. Between 1945 and 1965, more than three million blacks left the South and migrated to northeast, north central and western states. The black freedom movement, in both the civil rights phase (1955 - 1965) and Black Power component (1966 - 1975), fostered the racial desegregation and the empowerment of black people within previously all-white institutions. The racial composition of U.S. colleges changed dramatically. In 1950 approximately 75,000 blacks were enrolled in colleges and universities. In the 1960s three quarters of all black students attended HBCUs. By 1970, approximately 700,000 blacks were enrolled in college, three quarters of whom were in predominantly white institutions.
Organization and Objectives
One must be careful not to use African-American studies programs, departments, and centers inter-changeably; they are not synonymous. According to Hine, African-American studies departments are best described as a separate, autonomous unit possessing exclusive rights and privileges to hire and terminate, grant tenure to their faculty, certify students, confer degrees, and administer a budget. Programs may offer majors and minors, but rarely do they confer degrees. Furthermore, faculty appointments in programs are usually joint, adjunct, or associate positions. Centers, on the other hand, focus more on the production and dissemination of scholarship and the professional development of teachers and scholars in the field than on undergraduate teaching. The difference in the structure and mission between centers, departments, and programs tend to complicate the attempt to assess and identify African-American studies accurately.
However, Maulana Karenga outlines several objectives that African-American studies seeks to achieve. These basic goals are listed in Table 1.
These objectives have served as the backdrop for the discipline since its evolvement in the 1970s. However, the discipline has been under great scrutiny and has been challenged by many academics about its objectives and its relevance. Karenga argues that there are fundamental and undeniable grounds of relevance of African-American studies that clearly define the field's academic and social contributions and purpose. These are outlined in Table 2.
From 1968 to 1971, hundreds of African-American studies departments and programs were developed. Approximately 500 colleges and universities provided full scale African-American studies programs by 1971. Up to 1,300 institutions offered at least one course in African-American studies as of 1974. Some estimates place the number of African-American studies programs reaching its peak at 800 in the early 1970s and declining to about 375, due to the lack of resources and support, by the mid-1990s.
African-American studies has been evolving as a result of a radical social movement opposed to institutional racism in U.S. higher education. Considering the conventional roles of American education and its institutionalized racism, African Americans in many sectors view education as oppressive and/or liberating. In result, many African Americans began to consider African-American studies and black education as having a special assignment to challenge white mainstream knowledge for its deficiencies and corruption.
The development of African-American studies from the very outset was marked by blacks being compelled to evaluate the largely racist nature of established education in America. Due to European cultural hegemony, blacks and Africans in the diaspora have found the issue of perspective to be perennially problematic. The disastrous experience of chattel slavery, the basis for cultural hegemony, produced historical discontinuity and preempted normative culture building through a decentering process. Although the experience of oppression and exploitation required movement away from an African center, it was this experience that produced the conditions for the emergence of an African-centered consciousness. Thus, the problem of perspective emerged as the black intellectual tradition.
Bibliography
Adams, Russell L. 1977. "African-American Studies Perspectives." Journal of Negro Education 46 (2):99 - 117.
Alkalimat, Abdul. 1990. Paradigms in Black Studies. Chicago: Twenty-first Century Books and Publications.
Allen, Richard L. 1974. "Politics of the Attack on African-American Studies." Black Scholar 6.
Banks, James A. 1993. "The Canon Debate, Knowledge Construction, and Multicultural Education." Educational Researcher (June - July).
Crouchett, L. 1971. "Early Black Studies Movements." Journal of Black Studies 2 (2):189 - 200.
Franklin, John Hope. 1986. "On the Evolution of Scholarship in Afro-American History." In The State of Afro-American History: Past, Present, and Future, ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Garrett, James P. 1998. "Black/Africana/Pan-African Studies: From Radical to Reaction to Reform? - Its Role and Relevance in the Era of Global Capitalism in the New Millennium." Journal of Pan-African Studies 1 (1).
Hine, Darlene Clark. 1990. "Black Studies: An Overview." In Black Studies in the United States:Three Essays, ed. Darlene Clark Hine, Robert L. Harris, and Nellie McKay. New York: The Ford Foundation.
Karenga, Maulana. 1993. Introduction to Black Studies, 2nd edition. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press.
Kershaw, Terry. 1989. "The Emerging Paradigm in African-American Studies." Western Journal of African-American Studies 13 (1):45 - 51.
Marable, Manning. 2000. Dispatches from the Ebony Tower. New York: Columbia University Press.
McClendon, William H. 1974. "African-American Studies: Education for Liberation." The Black Scholar 6:15 - 25.
Moss, Alfred A. 1981. The American Negro Academy: Voice of the Talented Tenth. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Semmes, Clovis E. 1981. "Foundations of an Afro-centric Social Science: Implications for Curriculum Building, Theory, and Research in African-American Studies." Journal of African-American Studies 12:3 - 17.
Semmes, Clovis E. 1992. Cultural Hegemony and African American Development. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Turner, James, and McGann, C. Steven. 1980. "African-American Studies as an Integral Tradition in African American Intellectual History." Journal of Negro Education 49:52 - 59.
Woodson, Carter G. 1919. "Negro Life and History in Our Schools." Journal of Negro History 4.
Woodyard, Jeffrey L. 1991. "Evolution of a Discipline: Intellectual Antecedents of African American Studies." Journal of African-American Studies 22 (2): 239 - 251.
— RODERIC R. LAND, M. CHRISTOPHER Brown II
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Wikipedia: African American studies
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African American studies is a subset of Black studies or Africana studies. It is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of the history, culture, and politics of African Americans. Taken broadly, the field studies not only the cultures of people of African descent in the United States, but the cultures of the entire African diaspora, from the British Isles to the Caribbean. The field includes scholars of African American literature, history, politics, religion and religious studies, sociology, and many other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences.
Programs and departments of African American studies were first created in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of inter-ethnic student and faculty activism at many universities, sparked by a five month strike for black studies at San Francisco State. In February 1968, San Francisco State hired sociologist Nathan Hare to coordinate the first black studies program and write a proposal for the first Department of Black Studies; the department was created in September 1968 and gained official status at the end of the five-months strike in the spring of 1969. The creation of programs and departments in Black studies was a common demand of protests and sit-ins by minority students and their allies, who felt that their cultures and interests were underserved by the traditional academic structures.
Black studies is a systematic way of studying black people in the world - such as their history, culture, sociology, and religion. It is a study of the black experience and the effect of society on them and their affect within society. This study can serve to eradicate many racial stereotypes. Black Studies implements: history, family structure, social and economic pressures, stereotypes, and gender relationships. According to Victor Oguejiofor Okafor, concepts of Afrocentricity lie at the core of the disciplines such as African American studies.[1]
Contents[hide]
1 Scholars in African American studies
2 Scholarly and Academic Journals
3 References
4 External links
5 See also
//

Scholars in African American studies
Well-known authors in the field include:
Makungu Akinyela
Abdul Alkalimat
Kwame Anthony Appiah
Molefi Kete Asante
Houston A. Baker Jr.
Hazel Carby
Patricia Hill Collins
Allison Davis
Angela Y. Davis
Patricia Dixon
W.E.B. DuBois
Michael Eric Dyson
Gerald Early
Reynolds Farley
John Hope Franklin
E.Franklin Frazier
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Nathan Hare
Melville Herskovits
Bell Hooks
Akil Houston
Charles E. Jones
Jawanza Kunjufu
Manning Marable
Dwight A. McBride
Cora Presley
Robert B. Stepto
Akinyele Umoja
Cornel West
Carter G. Woodson

Scholarly and Academic Journals
Negro History Bulletin
Journal of Black Studies
African American Review
Negro Digest
Phylon
Journal of Negro History
The Callaloo Journal
Journal of African American History
Journal of Negro Education
Journal of Pan African Studies
Transition
Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society

References
^ The Place of Africalogy in the University Curriculum. Victor Oguejiofor Okafor Journal of Black Studies, v26 n6 p688-712 Jul 199

External links
Afro-American Studies Newsletter/The Vision (MUM00511) at the University of Mississippi, Archives and Special Collections.

See also

African American portal
Pan-African Studies
African studies
Ethnic Studies
Asian American Studies
Chicano Studies
Native American Studies