African American culture and history

Economic, Political, and Social History
African American culture arose out of the turmoil and despair of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. From West African port towns to plantations, African American culture is unique in that it was forged under the pressure of bondage. People with different cultures and languages formed new identities relative to their subordinate social, economic, and political status—their culture therefore being in part defined by the experience of oppression and the determination to overcome it. Bereft of social, political, or economic independence for centuries, African American culture nevertheless emerged as organically as any other, but flourished especially after emancipation.
Yet the economic history of African American culture cannot be divorced from the human capital model of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation laid the first foundation stones for African American economic, political, and social empowerment but Reconstruction failed to fulfill the objective of genuine liberation (DuBois, 1994). African Americans in free states had opportunities, albeit limited, to participate somewhat in mainstream economic, political, and social life in America (DuBois, 1994). Yet even after Reconstruction, African Americans struggled to participate in the American economy due to persistent and institutionalized racism that permeated political and social life (Tate, 1997). As a result, African American economic, political, and social history has largely been one of struggle—the attempt to achieve parity through democratic means such as social protest, legislative and legal challenges, and via the persistent attainment of upward mobility via various means including education and dominance in the creative arts.
Current social status of African American culture in general has fluctuated, with tremendous strides being made on all fronts: political, social, and economic (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1998). Income gaps have narrowed, as have educational and career attainment gaps (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1998). An African American president also enhanced the status of the culture as a whole, concurrent with an increase in high profile and high status African Americans in popular society in spite of persistent injustice and inequity.
Education Information
During slavery, the large majority of African Americans were unable to receive an education and many were unable to read or write. Since then, education has been the cornerstone of African American success and self-empowerment. The elimination of slavery in the nineteenth century did not, however, automatically integrate former slaves into white educational institutions. On the contrary, only a handful of African Americans entered established institutions of higher learning while others trod the new path towards a uniquely African American educational landscape with the development of the historically black colleges and universities (DuBois, 1994).
Education has played a major role in African American culture, in terms of collective identity construction, self-definition and empowerment, and also economic improvement (Allen, 1992). The emphasis on education as a means of collective and individual empowerment has also led to significant decreases in scholastic achievement gaps over the past several generations (Thernstrom & Thernstrom, 1998). Overall educational levels are comparatively high among African Americans who do pursue higher education, by some measures higher than their white counterparts (French, Homer, Popovici, et al., 2014).
Family and Religion
African American culture is diverse, with cleavages along geographic and socioeconomic class lines in terms of family structure, social norms, and religiosity. For much of African American history, single parent households have been more common than among whites, and yet African Americans have also had much higher numbers of multi-generational or extended households too (Ruggles, 1994). Slavery and its reverberations, including mass incarceration and the disproportionate numbers of African Americans behind bars, have all severed innumerable family ties. Religion has often been a mitigating factor in African American family life, serving as a buffer to strengthen individuals, families, and communities (Brody, Stoneman & Flor, 1996). Gender roles tend to be fairly segregated within the family unit, with females serving more often in caregiving roles than their male counterparts (Burton, 1996). African American women have been a bulwark in the family and in community life in general, contributing also to broader discourse on intersectionality in American social, political, and economic life (Higginbotham, 1992).
Popular Culture and Cuisine
African American popular culture, fashion, art, music, and cuisine vary considerably depending on temporal and geographic context, and yet common threads reveal cohesive expressions. The most unique and historically contiguous African American subculture in terms of language, music, and cuisine are the Gullah (Hendry, 2011). Likewise, the soul food that first started off as a distinctly southern African American cuisine has now come to represent African American cuisine as a whole.
African American popular culture in general has been subject to a number of changes due to historical events and phenomena like the great migration from the impoverished rural south to the urban centers of the north, and the flourishing of arts, literature, and music that characterized the Harlem Renaissance. Jazz, blues, rock and roll, funk, soul, and hip-hop all originated in African American communities and thereafter became part of the broader American vernacular. African American filmmakers, visual artists, and fashion designers have also communicated political awareness and cultural pride through their media.




References
Allen, W. (1992). The color of success. Harvard Educational Review 62(1): 26-45.
Brody, G.H., Zolinda, S. & Douglas, F. (1996). Parental religiosity, family processes, and youth competence in rural, two-parent African American families. Developmental Psychology, 32(4), 696-706.
Burton, L.M. (1996). Age norms, t he timing of family role transitions, and intergenerational caregiving among aging African American women. The Gerontologist 36(2): 199-208.
DuBois, W.E.B. (1994). Of the dawn of freedom. In The Souls of Black Folk. Mineola: Dover.
French, M.T., Homer, J.F., Popovici, I., et al. (2015). What you do in high school matters. Eastern Economic Journal 41(3): 370-386.
Hendry, E.R. (2011). Holding on to Gullah culture. Smithsonian. March 2011. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/holding-on-to-gullah-culture-185296/
Higginbotham, E.B. (1992). African American women’s history and the metalanguage of race. Journal of Women in Culture and Society 17(2): 251-274.
Jennings, M.E. & Lynn, M. (2005). The house that race built. Educational Foundations 19(3-4): 15-32.
Ruggles, S. (1994). The origins of African American family structure. American Sociological Review 59(1): 136-151.
Tate, W.F. (1997). Critical race theory and education. Review of Research in Education 22(1): 195-247.
Thernstrom, A. & Thernstrom, S. (1998). Black progress. Brookings Institute. Mar 1, 1998. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/black-progress-how-far-weve-come-and-how-far-we-have-to-go/