African-American culture

When blended together these have allowed African Americans to create successes and excel in the areas of literature, media, cinema, music, architecture, art, politics,[19] and business, as well as cuisine[20][21] marriage,[22] and family.

These systemic injustices have included, but are not limited to; enslavement, oppressive legislation like discriminatory Jim Crow laws, societal segregation, as well as overt denial of basic human Civil Rights.

The rich tapestry of African traditions provided a foundation for the spiritual practices of enslaved individuals, blending ancestral beliefs with Christianity to create vibrant forms of worship.

Economically, the enduring impacts of systemic inequality have led to both challenges and innovations within African-American communities, driving a commitment to empowerment and social change that echoes through generations.

In the United States, the legislation that banned enslaved people from getting a formal education likely contributed to their maintenance of a strong oral tradition, a common feature of indigenous or native African culture.

Specifically, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment (ratified in 1868) both helped lay the groundwork for broader educational opportunities by granting citizenship and equal protection under the law to African Americans, although they did not directly mandate school integration.

[55] Other aspects of African-American oral tradition include the dozens, signifying, trash talk, rhyming, semantic inversion and word play, many of which have found their way into mainstream American popular culture and become international phenomena.

Enslaved people developed signifying as a way to communicate subtly under the watchful eyes of slaveholders, often using coded language, humor, and indirection to express dissent, critique the powerful, or convey hidden meanings without being detected.

Authors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen and poets such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee Cullen wrote works describing the African-American experience.

The works of popular recording artists such as Nina Simone ("Young, Gifted and Black") and The Impressions ("Keep On Pushing"), as well as the poetry, fine arts, and literature of the time, shaped and reflected the growing racial and political consciousness.

[65] As far back as the 1700s, after drums were outlawed after the Stono Rebellion in South Carolina, African Americans created hamboning, patting their bodies in order to make their music.

This is evident from its dominant performance on the Billboard charts, where genres such as hip-hop and R&B, deeply rooted in African-American culture, have surpassed even pop in terms of streaming and sales (Nielsen, 2018).

The impact of African-American artists on contemporary music, fashion, and cultural trends is significant, with figures like Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake shaping the industry and reflecting its broad appeal across diverse audiences (Billboard, 2020).

In contrast, African-American artisans like the New England–based engraver Scipio Moorhead and the Baltimore portrait painter Joshua Johnson created art that was conceived in a thoroughly western European fashion.

Augusta Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and others exhibited in museums and juried art shows, and built reputations and followings for themselves.

Authors during the Civil Rights Movement, such as Richard Wright, James Baldwin, and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about issues of racial segregation, oppression, and other aspects of African-American life.

The history of the involuntary manner in which African Americans arrived in the United States, coupled with 100 years of forced segregation from the dominant culture allowed for a protracted period where language was being formed and shaped outside the traditional patterns.

[110] The native speakers of these and other languages were forced to quickly find a way to agree upon new words and phrases as a matter of survival, while also learning and integrating various dialects of American English which varied by region.

[121] Other manifestations of traditional African dress in common evidence in African-American culture are vibrant colors, mud cloth, trade beads and the use of Adinkra motifs in jewelry and in couture and decorator fabrics.

This includes efforts toward promoting models with clearly defined African features; the mainstreaming of natural hairstyles; and, in women, fuller, more voluptuous body types.

[150] Rabbi Capers Funnye, the first cousin of Michelle Obama, says in response to skepticism by some on people being African-American and Jewish at the same time, "I am a Jew, and that breaks through all color and ethnic barriers.

There is a small but growing number of African Americans who participate in Syncretic Religions, such as Voodoo, Santería, Hoodoo,[153] Ifá and diasporic traditions like the Rastafari movement.

[160][161] Although, this tradition largely fell out of favor in the African-American community after the end of slavery, it has experienced a slight resurgence in recent years as some couples seek to reaffirm their African heritage.

This is most notably demonstrated in the New Orleans jazz funeral tradition where upbeat music, dancing, and food encourage those gathered to be happy and celebrate the homegoing of a beloved friend.

[167] The cultivation and use of many agricultural products in the United States, such as yams, peanuts, rice, okra, sorghum, indigo dyes, and cotton, can be traced to African influences.

[168] During slavery, many African Americans would take these sorts of leftover ingredients from their white owners, often less desirable cuts of meats and vegetables, and prepare them into a dish that has consistency between stew and soup.

[174] Other soul foods African Americans cook are chicken and waffles and desserts like banana pudding, peach cobbler, red velvet cake and sweet potato pie.

It is observed during the month of February to coincide with the founding of the NAACP and the birthdays of Frederick Douglass, a prominent African-American abolitionist, and Abraham Lincoln, the United States president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

This included people like Alain Locke, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Wallace Thurman, Richard Bruce Nugent, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Moms Mabley, Mabel Hampton, Alberta Hunter, and Gladys Bentley.

[231] The popular communities in Black Culture and History our in Cities Like Atlanta Baltimore Birmingham Charleston Sc Charlotte Chicago Cleveland D.C Detroit Houston Jackson Miss Los Angeles Memphis Miami Gardens New Orleans New York Oakland Philadelphia Richmond Va and St Louis.