The Way We Were

2018 ◽  
pp. 66-105
Author(s):  
Patricia de Santana Pinho

This chapter examines the dominant African American roots tourist gaze on Brazil. Contrasting the discourse of the tourists, as expressed in ethnographic interviews, with the representations found in various textual and audiovisual sources, such as documentary films, books, newspaper articles, and tourism promotional materials, the chapter examines the three major intersecting tropes that inform and sustain this gaze: the trope of Bahia as a “closer Africa” and a place where African Americans can find their past; the trope of the “happy native,” or the perception that, because Afro-Brazilians supposedly inhabit the African American past, they are imagined to be essentially more culturally fulfilled than African Americans; and the trope of “black evolution,” which defines the “Africanness” of Afro-Brazilians as an earlier stage in the unidirectional path toward a modern form of blackness, one supposedly already reached by African Americans. In this view, Afro-Brazilians enjoy abundant African tradition, but have yet to achieve black modernity, and should therefore look up to African Americans for guidance.

2020 ◽  
pp. 128-144
Author(s):  
Paul J. Magnarella

In 1972 Pete and Charlotte O’Neal and their young son left Algeria for Tanzania where some African Americans from the mid-West had immigrated in response to the Tanzanian ambassador’s invitation to contribute to Tanzania’s building. On the way, Pete meets with Libya’s Muammar Khadafi, who gives him a ring and monetary aid. After a brief stay in Dar es Salaam, the O’Neals move to Ngaramtoni and become farmers. Charlotte explains why she wanted to leave Algeria in favor of Tanzania. In 1974 Tanzanian officials arrest many of the African American immigrants after discovering a small number of undeclared firearms in a shipment of household goods sent to them from the U.S. Police also arrest Pete O’Neal for possessing a walkie-talkie. The arrest and incarceration experience, known as the “Big Bust,” caused many of the Americans to leave Tanzania.


Author(s):  
Leah Wright Rigueur

This chapter studies how, as the 1970s progressed, black Republicans were able to claim clear victories in their march toward equality: the expansion of the National Black Republican Council (NBRC); the incorporation of African Americans into the Republican National Committee (RNC) hierarchy; scores of black Republicans integrating state and local party hierarchies; and individual examples of black Republican success. African American party leaders could even point to their ability to forge a consensus voice among the disparate political ideas of black Republicans. Despite their ideological differences, they collectively rejected white hierarchies of power, demanding change for blacks both within the Grand Old Party (GOP) and throughout the country. Nevertheless, black Republicans quickly realized that their strategy did not reform the party institution.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-84
Author(s):  
Betty Wilson ◽  
Terry A. Wolfer

In the last decade, there have been a shocking number of police killings of unarmed African Americans, and advancements in technology have made these incidents more visible to the general public. The increasing public awareness of police brutality in African American communities creates a critical and urgent need to understand and improve police-community relationships. Congregational social workers (and other social workers who are part of religious congregations) have a potentially significant role in addressing the problem of police brutality. This manuscript explores and describes possible contributions by social workers, with differential consideration for those in predominantly Black or White congregations.


Author(s):  
Richard Archer

Except in parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut, slavery was a peripheral institution, and throughout New England during and after the Revolution there was widespread support to emancipate slaves. Some of the states enacted emancipation laws that theoretically allowed slavery to continue almost indefinitely, and slavery remained on the books as late as 1857 in New Hampshire. Although the laws gradually abolished slavery and although the pace was painfully slow for those still enslaved, the predominant dynamic for New England society was the sudden emergence of a substantial, free African American population. What developed was an even more virulent racism and a Jim Crow environment. The last part of the chapter is an analysis of where African Americans lived as of 1830 and the connection between racism and concentrations of people of African descent.


Author(s):  
William L. Andrews

In this study of an entire generation of slave narrators, more than sixty mid-nineteenth-century narratives reveal how work, family, skills, and connections made for social and economic differences among the enslaved of the South. Slavery and Class in the American South explains why social and economic distinctions developed and how they functioned among the enslaved. Andrews also reveals how class awareness shaped the views and values of some of the most celebrated African Americans of the nineteenth century. Slave narrators discerned class-based reasons for violence between “impudent,” “gentleman,” and “lady” slaves and their resentful “mean masters.” Status and class played key roles in the lives and liberation of the most celebrated fugitives from US slavery, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, William Wells Brown, and William and Ellen Craft. By examining the lives of the most- and least-acclaimed heroes and heroines of the African American slave narrative, Andrews shows how the dividing edge of social class cut two ways, sometimes separating upper and lower strata of slaves to their enslavers’ advantage, but at other times fueling convictions among even the most privileged of the enslaved that they deserved nothing less than complete freedom.


Author(s):  
Nicholas Wolterstorff

The chapter begins by briefly taking note of various ways in which Christian liturgical enactments are related to the doing of justice. Attention then turns to the fact that at the heart of the biblical story is an appalling case of the perversion of justice. Christians worship one who was unjustly crucified. The chapter employs The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by the African-American theologian James Cone, to bring to light some of the implications of this fact. Cone notes that Christ’s crucifixion is central in African-American preaching and hymnody, and that the pain and injustice of the crucifixion are highlighted rather than concealed because African-Americans identify with Jesus in his pain and as a victim of injustice. After noting that the pain and injustice of Christ’s crucifixion are veiled in most liturgies, the chapter concludes by asking whether they should not instead be highlighted.


Author(s):  
Anthony B. Pinn

This chapter explores the history of humanism within African American communities. It positions humanist thinking and humanism-inspired activism as a significant way in which people of African descent in the United States have addressed issues of racial injustice. Beginning with critiques of theism found within the blues, moving through developments such as the literature produced by Richard Wright, Lorraine Hansberry, and others, to political activists such as W. E. B. DuBois and A. Philip Randolph, to organized humanism in the form of African American involvement in the Unitarian Universalist Association, African Americans for Humanism, and so on, this chapter presents the historical and institutional development of African American humanism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 506-506
Author(s):  
Rodlescia Sneed

Abstract African-Americans are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Longer prison stays and release programs for older prisoners may result in an increased number of community-dwelling older adults with a history of incarceration. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in research on health-related outcomes for currently incarcerated older adults; however, there has been little inquiry into outcomes for formerly incarcerated African-American older adults following community re-entry. In this study, we used secondary data from the Health and Retirement Study to describe employment, economic, and health-related outcomes in this population. Twelve percent of the 2238 African-Americans in our sample had been previously incarcerated. Those who had been previously incarcerated had higher rates of lung disease, arthritis, back problems, mobility problems, and mental health issues than their counterparts. They also had higher rates of hospitalization and lower use of dental health services. Further, while they did not experience lower employment rates than those with no criminal history, those who had been incarcerated had more physically demanding jobs and reported greater economic strain. Given the disproportionate incarceration rates among African-Americans, the aging of the prison population, and the increase in community re-entry for older prisoners, research that explores factors that impact the health and well-being of formerly incarcerated individuals has broad impact. Future work should focus on addressing the needs of this vulnerable population of African-American older adults.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002076402110127
Author(s):  
Sandra Yaklin ◽  
Miyong Kim ◽  
Jacklyn Hecht

Using a narrative approach, this study explored how African American men became mental health advocates. This ancillary study is part of a formative within an ongoing community based intervention program that was designed to promote mental health of African Americans (AMEN) project within an ongoing community based intervention program that was designed to promote mental health of African Americans (AMEN) project. Narrative research techniques were used to analyze and synthesize the data. Analysis generated one major theme (interdependence) with four supporting sub-themes (credibility, social depression, stigma, and calling). These findings and insights through this qualitative study guided the AMEN project team to formulate effective communication strategies in establishing working relationships with community partners and wider stakeholders as well as crafting culturally tailored messages for African American participants.


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