Being an African-American and just thinking about what Africa is to Americans, it is easy to think of Africa being a giant desert or jungle. ... To be an African does not mean to have black skin, to be African is to have roots in Africa. ... When girls see a famous music artist doing a new dance, they admire the attention that artist is getting and they copy it. ... I've never seen a girl from Africa twerking on a social networking site nor have I seen Africans fighting each other just because they disagree on something, but I see American girls dancing inappropriately and fighting all th...

• Word Count: 2957
• Approx Pages: 12

The Africans were captured in West Africa and forced to board ships, stripped naked with no belongings from their previous life. ... The most important areas of this cultural legacy are those of art, medicine, music/dance, religion, beliefs, folktales and language. ... European instruments were then integrated in the music and dance such as the violin and mandolin. ... This was the suppression of the African culture. However, the slaves continued singing and dancing, the Kumina dance in particular was popular and has been preserved. ...

• Word Count: 2280
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Would you agree that African culture survived more strongly in the Caribbean colonies than in North America? In 1562 John Hawkins, the first English slave-trader arrived in Africa with a fleet of three ships. Into these ships he put the three hundred black Africans he had abducted from Sierra Leone. ... African "promiscuity" was seen as proof that family life did not exist in Africa as Europeans knew it. ... LEISURE (MUSIC AND DANCE) "Slaves often sang when at work in the fields or factory, measuring out via songs the pattern of work, the rhythm of labour; a refrain and choral response w...

• Word Count: 2095
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The religions that developed in the Americas among the African people are called African Diasporic Religions. African Diasporic Religions are wide spread among Africans who preserved their customs and beliefs but adapted to new environments. ... They also perform ritual dances, which are often accompanied by a special music. ... The African collection in the Museum of Natural History shows the great variety of different African instruments that were used to play unique African sounds. ... During the years of African enslavement more then ten million of African people were sold into slavery...

• Word Count: 1350
• Approx Pages: 5

Carolina and the middle states enslaved Africans as well. ... There they were traded for Africans. ... The slaves mixed their African roots with Christianity. The African practice of the give-and- take between caller and dancers in the African ring-shout dance became apparent in the slaves "responsorial" style of preaching in which frequent assents and omens accentuated the minister's sermons. ... Music and dance were the slaves vehicle of self expression. ...

• Word Count: 1117
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Yet the British colonies were so apt to regard the African people as savage and barbaric that they looked upon them with a superior ignorant complex. ... They are dancing around their verandah dressed in an African ancestral masquerade called an egungun. This costume holds great importance to the African people and is regarded with respect. The fact that Jane and Simon are parading around their house dancing in this dress shows their lack of regard to the African beliefs; they find it amusing and fascinating. ... Amusa, a converted African who serves the British on the police force, has an int...

• Word Count: 915
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The African resistance in the United states was much different than that of African resistance in other parts of the world. ... Culturally they would continue to practice their native dances, read moral narratives, played music, kept their native language patterns alive, built and maintained families, practiced their own spiritual beliefs, and even did magic. "The slaves made European forms serve African functions." ... The free Africans also helped the cause. The free Africans were also being mistreated and abused. ...

• Word Count: 579
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Soaring 480 miles south of Florida, across the Caribbean Sea, to the Caribbean's third largest island, and landing on a landmass no larger than the state of Connecticut, most people expect to find themselves surrounded by no less than scenic beauty. But the words "scenic beauty- hardly describe Jama...

• Word Count: 673
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

At a very early point in the development of the colonies it was understood that the European settlers weren't willing to do the physical labor themselves; instead African slaves were brought to the New World in order to work on the plantations. When the situation arose that African slaves didn't adapt to the conditions properly, Native Indians were forced to labor. This subjugation of Africans and the indigenous populations has had dramatic effects on society. ... The most vivid example of this fusion can be seen in Brazil were dozens of religions have sprouted with African, indigeno...

• Word Count: 2984
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Spanish used the Indians, and also imported African slaves to help gain wealth by mining for gold and silver which at the time was plentiful. ... " Tensions between the Indians and the European settlers were reaching a breaking point when the Indians were forbidden from doing religious dances, and all forms of Indian religion was banned including prayer sticks, mask and any related items pertaining to their religion. ...

• Word Count: 1413
• Approx Pages: 6

The African Caribbean Institute and the Institute of Jamaica are leaders in historical and cultural research. ... The National Dance Theater attracts people in and to Kingston to watch its nightly summer shows. ...

• Word Count: 2259
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School