What is Black American Culture? (inspired by The Salon)
- Thread starter OfTheCross
- Start date
d'jarbargel
Rookie
don't get me wrong, black music is fukking outstanding.. but it wasn't formed in a vacuum. there has been cross-pollination between white and black music for an extremely long time, before the americas were even settled.
that poster is setting an unrealistic bar. trade between europe, asia, and africa since antiquity makes it impossible to fully "racialize" any aspect of culture
the real issue is this --- you have MODERN GLOBAL culture where everybody borrows from everybody. shyt that Koreans and South Africans and Brazilians and Austrians like, almost in equal levels. Blacks , especially black americans, punch far above their weight in terms of creating music that people around the world like.
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K.O.N.Y
Superstar
Every single aspect that makes culture....culture is present in AA peolple. Everything that applies to culture to every other ethnicity is mostly found amongst aa people.
What more do you want
Yes I am.
And music is not a good example. Maybe if we listened to some traditional African hymns or something, but the music we listen to was created in America and influenced by American history. Its American music.
K.O.N.Y
Superstar
At some point the African transitioned into the afram and theres a specific afram culture that reflects that. Its black music that was made in America theres a difference. The history of our music is well documented on this forum
Would you call basketball "white culture"?
Now that I think about it, Afo-Brazilian culture definitely seems more African than Haitian culture. Like you and @Supper said Haitian culture actually has more in common with creole culture especially from the gulf states of American. Me being part Haitian can verify this.
Black Americans do Louisianna Voodoo and Southern Hoodoo but many people don't know about that
Mojo Workin': The Old African American Hoodoo System
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13697064-mojo-workin
If you listen to older Blues, they make many references to Hoodoo
John the Conqueror
John the Conqueror, also known as High John the Conqueror, John de Conquer, and many other folk variants, is a folk hero from African-American folklore. He is associated with a certain root, the John the Conqueror root, or John the Conqueroo, to which magical powers are ascribed in American folklore, especially among the hoodoo tradition of folk magic.
Black cat bone
A black cat bone is a type of lucky charm used in the African American magical tradition of hoodoo. It is thought to ensure a variety of positive effects, such as invisibility, good luck, protection from malevolent magic, rebirth after death, and romantic success.[1]
...Got a black cat bone
got a mojo too,
I got John the Conqueror root,
I'm gonna mess with you...
—"Hoochie Coochie Man," Muddy Waters
The bone, anointed with Van Van oil, may be carried as a component of a mojo bag; alternatively, without the coating of oil, it is held in the charm-user's mouth.[2]
Mojo (African-American culture)
Mojo /ˈmoʊdʒoʊ/, in the African-American folk belief called hoodoo, is an amulet consisting of a flannel bag containing one or more magical items. It is a "prayer in a bag", or a spell that can be carried with or on the host's body.
Alternative American names for the mojo bag include hand, mojo hand, conjure hand, lucky hand, conjure bag, trick bag, root bag, toby, jomo, and gris-gris bag.[1]
Goofer dust
Goofer dust is a traditional hexing material and practice of the African American tradition of hoodoo from the South Eastern Region of the United States of America.
Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition
Yeah I remember you touching base on Hoodoo in my thread.
Field Marshall Bradley
Veteran
I can definitely verify this as I live in a town that has a significant Haitian population and I sometimes hear the music and it hardly sounds stereotypical African percussion drumming. But instead creole...
Nope. I too use to believe AA not a good term, but as @Supper said theres no need for it to change.
And I disagree with AA's being a pan-ethnic group. Almost all AA's whether west coast, south, midwest or northeast all share a common ancestral root in the south pre-jim crow. It can be recent or very old depending on how recent they migrated out of the south. Though most non-southern AA's southern roots was during the great migration. This excludes blacks in the USA whose ancestors came to the USA post-Jim Crow i.e blacks from the Caribbean or Africa. Though who have assimilated by now. But those two black populations are very small in the USA, especially compared to the larger AA population.
So I personally disagree with AAs being a panethnic group. Almost all AA's have a common origin in the south.
Im not black american and am no expert in their culture but one thing i know is street culture does not define black american culture and black americans need to set that straight and draw the line where their culture ends and street culture begins.Homegirl in the salon asked how "our" boy would react (
http://www.thecoli.com/threads/what-would-our-boys-do.305846/ )
... I'm thinking who knows.. Depends on how they got raised. But then I wondered...what are the cultural things that unite the Black American community?
Obviously, the shared struggle of living in America. But what are some other things?
Are you comfortable saying that most blacks listen to R&B and rap?
Or that most like grits or whatever stereotype you can think of..
I've come across so many different black ppl that it doesn't seem to me like there's a unified culture, tbh
What say you?
Too often some people look upon any street mentality and street thing or slang or street code and label it as if thats what black-american culture is.
FOR EXAMPLE: I can't stand when a black person speaks proper english and mofos say "you sound white". Then turn around and see a white person speaking in street slang and acting street and mofos say he "acts black".
As if everything that is perceived as improper or ignorant defines "black". It also annoys me that it's mainly black people that do it too. I swear sometimes i wanna stab someone over that sh!t
Over the years ive made quite a bit of Black-American friends and most of the ones im friends with are cool down to earth, educated brought up in good homes and dont take part in any of that street-thug wana be sh!t. But you have the hood wanna-be mofos who sh!t them saying they "act white" because they speak proper english or are educated or whatever other behaviors the misguided hood wanna-bes consider as non-black behavior.
Funny thing is these hood wanna-be f@ggots are often NOT even from the hood themselves but grew up idolizing rappers who celebrate the hood. That i blame on parenting.
I think someone on here had broken it down one time... cant recall who. Might have been @No_bammer_weed or @NY's #1 Draft Pick maybe...or someobody. I'll look up the thread
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An interesting question. Although we can't put our finger on it we see it all over the world. The dress, the slang, the attitude. It's obvious when someone is "acting black".
There are remnants of ancient things but by and large it seems to be "hood" living. Which existed before the word "hood" was pop.
All American music is infused with black music. By extension most pop music worldwide.
To keep it simple: Hip Hop
There are remnants of ancient things but by and large it seems to be "hood" living. Which existed before the word "hood" was pop.
All American music is infused with black music. By extension most pop music worldwide.
To keep it simple: Hip Hop