The roots of the Diaspora. The Mother Land!
9. The Dudes and the Divas
From the famous entertainers to the not so famous scientists and educators who I will try to name when there is more time. Black people love and appreciate achievers and achievement.
8. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Everyone knows about Martin!
7. The Harlem Rennaisance
60 years after the end of slavery; the children and Grandchildren of American Slaves would create an intellectual and creative movement that would serve as a foundation for what would eventually develop into African American Demands for Equality, the demands for the end of colonialism in Africa, and the end of segregation in the United States. Among the particapants in this movement were Fisk College graduate and Harvard Univeristy PHD W.E.B. Dubois who founded the NAACP who would eventually go on to bank roll the landmark Court cas Brown versus Board of Education which would overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson which made segregation legal in the first place; Langston Hughes, Grandson of a United States Senator, Columbia University Student who had to drop out because his Mexican Plantation owning father refused to finance a college career with the major Rnglish rather than Engineering, eventual graduate of Lincoln University who would coin the famous poem I Dream of World which would definitely serve as a starting point for the famous Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King’s Speech I have a Dream; Barnard College Anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston; and many others.
6. Soul Food
From the leftovers and plates of slave holders came a mixture of African cuisine mixed with native foods to create Soul Food. Soul Food is expressed in various forms from Fried Chicken and Fish, Collard Greens, and Macaroni and Cheese, to Shrimp Creole and Gumbo in Southern Areas with proximity to water areas. The prior are just Food choices of the United States, in Jamaica came Jerk Chicken and complex mixtures of various dishes.
5. Music
Blacks have had an innordiante amount on the world culture of the world. Historically they have influenced all popular music forms which are in existance to where they are now. Jimi Hendrix ushered in the Rock Revolution little as it is told his evolution came from the Blues of people such as BB King, and believe it or not the Jazz Fusion of Miles Davis. In the United States Jazz when first created was known as Jack Ass music but has influenced most popular form of music in the United States. Other diaspora Blacks have created their own various forms, of music reggae, salsa, etc. Finally in the twenty-first centuries music forms are evolving so swiftly based on the diaspora that the world is rushing to catch up. I personally have listened to forms of music known as Reggaeton hip hop and reggae and latin, and what is known as Indian Hip Hop.
4. The Diaspora
Taken from the shores of Africa, flung from corner to corner of the World Globe. Diaspora Blacks are a melting pot of all races, creeds and color but the end result has retained the drop of blood that make them black. From the United States to Brazil back to Trinidad and Tobago from Cuba to Puerto Rico. These descendants of slaves have amalgamated and have had a huge impact on culture in the World.
3. Church and Sundays’
In most black households Sunday is a delicious ritual that begins on Saturday in the Salons and Barber Shops of various Communities and for some families a trip to the mall for Sunday clothing. It continues on Sunday Morning with a huge family breakfast and then off to Sunday School and a Fabulous Church Service. It ends with a huge Sunday Dinner.
2. Family
Some folks may spend Holiday’s alone and way away from family. Black folks like to spend time with all members of their family as much as possible. The black family does not lose people becauase they have different careers, incomes, and lifestyles. Family is family. You can be a raging transexual or the most conservative of the conservative. You can still come to my home whether it’s one room or fifty. Haven’t you heard that song “We Are Family” or “Family Reunion”
1. Momma
From Baby to Eighty Black People hold a special love and respect for their mothers in their heart. Mother’s in the black community are known for their incredible sacrifice and love for their children from working three jobs to support their families to mortgaging the house so that sonny can be a doctor, this mother’s love is enduring and faithful.
