The Legacy of Slavery: US History of African Americans - Essay Sample

Introduction

The history of blacks in the US can be tracked down to slavery. The European settler's, majority of whom were whites, transported the African Americans to their continent to act as slaves. The masters owned the slaves as their property. The slaves were highly restricted and were denied most of the economic, political and social rights. Slavery was a big issue and separated the country in the time of the Civil War (Baharian et al., 2016). After the civil war, there was great emergence of resistance movements that were against slavery. The participation of African American Artists, leaders, authors and businessmen helped define the character of the nation by making contributions that have withstood time.

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History

The history of blacks in the US can be tracked down to slavery. The European settler's, majority of whom were whites, transported the African Americans to their continent to act as slaves. The masters owned the slaves as their property. The slaves were highly restricted and were denied most of the economic, political and social rights. Slavery was a big issue and separated the country in the time of the Civil War (Baharian et al., 2016). After the civil war, there was great emergence of resistance movements that were against slavery. The participation of African American Artists, leaders, authors and businessmen helped define the character of the nation by making contributions that have withstood time.

Demographics

In 2017, more than 40 million citizens in US were African Americans which represents 12.7 % of the total number of citizens (Colby et al., 2017). The group is the second largest in the country. Majority of the individuals reside in the South since 58% of the African American group is located in the south while only 27% of the total white population stay in the area. The 10 states with the most African Americans are represented in the diagram below.

Cultural Practices and Traditions

The civil rights organization made progress in matters concerning slavery causing drastic changes in cultural practices and also within the family. The diminishing barriers encouraged globalization and made countries more accessible. As a result, the impact of family decreased since their identity became mixed making it less essential for survival. Family gatherings reduced in size and became less frequent (Logan, 2018).

The emergence of family reunions among African Americans enabled the restoration of the culture (Meyers et al., 2017). The elders were key in setting up a strong ground for the forthcoming generations. The family reunions have grown and continued to serve its main purposes while acquiring new ones. For example, the National Institute of Health (NIH) encourages the African Americans to make use of family reunions as a platform to address serious health issues affecting the group like diabetes.

The mean household wealth for African Americans in 2017 was $17,000. This is less as compared to the mean household wealth of non-Hispanic white which is $171,000. According to the U.S Census, 23% of African Americans are living below poverty level and unemployment among the group is twice the rate of the non-Hispanic whites (Turner, 2018). The financial crisis of 2007 increased the wealth gap between the whites and African American. Despite this, the wealth gap has progressed differently among different income levels. For the lower income group, the wealth gap has decreased while in the middle-income households the wealth gap has increased. The decrease among the lower-income group is as a result of a reduction in wealth for the white households (Collins et al., 2017).

Economics

Family Dynamics and Patterns

The family is the foundation of the African American culture and tradition since the emergence of the civil war to the racial segregation (Hanna, 2017). Due to slavery, families were separated and this was a major threat to the culture of the African American but fortunately the impact of the families was not weakened entirely due to its structure that promoted uniformity hence the families were able to survive slavery and white supremacy (Nguyen, 2016).

Strengths, Challenges, and Discussion

The strengths of being an African American are listed below:

• The group hails from a rich cultural heritage and the individuals are well adapted at overcoming hardships.
• The African American is also characterized by its uniformity and due to similar experiences and hardships the group can be said to be a large unofficial family (Logan, 2018).
• Another strength of the group is the longing to seek justice and equality within the society.

The challenge of the group is as follows:

• The group experiences racial profiling by the government authorities especially police officers. Racism has been the major challenge faced by the group in the United States (Meyers, 2017).
• Despite progress on the matter, there has been a rise in the number of Americans who perceive racism to be a great issue in the country.
• White privilege has also undermined the group increasing the barriers at hand.

Based on the above issues it is evident that the African American group is a key participant in the growth of the United States. The group has a rich heritage that has been preserved accordingly since the time of slavery. Despite the progress made by the group, it still experiences racism and white supremacy (Mayes, 2016). There should be more inclusivity in the society towards the group.

References

Baharian, S., Barakatt, M., Gignoux, C. R., Shringarpure, S., Errington, J., Blot, W. J., ... & Gravel, S. (2016). The great migration and African-American genomic diversity. PLoS genetics, 12(5), e1006059.

Collins, W. J., & Wanamaker, M. H. (2017). Up from slavery? African American intergenerational economic mobility since 1880 (No. w23395). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Colby, S. L., & Ortman, J. M. (2017). Projections of the size and composition of the US population: 2014 to 2060: Population estimates and projections.

Hanna, W. J. (2017). Urban dynamics in Black Africa: An interdisciplinary approach. Routledge Meyers, J. L., Brown, Q., Grant, B. F., & Hasin, D. (2017). Religiosity, race/ethnicity, and alcohol use behaviors in the United States. Psychological medicine, 47(1), 103-114.

Logan, S. (2018). The Black family: Strengths, self-help, and positive change. Routledge.

Mayes, R. D., & Moore III, J. L. (2016). The intersection of race, disability, and giftedness: Understanding the education needs of twice-exceptional, African American students. Gifted Child Today, 39(2), 98-104.

Meyers, M. A. (2017). Art, Education, and African-American Culture: Albert Barnes and the Science of Philanthropy. Routledge.

Nguyen, A. W., Chatters, L. M., & Taylor, R. J. (2016). African American extended family and churchbased social network typologies. Family relations, 65(5), 701-715.

Turner, J. J., & Brooks, W. T. (2018). Predicting County-Level Unemployment in the Census East South-Central Region. CJAS, 8(1), 34-49.