The victory of the Union (Northern States) over the Confederate (Southern States) freed the Negroid’s from slavery, and gave them the right to vote, and own property. Although African Americans now had their liberty, they weren’t free from segregation, violence and prejudices. “We wear the Mask” is written from this experience, and regrettable it is still to a small degree part of the American fabric today. Being African American in the late 20th century wasn’t a bed of roses. They were the minority and were not treated with respect as a whole from its community.
“Is Black Leadership Dead” Kevin Powell believes a new model of Black leadership is apparent in the 21st century. One that seeks to “build or maintain institutions that provide direct service, resources, and information to our communities; to change, once and for all, how we discuss the many challenges facing our [Black] people; and be on the front lines with the people as much as possible.” I couldn’t agree more with Powell, but I believe that lesser known Black leaders need to be discussed more. I've always been fascinated by others claiming there is not enough Black leadership, what about Black leadership on a local level for example individuals that are CEO's or CFO’s of large corporations, people giving back to the community through
African American Artists Music has always had its rules and mediums, but rules were meant to be broken. This essay will prove and defend the statement: African American artists didn’t do what they were expected to, and created the mediums for today’s music. In this paper you will be presented with the cases of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and Billie holiday Jimi Hendrix changed the way we hear about modern music. He was a power house of a guitar player. "Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel.
more than any other race. They have faced segregation, racism, violence, and of course slavery. Finally seeing the progress and success of the race with one of their own being elected President for the first time in history, with reason, becomes overwhelming. But if blacks truly care about the progress of their race, they need to do what they as people have been begging others to do throughout history, and that’s look past a man’s color and into his heart or in this case, his agendas. Barack Obama may claim he loves the black community, but his agendas and causes that he is promoting say otherwise and consequently, will kill more and more blacks
Consequently, animosity builds up towards Black people. This is where the concept of “black on black” is introduced. Since crime is so glorified in hip-hop, many teens do not know how to swallow their pride and look the other way in fear of being labeled a
Despite the fact that civil rights has been entrenched into policy, numerous civil rights groups still exist to this day, hoping to achieve what they see as a lacking in minority rights. While groups like the Nation of Islam, once a haven to visionaries such as Malcolm X, and the ideologies of black nationalism which preached a nation state in which black people could be separate but equal still exist, they are less extreme. This may be because civil rights have existed for a relatively long time in the public psych and has become normal. Therefore, it is no longer necessary to petition for a cause that has already been achieved. This is one area where equality in America has been
The hip-hop artists get very creative with it and it’s interesting to hear and see. In Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women, Jennifer talks a lot about Kevin Powell. Kevin Powell is a writer, he also writes about hip-hop. The hip-hop industry is very challenging and against black women. Black men are capable of doing so many things to go against black women.
“Violence of some kind was recognized as necessary for breaking the conspiracy of silence and complacency about economic oppression, police violence, and other social ills of the black inner city.” (pg. 59). Tupac is one of many rappers who, though looked at as just a thug or a gangster, he rapped about a great number of issues that plagued and continue to plague the urban African American communities. Since rap is a form of art, and art has a deep connection to life used as a tool for structuring and shaping one’s ethics and lifestyle, it like other forms of art is simply a means of political engagement to raise consciousness and promote greater freedom (pg. 57).
The Life of Malcolm X The civil rights movement was a hard time in American history, many are ashamed at how hard it was to achieve equal rights. This period of civil rights did stand to promote and create a set of social and economic rights for african americans previously in a shockingly unbalanced way compared to white americans. The movement of civil rights was hard fought in towns and cities throughout America. This struggle for equal rights was fought by equal rights organizations. The leaders of one of these organizations was one Malcolm X, at the time still known by his “slave name,” as he stated it, Malcolm Little.
In a recent article in “Hip Hop,” they discuss the reasoning behind the vulgar language and the term “nigger” used in rap in the mind of a famous artist, Snoop Doggy-Dogg. “People gotta see the pain and sufferin that we African Americans gone through. Ain’t no one gonna see anything if we