Part I :
Throughout the twentieth century people in the African Diaspora have sought what they have perceived as more culturally legitimate forms of religious expression. The solutions to this problem extend across many different spiritual idioms, from Rastafarianism in Jamaica to the Nation of Islam in the United States. It also includes the embrace of Spiritualism, Santeria, Vodun, and Umbanda by African Americans in the United States. This is the continuation of a centuries old process by people of African heritage to recreate God in their own image. It is an attempt to reclaim something that was loss during the Middle Passage: the life-giving essence of spiritual inspiration that brings dynamic force into Being in the Universe. It is what the Yoruba people call ‘ah-she,’ and what my mother called the “power in the blood”. Write short answers, [3-5 sentences] for each of the questions below.
How were African religious traditions sustained in Afro-Cuban religious practices?
What kinds of items are typically used to adorn Caribbean Spiritualist altars?
In what ways are the constructions of Santeria/Lucumi altars comparable to works of art?
How were African religious practices reflected in the types of religious expressions found in New Orleans churches?
How do Afro-American Christian churches use theatricality to create unique expressions of faith and devotion?
Part II:
The traditions of storytelling in African American cultures have a long and varied history. They originate in the myths and folktales told by enslaved Africans and their descendants in the eighteenth century. They then expand in the nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries to include a wide range of literary works by people from all walks of life—slaves to senators, preachers to politicians–to describe their socio-cultural experience and their environment. Included in this collection of literary works are slave narratives and autobiographies; collections of letters and correspondence; non-fiction writings in the social sciences, especially history and sociology; novels, short stories, plays, and films; and a legacy of poetry that stretches from Phyllis Wheatley to Tupac Shakur Through their works writers sought to portray the lives and contributions of African Americans to American societies. They played upon the realism and irony of the African American condition and communicated the depth and range of personal and communal expression in the African American community to the world. In all of these styles of literature people of color emerge as the conscience of the American community. Write short answers, [3-5 sentences] for each of the questions below.
How did Sundiata Keita overcome his childhood handicaps to eventually become the ruler of the empire of Mali?
Why did African-American writers in the 18th and 19th century use poetry to address the issues of slavery?
Why are the narratives of former slaves, such as Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Keckley, and Solomon Northrop important contributions to African American literature?
What factors and life experiences aided Frederick Douglass in his attempt to escape from slavery?
What did W.E.B. DuBois mean when he used the term “double consciousness” to describe the experience of Negros in the United States?
Part III:
The Harlem Renaissance was only a brief period in American and African American history, but for the people who experienced this flowering of cultural expression in the visual arts, music, dance, theater, and literature, and for those who remember the era in books and films, there are enough memories to last a lifetime. It represented a new awareness of cultural identity among African American peoples, one that celebrated Black achievement and accomplishment on its own terms rather than on the terms of White America and Europe. It was no longer simply enough to aspire to be accepted by White society in mimicry of their customs and style. It was now acceptable to be “Negro” and to take pride in the style and tastes of the community from which one emerged. It was a move to get beyond the “Negro problem” in America and an attempt to take a place as a viable cultural contributor to the American situation. Philosopher Alain Locke summed it up in his collection of essays, poems, short stories and songs entitled The New Negro. This work represents a change in thought and perception among African Americans in the early twentieth century as a result of migration and the blending of cultures. It encapsulates the spirit that gave birth to the movement that became known as the Harlem Renaissance, but was a cultural rebirth that took place all across America in communities where African Americans lived and thrived and prospered. Write short answers, [3-5 sentences] for each of the questions below.
How did writers, along with painters, musicians, and intellectuals help to transform perceptions of African American culture in the New Negro Movement?
Who were some of the important African American poets and writers of the 20th century?
Why did Langston Hughes use the character of Jesse B. Semple to address complex issues of race and cultures in the United States?
What did Leroi Jones and Houston A. Baker mean when they described the Black writers’ search for self-awareness as a trip to “the Bottom” and a “black hole”?
How did members of the Black Panther Party use poetry to express their resistance against social, political, and cultural oppression?