However, many other strands of thought have converged to create a collective black identity and historiography. For example, the syncretic slave religions that merged African practices with Christianity allowed slave families and communities to hold on to their ancestry and traditions in the face of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual oppression. Similarly, the creation of the African Episcopal Church (AME) in the early nineteenth century marked a distinctive and unique sociological event in African-American history. African-American religious identity has been diverse but has always been defined by the ability to merge various historical and social realities within a collective spiritual framework.
The Nation of Islam and the embrace of Sunni Islam by African-Americans also reflect this tendency in African-American history. Malcolm X and others found in Islam a means by which to re-connect with their African roots and heritages. While Islam was not the religion of their ancestors in Africa, it was the religion of modern Africa. Malcolm X was a sincere adherent to the faith, evident by his willingness to not only pilgrimage to Mecca but also to experience life in Africa first-hand.
Therefore, the statement made by Malcolm X is highly relevant for historians who are attempting to recreate American history in general and African-American history in specific. Rephrasing the settlement of New England and the American colonies in terms of oppression rather than conquest and triumph is significant. Were it not for radicals like Malcolm X it is possible that such alternative viewpoints would never have been voiced in the public consciousness....
..That's why black prisoners become Muslims so fast when Elijah Muhammed's teachings filter into their cages by way of other Muslim convicts. 'The white man is the devil' is a perfect echo of that black convict's lifelong experience." Prison solidified Malcolm X's -- and in his view, all African-Americans' -- position in society, and his faith clarified the predicament and gave an avenue both of understanding and of redress. Everyone's childhood, family,
If there is a tendency among readers to view Malcolm X as a radical figure, especially where compared to peaceful counterparts like Dr. King, the autobiography helps to show racism in a light that makes Malcolm X extremely sympathetic, or at least a rational product of his time. Narratives from his upbringing, especially in his father's work as a black revolutionary and in his family's constant state of moving to escape threats, are especially demonstrative of
slave narrative maintains a unique station in modern literature. Unlike any other body of literature, it provides us with a first-hand account of institutional racially-motivated human bondage in an ostensibly democratic society. As a reflection on the author, these narratives were the first expression of humanity by a group of people in a society where antediluvian pseudo-science had deemed them to be mere animals. These works, although they provide
Playwright Israel Zangwill Is United States of America in the second decade of 21st century a melting pot -- the kind of melting pot that was envisaged by Israel Zangwill close to 104 years ago? The answer is an overwhelming no. Today more than ever there is no one idea of Americanness or American culture that is acceptable across the board. Most of this is attributable to the differences in the
" The Aftermath Uncle Tom characters were common in both white and black productions of the time, yet no director before Micheaux had so much as dared to shine a light on the psychology that ravages such characters. By essentially bowing to the two white men, Micheaux implied that Old Ned was less than a man; an individual whittled down to nothing more than yes-man and wholly deprived of self-worth. At this
The milestone that the Civil Rights Movement made as concerns the property ownership is encapsulated in the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which is also more commonly referred to as the Fair Housing Act, or as CRA '68. This was as a follow-up or reaffirmation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discussed above. It is apparent that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 outlawed discrimination in property and housing there
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