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3 pages/≈825 words
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2
Style:
MLA
Subject:
Literature & Language
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
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MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 10.8
Topic:
Reflection
Essay Instructions:
African American Studies. It allowed you the opportunity to receive a more complete narrative of the experience, history, and knowledge of African Ancestry individuals living in a country that they were forced to inhabit, build its wealth, and then see that country deprive them of the very freedoms and wealth they created.
Reflecting on the course, African American Studies as a discipline, and the current oppression Black Americans face in the United States. In the paper you should reflect on your ideas/stereotypes/expectations of Black Americans before you began taking the course; how those ideas/stereotypes/expectations changed, maintained, enhanced, and/or altered while taking this class; and what you learned about Black Americans, African American Studies as an academic discipline and alternative to Eurocentric education; and propose and analyze what systematic changes you think should occur, if any, to ensure that Black Americans are included fully in participating and profiting from the country and wealth their labor created.
It would also suit you well to reflect on your past forum entries, as well as other people taking the course. In your opinion, do you understand the systematic oppression of Black Americans? Do your classmates? Or do you or they maintain the same narratives that have perpetuated our societal expectations of Black Americans? Do you and your classmates view the current state of Black America as a result of personal, individual, and group failings, or have you learned enough in the course to understand the systematic oppression that Black Americans have endured throughout their history in the United States?
****Just try to make up. But some of the topics we've discussed are attached to the files.****
Essay Sample Content Preview:
Student's NameCollege/University NameCourse Number and TitleInstructor's NameDue Date
Reflection
African American studies have for quite a long time been more of a call back to Africans’ roots; to remember the historical struggles and the various achievements made so far in that breath. It is a commemoration of the past in relation to the future, based on the present. I feel quite satisfied and fulfilled to have taken this course, since a lot has changed in me from the time I took it to the present. I believe I am in a better position now, to properly understand the sociocultural dynamics related to the same. I can view things from a broader perspective than before.
Before this course, I had several beliefs and stereotypes about Black Americans. Most of the beliefs that I had about this community were predominantly shaped by my understanding of American history. The American society is largely split along racial lines, with there being ‘unwritten’ notions about each of them, be it whites, Hispanics or blacks. Initially, I perceived Black Americans as inherently violent and uncivilized. This was due to the common perception even in the contemporary media, which has always painted blacks as impoverished and violent. It has been a constant sore in my mind all along, since I never understood the factors that have all along built up to this perception. I believed that incivility and violence were attributable to the history of slavery and colonialism.
The perception that Black people were violent was used to justify the brutal treatment and control of enslaved people and later to rationalize racial segregation and violence during the Jim Crow era (Rosenthal 927). The media also played a role in shaping my perception of the Black community. I watched several movies that portrayed Black people as violent and uncivilized. In addition, I perceived the Black community as people who were contended with slavery. My other perception was that Black women are lazy people who depend on the government all the time to meet their needs. The perception that Black women were lazy emerged in the late 20th century, particularly during debates over welfare reform. Till today, the stereotype has been used to stigmatize and demonize recipients of social...
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