The African Americans amount to about 13 percent of the total United States’ population and they are believed to have originated from the African continent as a result of slavery trade. They have made a significant contribution towards the growth and development of the United States culture through their unique cultural practices, norms, values, and the language (Thompson, 2015). As an international student from China, I have found the culture of the African Americans quite different from our culture in many dimensions. I have been able to learn the details of their culture after attending the African American dancing festivals organized by students of the African-American origin to showcase their culture to the rest of the students in the United States.
The dancing festival allows the students of African-American origin to perform their cultural dance that was developed many years ago by the black American communities to strengthen their culture and uphold their values, norms, and traditions. The dances focus on the folk and social dance practices, which are the main styles used in this specific dance. The participants in the dancing festival believe that the dancing practices are adopted from the communities in the African continent, which is their native origin (Thompson, 2015). Therefore, they believe the dance helps to disconnect them from the forces of the white’s culture as the dance connects them with their homeland; thus, maintaining their cultural traditions up to date.
The African Americans involved in this event seem to have been shaped and influenced by their culture because they are very passionate about upholding this culture despite the influence from the other cultures in the United States. The interactions with the African American students during this festival has enabled me to learn in detail the cultural orientation of this community; thus, helping me to understand the reason why the African Americans treasure in upholding their cultural values. The core value embraced in the African American culture is sharing among one another, which is clearly evident from the manner in which they live and share amongst themselves as members of one family (Diedrich, Gates Jr & Pedersen, 2014). Another core value is the ability to express their personal style, which I witnessed in their dancing styles whereby everyone tried to showcase their unique style with a lot of confidence. Also, they also portray the value of being real and genuine when expressing their feelings without any biases or pretense.
Through the common experience in the African American dance festival, the students get the opportunity to share their experiences about their culture. As a result, they end up influencing students of other diverse cultures like me to appreciate and embrace their culture. The cultural values portrayed by the African Americans during this event are worth emulating since they show the oneness of the people and the ability to uphold their native culture despite being raised in the United States of America, which is a multicultural country. The African American students are influenced by the need to embrace their native culture as a way of showing solidarity in the multicultural nation (Banks, 2015). This community has been facing racial discrimination in the United States for a long time; hence, the need to fight for equality in one voice. Their students have taken the responsibility of championing for equal treatment of all races in the United States through their solidarity in upholding the cultural values of the community.
The dance festival plays a major role in the culture of this community. This event not only serves as an entertainment event but it also allows the participants to communicate their emotions and celebrate their culture together; thus, strengthening their cultural bonds as members with a common origin. Therefore, this event ensures that the African Americans living in the United States get a chance to appreciate their native culture and embrace the values of the African culture which shape their social life. The cultural environment of the African Americans has impacted on their actions and decision in different engagements. In schools, the African American students have been able to fight for equality in the offering of educational services because their culture prepares them to be aggressive and possess the fighting spirit in all their endeavors (Burnim & Maultsby, 2014). Their decisions portray their level of intelligence in analyzing situations, which is believed to have been nurtured by the exposure to a very tough cultural environment in the United States.
Through my interaction with the members of the African American community, I got to learn many things about their beliefs, norms, values, and standards that guide their social life. I got to understand their culture better which I perceived to be one of the most complex cultures in the world. I have learned that the African Americans community embraces the cultural values of sharing and togetherness in all the activities as one community. Their high level of togetherness can be attributed to the rapid rise of African Americans popularity in many sectors of the United States economy. Within the entertainment sector, the community has produced good artists and actors, politically the community has nurtured great leaders, and in the education sector, the community has produced many scholars (Banks, 2015). Most of the knowledge about the African American community has been learned from this event as it has granted me the chance to interact with the African American students closely.
My involvement in this event organized by the African American students created emotional feelings and reactions throughout the entire event. I felt very much challenged by the manner in which this community embraces its native culture unlike us since our cultures have been absorbed completely by the American culture. I felt so nice to see young people who are very much proud of their culture despite the many stereotypes associated with African-American culture in the United States. The experience with the members of the African American community during the event is very different with what I read in the historical books and articles describing this community (Diedrich, Gates Jr & Pedersen, 2014).
According to my observations about the culture and behavior of this community, the African Americans have a very good and strong culture contrary to the prior knowledge I had learned about the community in the literature. This new realization has changed my mindset and thoughts of the African American people. All the biasness I had created on the African American against other races in the United States has been cleared after witnessing the ability of the African American community. All the past stereotypes about the African Americans being very violent, less intelligent, very irresponsible among other stereotypes have been covered by the excellent culture portrayed by the African American students during the dancing festival.
References
Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education. London: Routledge.
Burnim, M. V., & Maultsby, P. K. (2014). African American music: An introduction. London: Routledge.
Diedrich, M., Gates Jr, H. L., & Pedersen, C. (2014). Black imagination and the middle passage. Oxford University Press.
Thompson, I. (2015). African American creative arts: dance, literature, music, theater and visual art from slavery through the Harlem Renaissance. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 5(1), 71-80.
