African American: an Identity Crisis Essay

For centuries Afri elicit Americans cede been indoctrinated to subsist in a heathen and historical vacuum by their oppressors who would seek to bar them from ever making the connection to their illuminating past. This carcassatic agenda of mis-education and lies by omission has do possible the subjugation and enslavement, in body and mind, of the African American by his oppressors. In his essay The Study of the blackamoor, Dr. Carter G. Woodson sets out to ruminate on why the African American has been misled in his ascension to human equality and haughtiness and how he can remedy the dismal state of his affairs.A native reading of Woodsons pioneering work indicates that we should occupy the experiences of African-descended people to gain intimacy about ourselves and other cultures as well as to sire spinal column accurate traditions and histories that have all but been discredited or misrepresented. Furthermore, exclusively through this systematic study of their meaningf ul contributions to history can African Americans elevate themselves to empowered enlightenment. One reason to study the experiences of the African American is to instill in him a sense of purpose and place in a realism that otherwise intends to keep him perpetually in the dark. doubtless the aim of his oppressors has been to convince him that his history is unimportant so as to divest him of the sense of pride that is so necessary to feel wholly human. By espousing that he has no worthwile past, that his race has done nothing significant since the root system of time, and that there is no evidence that he give ever strike anything great (Woodson 6), his oppressors can be sure that the African American exit continue d deliver the path of mis-education that so allows for his subservience to a system that cares nothing for him.However, if you teach the negro that he has accomplished as a good deal good as any other race he will aspire to equality and justice without regard to race. (Woodson 6) The core purpose of African American studies is to take back from obscurity that piece of the historical riddle without which the African American would be amidst an endless identity crisis. By canvass the origin of his people, the African American, who has not yet knowledgeable to think and broadcast for himself as others do for themselves (Woodson 7), can take control of his own peck rather than taking as truth anabundance of information which others have made accessible to the oppressed. (Woodson 7) The culture of indoctrination cultivated by the oppressor would have that the Negro should cease to remember that he was once held a slave, that he has been oppressed, and however that he is a Negro. (Woodson 7) Thus, it is plain to see that the African Americans oppressors have too much to lose by promoting the truth. Indeed, it would require them to necessitate their transgressions and to concede the countless meaningful contributions made by the African A merican to modern society.Without a serious examination of the fundamentals of education, religion, literature, and philosophy as they have been expounded to him (Woodson 7) by his oppressors, the Negro joins the opposition with the objection that the study of the Negro keeps alive questions which should be forgotten. (Woodson 7) Perhaps the most essential lesson to be learned from an effective, systematic study of African American history is that the contributions made by African Americans are far more numerous than any oppressor could ever know.It is with a pig-headed pride that they conceal the fact that the history of the modern world was made, in the main, by what was taken from African people. (Clarke) Without knowledge such as this, it would be impossible for the African American to take pride in himself and to seek the true identity he has been in search of for centuries. A race is like a man. Until it uses its own talents, takes pride in its own history, and loves its own memories, it can never fulfill itself completely. (Clarke) African American studies can help in understanding other cultures as well as our own by challenging and correcting the misrepresentations of Africa and Western Europe and their cultural legacies. What has been pose aground as history by the oppressor does not serve to realise the African American but instead to keep him dependent on a system rife with underlying prejudice against his people.History is indite in the image of the writer so, consequently, the African American must take up the reins of authorship himself and guide his own destiny. That is precisely why we should study the African American experience, to produce a platform on which he can take back what is innately his. After all, to be cognisant of where one is going, it is necessary to be aware of where one has been.