Children from African American Culture

1
Children from African American Culture
2
History of African American Roots

• African Americans and the richness of their
  culture have been a part of the US since its
  founding.
• Although much of their history has only been
  recently told, African Americans have contributed
  to every aspect of the countrys development.
• The history of people of African descent in the
  Americas can be traced to the largest involuntary
  migration movement in modern times.

3
History of African American Roots

• From the 16th to the 19th centuries, nearly 40
  million people from the countries of West Africa
  were forced to leave their homelands and were
  sold into slavery.
• More than 20 million Africans were brought to the
  countries of Central and South American, the
  Caribbean, and North America.
• The people of African descent in South America
  and the Caribbean share a heritage of life in the
  Americas different from that of those in North
  America.

4
History of African American Roots

• The Caribbean descendants of Africa and the new
  African immigrants share a common genealogical
  root with African Americans, but the history of
  the Africans who were brought to the US in
  slavery is different.
• African Americans are currently the largest
  racial minority group in the US.
• The more than 35 million blacks in the US are
  largely descended from West Africa.

5
History of African American Roots

• The history of slavery of Africans in America has
  not only involved economic conditions, but also
  sociocultural and psychological factors that
  influence speech and language.
• The people called African Americans come from
  several racial stocks and tribes including
  Mandingo, Ibos, Efiks, Hausas, Krus, Yorubas,
  Ashantis, and Sengalese.

6
Language/Linguistic Origins

• Because the Africans who were brought to this
  country came from various locations in West
  Africa, it is highly likely that they did not
  speak one anothers languages.
• With no other means to communication, the slaves
  began to use pidgin between themselves and when
  speaking to their masters.
• With continued use, pidgin developed into the
  primary mode of communication among slaves.
• African and English words and structures were
  blended by phonologic, syntactic, and semantic
  rules and other systematic linguistic patterns.

7
Language/Linguistic Origins

• As this English variety became the only language
  used by the members of the slave community,
  children born into this community acquired this
  language as their native tongue.
• This English was no longer pidgin, but became a
  type of creole language.
• Some of the English patterns the slaves used were
  forms learned from their overseers or slave
  owners.

8
Language/Linguistic Origins

• Patterns of African-American English (AAE) such
  as multiple negation (e.g., I dont want no more)
  were acceptable forms of standard American
  English (SAE) during the 17th and 18th centuries.
• As English evolved, these patterns became
  unacceptable, but slaves had limited contact with
  their slave owners so they had no way of keeping
  up with the evolving nature of language.
• The retention of this and other SAE forms
  resulted in some of the AAE patterns.

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Language/Linguistic Origins

• The slaves also incorporated sounds, grammatical
  markings, and vocabulary from their traditional
  Africa languages into their English.
• For example, many West African languages have a
  tense called the habitual tense that implies an
  activity of a recurring nature.
• The habitual tense was relegated to the verb be
  when they learned English.
• The statement he be going means he usually
  goes or he always goes.

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Language/Linguistic Origins

• This linguistic patterns was not only found in
  the language of slaves, but also in a feature of
  AAE and of dialects spoken by many black
  individuals outside of the US.
• In addition to grammatical features, slaves
  infused West African words into their English.
• Words with African origins include goober, gumbo,
  yam, tote, cola, jazz, juke (as in jukebox), and
  jive.
• The word john, meaning the customer of a
  prostitute, is derived from an African word that
  is translated as someone who can be easily
  exploited.

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Language/Linguistic Origins

• Additionally, the word okay, and the sounds
  uh-uh for no and uh-huh for yes are also
  thought to have West African origins.
• A number of linguistic dialects are spoken among
  African Americans in the US.
• Gullah is spoken by those living on the islands
  off the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.
• There are also various Creole dialects such as
  Jamaican Creole and dialects spoken by people who
  immigrated to the US from the Caribbean
  countries.

12
Code Switching

• The rules for communicative interactions used by
  many African Americans include code switching,
  call and response, wit and sarcasm, and narrative
  style.
• Code switching involves the speakers ability to
  use the linguistic style (formal or informal),
  dialect, or language is most appropriate for a
  particular communication episode.
• The language used will depend on the age, race,
  gender, or level of authority of the person with
  whom one is speaking as well as the context of
  the communicative event.

13
Wit and Sarcasm

• Wit and sarcasm assume a variety of forms by
  African Americans.
• Some statements are actual sarcasm, such as the
  wife who tells her significantly late-arriving
  husband, You sho got home early.
• Other forms of wit involve create, verbal
  turn-taking games, such as playing the dozens.
• Playing the dozens is typically played by
  school-aged black boys.
• On the surface, playing the dozens reflects
  disrespect of the parent.

14
Turn-Taking

• On the contrary, because of the love and respect
  the players have for their mothers, a young black
  man who can learn to withstand insults about his
  mother is better prepared to withstand negativism
  and insults that he will face in the future.
• It is also an excellent way to develop social and
  verbal interaction skills.
• Turn-taking skills are somewhat different among
  African American speakers.
• In AAE, it is not necessary to wait until the
  first-speaker has completed his/her turn before
  the next speaker begins.

15
Call and Response

• Interruptions are acceptable and the
  conversational floor is given to the most
  assertive and aggressive speaker.
• Call and response is an important turn-taking
  feature of AAE.
• Call and response is characterized by a choral
  response to an utterance given by a single
  person.
• Largely noticeable within the church and in
  gospel and rhythm and blues music, call and
  response is also a feature of conversations among
  African Americans.

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Call and Response

• There are two specific call-and-response
  patterns
• a statement produced by one person followed by a
  response by one person and
• (2) a statement produced by one person followed
  by responses made by people in a group.
• The first type of call and response occurs mostly
  during a conversational dyad with the listener
  providing a response that is a confirmation or
  acknowledgement of that speakers statement.
• The second type of call and response is a
  statement produced by one person followed by
  responses made by people in a group.

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Call and Response

• It is typically found in church services,
  rallies, and other situations with a main speaker
  and an audience.
• Nonverbal responses to a speakers statements
  include hand clapping, head shaking and nodding,
  hand waving and lifting, standing up, dancing,
  patting the feet, pointing a finger at the
  speaker, laughing, and crying.
• In these situations, the speaker not only looks
  for the responses but, when the audience is too
  quiet also encourages the audience to respond by
  calling statements such as Can I get a witness?

18
Call and Response

• Call and response patterns are considered a
  beneficial communicative feature among those who
  use and understand them, because the respondents
  are providing the speaker with complimentary,
  confirming and positive feedback.
• However these patterns are subject to
  misinterpretations by people who are unfamiliar
  with this aspect of AAE.
• AAE speakers using normal call and response
  patterns maybe judged to be rude, interruptive
  and disruptive by those who are are not familiar
  with call and response patterns.

19
Eye Contact

• Another form of nonverbal behavior which can be
  misinterpreted by SAE speakers is eye contact.
• African Americans demonstrate attentiveness and
  respect by using indirect eye contact when they
  are listeners and direct eye contact when they
  are speakers.
• SAE speakers may misinterpret the lack of eye
  contact during listening as inattentive or
  noncaring behavior.
• Approval or agreement with the speaker may be
  demonstrated nonverbally through touching the
  listener's hand or arm.

20
Conversational Discourse

• Communication among African Americans is
  considered to be passionate and animated.
• Conversational style is provocative and
  challenging, and the intensity is focused on the
  validity of the ideas being discussed.
• Ordinary conversations are often embellished by a
  liberal sprinkling of metaphors and descriptors,
  and body language and emotion are used by the
  more gifted storytellers to illustrate or
  emphasize a point.

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Conversational Discourse

• At times, volume and pitch may show greater
  variation than in the mainstream culture.
• African Americans are high context communicators
  who use shared experience, nonverbal cues and
  signals, and the situation itself as a large part
  of the communicative process.

22
African American Values--Family

• Values related to family are rooted in African
  traditions.
• Although slavery disrupted the traditions and
  family relationships that Africans had grown up
  with, it did not eliminate the value of kinship.
• In fact, kinship bonds became a major means of
  support for slaves.
• Because both men and women had to work on the
  plantations and tend their own plots to
  supplement the food provided by their owners,
  young children were often cared for by older
  women or older children.

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African American Values--Family

• Often, the biological parents had little time or
  direct involvement in the childs upbringing,
  although close, affection bonds were established
  between men and their wives and children, and
  between women, their children, and their
  husbands.
• Despite the fact that formal marriage among
  slaves was not recognized and family members were
  routinely separated from one another through sale
  to another plantation, family bonds and kinship
  ties remained strong.

24
African American Values--Family

• My family, my folks, my kin, my people,
  are terms used by African Americans to identify
  blood relatives and others who are not blood
  relatives but have special caring relationships.
• For African Americans, family is a group of
  people who feel they belong to each other, even
  though they may or may not live in the same
  house.
• Even today, the demographic status of female
  single head of household does not, in many
  instances, credit the existence of this
  individual in a kinship group of people who care
  about each other and feel they belong together.

25
African American Values--Family

• The family continues to be a source of strength,
  resilience, and survival.
• The family also provides socialization, guidance,
  and inspiration.
• The primary socialization task of the African
  American family is instilling in its members a
  sense of who they are.
• This includes knowledge of the African heritage,
  the history of the American experience, and how
  the two sources have blended to produce the
  contemporary African American.

26
African American Values--Names

• African Americans regard their names as extremely
  important.
• Names for children are selected with great care.
• They chosen name often reflects the person or
  characteristics the family wishes to reflect or
  some social values, such as faith, hope, or
  chastity.
• When Africans were brought to this country
  enslaved, they were frequently stripped of their
  given African names and given simple to
  pronounce, one- or two-syllable names.

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African American Values--Names

• Slaves often took the last names of their owners.
• Many African Americans still carry these last
  names.
• Terrell, for example, was the name of a Georgia
  plantation owner.
• Some slaves adopted names such as Freeman or
  Newman that expressed their newly, acquired
  freedom.
• Others took on the names of important historical
  figures, such as Washington and Jefferson.

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African American Values--Names

• During slavery and long afterward, white
  individuals rarely addressed African Americans by
  their last names.
• Regardless of status or age, African Americans
  were called by their first name or were simply
  addressed as boy, girl, uncle, or aunt.
• The African Americans used a variety of tactics
  to counteract this practice.
• Some gave their children first names of formal
  address, such as Miss, Princess, Duke, General,
  and Mister.

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African American Values--Names

• The slave owners then had little choice but to
  use these titles when talking to or calling them.
• Like their ancestors, African American parents
  today take great care in selecting names for
  their children.
• Some African American parents give their children
  African names such as LaShawn, Shemeika,
  Shurtjhana, Latifa, Tanzania, Ivanna Samal, Amani
  Shama, and Elon Jahdal.
• Many of these names have important meanings, and,
  as the child grows, the parents share these
  meanings with the child.

30
African American Values--Elders

• Many African American families continue to place
  a high value on respecting and obeying elders.
• Elderly persons are seen to have wisdom and
  hindsight.
• They have seen things come around and go
  around, and they have witnessed a lot of what
  the younger generation calls history.
• In the South, titles of respect, such as maam
  or sir are still widely used.

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African American Values--Elders

• Just as in the early African religions, the
  oldest are also believed to have a special status
  and an ability to communicate with God and are
  frequently in charge of prayers.
• In addition to honoring the special status of
  elderly persons, there is a high value placed on
  obedience to parents as well as other older
  persons, including siblings.
• The learning of obedience and respect for elders
  is the childs earliest contribution to family
  maintenance and cohesiveness.

32
African American Values--Education

• The attainment of ones potential through the
  acquisition of education, life skills, and
  personal competence, is a major goal and desired
  achievement.
• The family nourishes and supports individual
  ability through a strong belief in education as
  the means to a better life.
• The promise of education is and has been a beacon
  for many African American families.

33
African American Values--Education

• Individuals who have attained high educational
  goals come not just from the so-called better,
  stronger families, but from families with a
  variety of statuses and fortunes.
• Families often tell their children that times and
  situations may change, but a good education is
  something no one can take away.
• Education enables the individual to weather
  changing times.

34
African American Beliefs--Childrearing

• African American families tend to be more
  flexible about family roles.
• Fathers and mothers share in child care
  responsibilities, and older siblings carry out
  household chores, including caring for younger
  siblings.
• African American families are more concerned with
  overcoming obstacles based on racial membership
  than with gender affiliation.
• African Americans believe that children are the
  future.

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African American Beliefs--Childrearing

• Children need to know that they are loved and
  that they belong.
• Some African American families tend not to be
  especially verbal with the expression of love,
  because they believe that actions, such as
  concerned care giving and attention to others
  well-being, speak louder than words.
• Children need adult protection and guidance.
• They must be disciplined, and all responsible
  adults in the community take part in the training
  and discipline of the child.

36
African American Beliefs--Childrearing

• Discipline is somewhat stricter among African
  American families as they need to teach their
  children about self-respect as a way to learn to
  appreciate the rights of others.
• The African American community still maintains a
  belief that all responsible adults are expected
  to act in loco parentis for the children in the
  community.
• The presence of an adult may be enough to deter
  the young African American child from too much
  wrongdoing.

37
African American Beliefs--Childrearing

• The nonparent adult is just as likely to comment
  on or correct the obvious problem behavior of a
  child in his/her presence.
• Once young children are able to speak and
  understand, they are expected to obey the family
  rules, to treat others as they want to be
  treated, and to do their schoolwork to the best
  of their ability.
• African Americans believe that children must have
  a good education, good food, and a place to play.

38
African American BeliefsHealth

• The belief in eating well, feeding ones family
  well, and having good food to offer ones guests
  is an abiding value in the African American
  family.
• Good food is believed to be important for
  strength, stamina, and health.
• Among middle-class families, the diet is
  generally rich in nutrients due to a particular
  preference for dark green leafy vegetables, red
  meat, and cheese.

39
African American BeliefsHealth

• Potatoes, rice, and bread are staples, and a
  variety of fresh and dried fruits are liked and
  used.
• Children are switched from baby foods to the same
  food as the rest of the family around one year of
  age.
• Another belief about health for children has to
  do with the importance of play.
• Play is seen as important for both social and
  physical well-being.

40
African American BeliefsHealth

• In African American families, there is an attempt
  to give the child an opportunity to be a child
  and to enjoy the care and protection of
  responsible adults until such time as he/she is
  maturationally ready for a broader role.
• Medical and preventative care, knowledge about
  treatment, and types of treatment may vary widely
  within the African American community.
• Most African Americans use the local private
  physician for basic health needs.
• Many are involved in work-related health plans
  that utilize HMOs as providers.

41
African American BeliefsHealth

• In those families with strong ties to the rural
  south, holistic, natural approaches to health may
  be preferred.
• There is an oral compendium of herbs, teas,
  roots, over-the-counter preparations, and foods
  that have preventative health and healing
  properties.
• Many families still rely on or have their own
  versions of Vicks VapoRub, castor and cod liver
  oil, sassafras tea, dried peaches and apricots,
  and pot liquor.

42
African American BeliefsHealth

• African American physicians of the old school
  may dispense advice and counsel based on
  knowledge of the individual and his/her family
  context as well as standard medical treatment.
• Many African Americans lack access to adequate
  health care and do not have medical insurance
  (Terrell Jackson, 2002).
•  They tend to have a higher mortality rate than
  other groups in some communities.

43
African American BeliefsHealth

• Lower income, less frequent prenatal care, poorer
  maternal nutrition, and other factors make it
  more difficult for many African Americans to
  raise healthy children.
• Due to the increasing proportion of African
  American families who live in poverty, or who are
  the working but poor, more families are compelled
  to wait for an illness to occur before seeking
  medical attention.
• In fact, many poor, inner city families use
  emergency wards for all their health care needs.

44
African American BeliefsHealth

• Preventative health visits, including routine
  gynecological care, physical check ups, and
  especially dental care, will not be sough.
• Even though visits for infants and children may
  be less frequent, the family will usually ensure
  that children get the basic s of whatever care
  they need.
• Sickle cell disease, a hereditary disease of the
  red blood cells affecting Blacks worldwide, has
  been associated with sensorineural hearing loss
  (Scott, 1998).

45
African American BeliefsHealth

• Many African American children under 6 years of
  age have an elevated level of lead in the blood.
• This is due in part to lead levels in low-income
  housing.
• High lead levels are linked to many learning
  problems and health risks.  
• Elderly African Americans are at greatest risk
  for heart disease and hypertension, and they are
  also at risk for strokes.

46
African American BeliefsIllness

• Some African Americans believe that the cause of
  illness is punishment for disobeying God, the
  work of the devil, or in some instances, evil
  spirits.
• Disability is often interpreted in one of two
  ways
• As bad luck or misfortune and
• As the result of sins of the father.
• For the most part, African Americans do not
  exhibit any particular prejudice toward people
  with disabilities.

47
African American BeliefsIllness

• African American families are often able to
  accept children who have disabilities, especially
  those who are mildly or moderately mentally
  retarded.
• This acceptance may result, in part, from support
  within the extended family and strong ties with
  the church.
• In fact, because African Americans are practical
  people, attitudes about the causation of
  disability has no real effect on how they
  interact with families who have a disabled member
  or on how a family with a disabled member
  conducts the business of living.