African and Caribbean Diaspora

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the effects the African and Caribbean diaspora has had on the African-American population throughout history. Three subtopics are covered. The first is a discussion of how it has affected the identity of African-Americans through a loss of cultural heritage. The second subtopic deals with effects on the family and how gender roles of men and women within the household have been switched. Thirdly, the loss of self-value suffered by African-Americans from a collective feeling of inferiority to white Americans and the American upper class are discussed. By the conclusion of this paper, the reader should have a sound understanding of the factors that have shaped the current African-American culture and the struggles they still face.

From the Paper:

"As stated in the introduction, the African and Caribbean diaspora refers to the forced migration of African peoples from their homelands to other parts of the world, mainly North America and the Caribbean. This paper will focus mainly around the forced North American migration. The term 'forced' is used because that was exactly how the migration came about. Put bluntly, an astounding number of African people were abducted from their homelands, separated from their families, and shipped like cargo to different areas of the world, including North America. From the first moment of abduction, African people were subjected to a series of cruel treatments meant to dehumanize and prepare them for a life to be lived as property, as slaves. The brutal and malicious acts Africans were helplessly subjected to attacked their self-value and succeeded in eroding their view of themselves not only as a collective African people, but also as human beings."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "African and Caribbean Resistance Culture: Past and Contemporary." n.d. The Mirror. Retrieved 12/13/2005. http://husky1.stmarys.ca/~hmiller/tkfive.htm.
• Barbarin, Oscar, PhD and Nichelson, Jenny. "Characteristics of African-American Families." 2002. University of North Carolina. Retrieved 12/13/2005. <http:// ssw.unc.edu/rti/presentation/PDFs/aa_families.pdf>.
• Lynis, Sargeet Grace. "The African Diaspora." 1999. Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 12/13/2005. <http://www.mvy.com/islandinfo/history africandiaspora.php>.
• Sprowl, Craig. "Treated as Animals: The African-American Struggle to Regain Self- -Value. 2/19/2003. Dr. Craig White. Retrieved 12/13/2005. <http://coursesite. cl.uh.edu/HSH/WhiteC/LITR/5731/models/midterms/mt03/mt03sprowl.htm>.

More papers on African and Caribbean Diaspora:

• Term Paper # 125310 : "African and Native-American Religions"
• Comparison Essay # 96558 : "Americans of African and Asian Decent"
• Term Paper # 103773 : "Creolization and Caribbean Culture"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: