Black Aesthetics Essay

experienced many hardships. I apply this belief to myself as an African American facing racism, discrimination and barriers in America. “We Wear the Mask” by Dunbar has also greatly influenced my optimism. He emphasizes the severity of the pain and suffering that the masks we wear cover up. After reading this poem I realized that all the politeness and subdue emotions that I display are phony disguises of the painful truth that I hide. I realize that wearing this mask is not doing me any favor. Now I practice living without wearing a mask, I face the truth and I do not hide my emotions. Truth is, though America is past the days of slavery, there is still racial discrimination and hardships that black Americans face. Blacks should therefore assist one another while we face these hardships. There are social phenomena that have been introduced to the black race that keeps us separated and against one another. “Escape of Clotel” by William Brown illustrates a strategy used for black liberation. After understanding the concept William Brown put in this story, I realized that we should not consider each other enemies while trying gain success in America. Instead we should be applying the same concept from this story to the contemporary society.

As a black community, we should be willing to help one another using the “ride and tie” method to establish success and black liberation. We can do so by educating one another, collaborating black businesses, and creating opportunities for each other. After all, we are the minority so should we not look out for each other instead cutting each other’s throat?

The information that I have

obtained from African American literature has been emotional, inspiring and over all empowering. Because of great authors such as Oladuah Equiano, we canrecount the horrific experience of Africans being captured from their homeland and introduced to slavery in America. As a woman with children, I can relate to the pain and agony that Linda in “The Loophole of Retreat” endured. Initially the story angered me. However, now I realize that the suffering subjected to my ancestors should not cause anger and hate in me toward their oppressors. It is said that history repeats its self and now that I know what happened before me, I am prepared for what may come. I learnt this from “The Negro Digs Up His Past” by Arthur Schomburg. The opening paragraph reads “The American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future”. Now that I have dug up some of my past, I am prepared for my future. My demeanor has changed similar to Alian Locke’s idea of “The New Negro”. I have rediscovered individuality and by removing the “mask” that I wear, I’ve experienced a “spiritual emancipation”. With the knowledge I have now, I feel I can outgrow the social status that I am forced into by society because I understand myself and my culture better. It is now my responsibility to continue educating myself, my children, peers, and fellow African Americans. I have power to make everyday decisions influenced by education and not society. I understand that now, I am a reflection of all African Americans and it is my responsibility to sustain greatness of the black man.

The Black Aesthetic evolved from enhancing African-Americans

image in the 1920’s to becoming an expression of cultural pride using Arts such as Poetry, Sculptures, Paintings, Music and Dance. It centers on Black culture and life. It keeps African American culture unique. We use it to separate ourselves from the European standards that were forced upon us during slavery. It allows us a platform to strengthen black ideals and creativity. African American culture and Black Aesthetics have influenced cultures around the world. Native Americans, Latinos and other minority ethnic groups engage in them. Black aesthetics is more than the material produced. It reflects the struggle and expresses creativity, displaying liberation and showing how much the black community has progressed. Larry Neals says “Essentially, it consists of an African-American cultural tradition. But this aesthetic is finally, by implication, broader than that tradition. It encompasses most of the usable elements of the Third World culture. The motive behind the Black aesthetic is the destruction of the white thing, the destruction of white ideas, and white ways of looking at the world.” Black Aesthetic began in the 1920’s and is still existent today. It is expressed in music, art, dance, literature and theater.

Critique to the Essay

The article is well written and fun to read. The author has given a good flow of ideas starting from the time Africans were enslaved in America, being denied the freedom to practice their culture, to the current times when the African Americans are now free to practice their culture. She shows how beautiful this culture is when she explains that even people who are not Africans like Native Americans and Latinos participate in it. She goes on to encourage fellow

African Americans to be proud of their race and become optimistic despite the challenges they face in America such as racism and discrimination. She further advises the black people to help each other as they face these challenges instead of staying separated from each other and that in learning about the miseries of the American people taken as slaves to amerce, they should not hate those who used to oppress them.

Through this article, Africa Americans are advised to take their responsibility to educate others and understand that they have the power to make decisions based on education and not what the society judges them by, because this is how the greatness of the black man will be sustained. In addition to all these, the article gives a detailed description of the black aesthetics such that even a person who has never heard of it before, upon reading the article, will be just as knowledgeable as one who has known what black aesthetics is from birth.