The University of San Diego hosted the inaugural Roy L. Brooks distinguished lecture series for the first time ever. Honoring a scholar whose work has profoundly impacted the field and emphasized the importance of community involvement in promoting educational equity and racial justice. The USD community wanted to show their appreciation for Professor Roy L. Brooks for his innovative research, excellent teaching, and unyielding commitment to improving the world. Hence, they created a lecture series in his honour. Professor Brooks has made significant contributions to law and society, which several publications and books have recognized. He delivered the inaugural lecture at the American Society as a professor at USD.

Well-known sociologist and researcher Dr Derrick R. Brooms talked about the educational goals and experiences of Black males who work in Hispanic social organizations. Dr Brooms argued that the Black community must have community support and investment to achieve educational equity and racial justice. In addition, he stressed the significance of people’s efforts in making a difference and encouraged his listeners to shoot for the stars in their quest to impact the world positively.

Dr Brooms was moved to give this talk after reading a poem Professor Brooks’ late wife had written about him in which she praised his dedication to bettering the world. Dr Brooms used the poem to stress the value of having a lasting, positive effect and making progress. He also emphasized the need to counter stereotypes about Black males and their pursuit of higher education.

Significantly, Dr Brooms’ talk highlighted the necessity for community support and investment in the Black community to achieve educational equality and racial justice, shedding attention on Black males’ difficulties in accessing higher education institutions. His talk was important because it encouraged his listeners to think big and make a difference in the world via their efforts.

The problems Black males experience in higher education institutions, the significance of community support and investment in the Black community, and the need for individual acts were the central storylines and topics of the presentation (Nobles, 1976). Dr Brooms used a statement by James Baldwin, “You were not expected to aspire to excellence, you were expected to make peace,” to highlight the bias against Black men’s academic aspirations (Baldwin, 1965). He suggested that these stereotypes do more damage than good by lowering Black men’s expectations for themselves and maintaining racial inequity in educational opportunities.

Dr Brooms’s research objective is to understand better what Black males need to succeed in college. He contends that helping the Black community financially and morally is essential to achieving educational equality and racial justice. He stresses the need for genuine connections and cares for pupils to create an atmosphere encouraging achievement and belonging.

The importance of Dr Brooms’ lecture to our understanding of African American history stems from his emphasis on the difficulties Black men face when attempting to enroll in and succeed at universities, as well as the necessity of community support and investment in the Black community to advance educational equity and racial justice (Brooms, 2021). His talk encouraged his listeners to think big and make a difference in the world, stressing the significance of personal initiative.

Dr Brooms’ talk and the readings from Freedom on My Mind and “Racism and White Denial in the American Criminal Justice System” by Cheryl Harris are harmonious in their ideas and storylines. Both novels highlight how preconceived notions about African Americans stifle their potential and contribute to the upkeep of injustice in various settings. They also stress the significance of financial and social investments in advancing social justice and equality.

The part of Dr Brooms’ presentation when he read the poem his late colleague Professor Brooks’ wife had written about him stuck out the most. Professor Brooks’ wife wrote a beautiful poem about how much she adored him because he worked to make the world a better place for everyone. This event encapsulated the spirit of the first Roy L. Brooks Distinguished Lecture Series by highlighting the power of one person to change the world.

Professor Brooks’ enormous publishing record—more than 100 papers and 20 books—attests to his dedication to academic rigor and originality. As a result of his prominence as an expert in his profession, he was the first professor at USD to be asked to lecture at the American Society. Professor Brooks’s unique selling point is his capacity to engage and motivate his pupils. His pupils like him because of his boundless enthusiasm for teaching and his knack for simplifying seemingly intractable concepts.

The presentation by Dr Brooms focused on the idea of global excellence and transformative influence. He spoke on the significance of equal education and racial equality for black males and their societal place. He stressed the importance of true connections and cared for pupils in creating an atmosphere where black males may flourish.

Dr Brooms plans to study black male college students to learn more about their perspectives and identify strategies to help them succeed in school. He discussed the outcomes of his research on the needs and expectations of black males when they engage with organizations that primarily serve the Hispanic community. He talks about the value of engaging in and dedicating oneself to the black community and studying with them rather than just conducting research on them.

During his talk, Dr Brooms was often asked, “How do we get from problems to possibilities?” He claimed that we need to think that our actions may make a difference and that it is necessary to confront and disprove unfavorable views. He also tells us about the need for a setting that encourages and facilitates students’ intellectual and personal growth.

The lecture’s key storylines and themes were important for our comprehension of African American history because they shed light on the never-ending fight for racial justice and educational fairness. They also stress the significance of people’s efforts and determination to effect change. Professor Brooks inspires us all because of his commitment to scholarly and educational quality and his transformative influence on the globe via his work as an educator, researcher, and mentor (Gurin et al., 2002).

Using material like Freedom on My Mind from an African American history class might help put what you’re teaching in perspective and help students connect the lecture and their studies. The Black Power movement and the turn to a more radical, militant approach to attaining racial justice are discussed in Chapter 10, one of the most relevant chapters. Similar to Dr Brooms’ lecture, this section emphasizes the power of the person to effect change via grassroots engagement.

It is essential to use academic, secondary sources to back up our analysis, in addition to primary literature used in the course. Robert T. Palmer and J. Luke Wood’s “Navigating the Ivory Tower: The Experiences of Black Men in Graduate and Professional Education” is one such piece. This essay delves into the realities of higher education for black males, examining their obstacles and how they overcome them. This article’s ideas and tales are pertinent to Dr Brooms’ presentation and may enrich our knowledge of the difficulties he raised.

In conclusion, Roy L. Brooks Distinguished Lecture Series was enlightening because it brought light on the obstacles. Black males face higher education and the need to provide spaces that encourage and facilitate their success in the classroom. Dr Brooms’s talk focused on shifting focus from issues to opportunities and developing nurturing classroom communities that put students first. His findings highlight the need to provide Black male college students with tools and assistance to help them succeed in their studies. Dr Brooks’s talk praised the achievements of a legendary educator and researcher while also stressing the need to set lofty goals for one’s professional and educational future (Wenger, 1998). The lectures were thought-provoking and educational overall, shedding light on vital topics relevant to the world of higher learning and society at large.

References

Baldwin, J. (1965). The American Dream and the American Negro. New York: New York Times.

Brooms, D. R. (2021, February 25). What’s Going On? Black Men’s Educational Desires and Navigating Hispanic Serving Institutions [Lecture]. Inaugural Roy L. Brooks Distinguished Lecture Series, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA.

Gurin, P., Dey, E. L., Hurtado, S., & Gurin, G. (2002). Diversity and higher education: Theory and impact on educational outcomes. Harvard Educational Review, 72(3), 330-366.

Nobles, W. W. (1976). African Philosophy: Foundations for Black Psychology. Journal of Social Issues, 32(3), 119-127.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Pr

ess.

Jack Morrison

Dr. Channon Miller

African American Studies

12 May 2023

We are The People

We as beings of spirit living the human experience often find labels to be an efficient way of navigating the strange world we live in. It certainly makes sense that creating words to ascribe a potentially very dynamic dimension of our being can make communication with other individuals much easier. In particular, labels may provide us with a sense of safety and security, especially if a label identifies one’s self with a larger group of other individuals. Labels can be fun and can fill us with a sense of pride. Many feel a deep and profound attachment to the words that they feel construct their sense of self, so much so that they may even experience suffering if they feel their identity becomes challenged. In my experience, I have come to understand this phenomenon of attachment to identity as unsustainable behavior.

On February 28, 2023, I received the privilege of attending the “Black and Female Identifying” discussion panel sponsored by the Black Student Resource Center. During this panel, I found myself on multiple occasions mesmerized by the passion that 6 humans felt for their journey of navigating this world in the body of a black female. Observing their discussion, I felt internally a deep reverence for the subtle ways they expressed themselves as individuals cultured as one. From the subtle shifts in intonation in their voices to the electric body language, their shared experience, especially facing adversity navigating a culture on a wider scale providing them an uphill battle in order to maintain empowerment, joyfully reminded me of the resilience of the human spirit, and the way we manage to still have fun preserving it. I felt that during their showcase I understood the meaning of something they collectively referred to as “black girl magic”. One instance strung a dissonant chord in this story’s song, however. Upon being faced with the question of how they all managed to remain strong the consensus between them was that they found sanctity in their collective womanhood, and more specifically their “blackness”. They continued to describe the various ways in which they were “forced” to construct walls within their minds separating themselves from those who did not fit the archetype of their identities whether that be because of “whiteness” or manhood as to shield themselves from the onslaught of those who desire to degrade them because of their identities as black females. Hearing this disappointed me. I understood that if I were to walk by these women on the street whom, thanks to the facilitation of the event, I was able to experience more or less the full reality of, they would treat me differently as a white man. If i were to walk by these women on the street, I would never have experienced this black girl magic.

The quality of this adversity that I face at first may appear to be different in nature than the kind that these women experienced facing racial and sexual discrimination from other humans, however, the only real difference is the level of shared consciousness that is being limited by a resistance to the expression of love. One case requires the foremost attention as in order to experience life at its highest consciousness (a world where everybody is enlightened and practicing whatever form of magic they see as enjoyable) you must refine its qualities that manifest at a lower level (maintaining things like safety and rudimentary standards of living). In other words, it is not reasonable for me to ask that any marginalized ego allow itself to remain that way, and it is also reasonable for me as a human being to dream of a world where not a single drop of white, black, boy, or girl magic is wasted. If one is to consider the ego and separation as material and love and connectedness as divine, I see the upbringing of this world the way Martin Luther King Jr. does when he suggests that we must fight “physical force with soul force” (White 1466 of pdf version).

This lack of consciousness that arises comes from the illusion experienced by the self of separation from the rest of reality. This separation is perpetuated by the attachment to identity as if you internally associate yourself with the concept of any thing, there is a disconnection to whatever proportion of reality is not conceptualized as included in that thing. For example, if one identifies themselves as a black person, they conceptualize themselves as something other than things they don’t consider to coexist with their idea of “black person-ness”. It is for this reason that many individuals withhold their innermost magical selves. If one draws into consciousness that they are existing as a part of the universe and also that they consider that the universe is only made of one thing (the universe) a beautiful understanding unfolds that all is one. As understood by a vast variety of spiritual scholars this reality of one-ness manifests as the center point for most major religions and theologies. This understanding however is not yet fully realized by many individuals and so in this world, we have people who still value their separation. People are always going to do what feels right to them and many are content with remaining in conceptual boxes they construct for themselves. 

An individual who hasn’t fully grasped the concept of one-ness, what ceremonial magic practitioners call the “knowledge of the waters”, or what some are content conceptualizing as simply “OM” is not doing any wrong in the same way that a blue whale exploring the ocean is entirely free to do as they please. The skill of remaining in touch with this one-ness requires much meditation and practice for most people. To those who are unsure whether they believe this practice will be worth their valuable time on this planet, I shall recall the story of Matthieu Ricard. Matthieu lived his life pursuing the expansion of what he understood was knowledge and material success by working diligently and attaining his doctorate in cellular genetics. After realizing that material abundance and expansion of the collective ego did not fulfill him, he abandoned his life at the prestigious Pasteur Institute in France to find peace at a monastery in Darjeeling, India. There he studied with masters of meditation and has since dedicated his life to it. A study performed by the University of Wisconsin aimed to measure the varying levels of happiness in people who live varying lifestyles and Mattheiu was one of them. The strata for measuring happiness consisted of measuring the concentration of neurotransmitters that are associated with happiness and well being such as serotonin and oxytocin, as well as brain waves which are associated with maximizing overall brain function. Matthieu’s scores were “unprecedented” (Dell’Amore). “Sustained electroencephalographic high-amplitude gamma-band oscillations” and “phase-synchrony” were essentially supercharged in his brain while engaging in meditation;  “attention, working memory, learning, or conscious perception” are all impacted “crucially” by these phenomena (Lutz et al.). Resulting from the measurements, the University of Wisconsin dubbed him “the happiest man alive” (Dell’Amore). Matthieu is now a published author and photographer and continues to engage in meditation daily. Ricard’s story is what inspired me personally to enter the path of enlightenment, and I physically could not be more at peace in this present moment.

No matter what, we as the human race will be okay. I have seen more than enough magic from every sing human I have encountered to remain trusting in that belief. And still, I will always ask why we should be okay with being okay when we can be so much more. This world we live in has far too much potential for us to sit idle in our boxes of race, class, sex, religion, or anything else when we could all dance together to this one big beautiful song that is our strange universe. 

 

We Are the people

By Jack Morrison

 

Your body and mine see there might be a difference

Your shape your color your face, but be-

tween your loving and mine oh there is no distance

When it comes to people there’s only one

 

The apes, the silly primates

They call us the dancers or the human race

So if life gets tricky just remember one thing

Monkeys never stress no monkeys only swing

 

They play, they eat fruit, and they party

Up in the trees see they never ever let anybody

Tell them they’re anything less than magical

If you don’t know what I mean now listen here I’ll spill it all

 

There’s not a single human out here living knowing what they’re doing

We just go with the flow and live life the way we choose and

Some things work and some things don’t and you see that’s the beauty

At the end of the day it all keeps on moving

 

So beware the belief of stagnation

Down to the atoms you are made of vibrations

No matter how you see it everything changes

Including the bad times so lets have patience

 

Graciously accept the energy and stay in

The headspace that your and my meditation

Saves us from suffering and pain and

Together as a nation, we can be elation

 

 

Works Cited:

Dell’Amore, Christine. “The World’s Happiest Man is a Tibetan Monk.” Smithsonian Magazine: SmartNews, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Nov. 2012, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-worlds-happiest-man-is-a-tibetan-monk-105980614/.

 

Lutz, Antoine, et al. “Long-Term Meditators Self-Induce High-Amplitude Gamma Synchrony … – PNAS.” PNAS, 8 Nov. 2004, www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0407401101. 

 

White, Deborah Gray. Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 

 

 

 

     The African American story takes students through an immersive experience of pain and struggle, that both celebrates its impressive accomplishments as well as calls us all towards a continuous fight for equality. Mae Jemison, astronaut, author, and renowned scientist, blessed our university with a speech about her own story in becoming a trailblazer for both women and African Americans alike. Along with becoming the first African American woman to go to space, she has earned countless awards such as joining the 1993 Women’s Hall of Fame, written several novels, and is the current principal and founder of the DARPA 100 Year Starship, a program designed to develop a sustainable journey for humans to nearby stars.  The story of Mae Jemison provides knowledgeable lessons on the importance of inclusivity that mimic key themes throughout African American history such as  lasting sustainability, self empowerment, and undeniable pride.

 

     The Earth is a marvelous place of life and beauty. Yet, as Mae Jemison reminds us, humankind is dependent on the Earth to survive. The Earth, in turn, is not necessarily dependent on human survival. Thus, she chose to pursue an education in sustainability in order to carry out her vision of inclusivity. Sustainability is a key factor in all forms of science that often gets overlooked. It requires a way of thinking that maximizes benefit, while at the same time minimizing impact. Jemison was passionate about not only creating a lasting impact on the world, but also in finding her own personal sense of success. While she enjoyed her time as an astronaut, Jemison spoke of her lack of satisfaction from such a career, even with NASA pushing her to continue, saying “People want you to behave in the model that they want, rather than what you as an individual want. How do you stay true to yourself, and use your platform so people truly hear you?” This quote illustrates her understanding that being sustainable requires a passion combined with a powerful voice. The Montgomery Bus Boycott mimics this narrative with its use of Rosa Parks. Many know the story of Rosa Parks as a strong woman who refused to give up her seat on a bus to her white counterpart. Yet, what is often overlooked is the thousands of other men and women who contributed to the same movement, and agreed to have Rosa Parks stand as their representative for such an important protest. This decision was made using the same logic as Mae Jemison, choosing a representative to maximize the impact of a voice so as to be truly heard, and have a lasting impact that is as inclusive as possible. 

     What does it mean to be empowered? Mae Jemison attempts to answer this question with a statement from her own experiences in self-empowerment, saying “You have to take your power, you have to own it. To be empowered, you must believe that you have the right to participate . . . You must also believe you have the right to contribute something, and that you have something to contribute. You then have to risk making that contribution.” This quote directly relates to the same narratives of black power and self-help during the fight for civil rights. Just as Jemison had to take her own power, black people had to find their own strength, separate from a government that had abandoned them. This was accomplished by using concepts like self-help, being fully inclusive of black communities through supporting black business and black leaders (White 625). What began as self-help, would eventually grow into a larger black power movement. This movement included strategies to more specifically target methods to regain empowerment for all African Americans. These tactics ranged from obtaining political relevance to supporting the safety of black people from lynching or police brutality. In each case, it was absolutely necessary for the involvement of all black people nationwide in order to empower each individual. 

 

     During the closing statements of her speech, Jamison was asked a question to provide one piece of advice that she has learned from her struggles as an African American woman. She responded with a powerful quote, saying “you must be able to get dirty”. This remark goes beyond her youthful upbringing of playing in the mud, and instead speaks to the resilience required to be successful as a minority in this country. This resilience mimics the struggles faced by fellow African American women fighting for feminist rights during the civil rights movement. Freedom on My Mind states, “the phenomenon of being black and female, in a country that is both racist and sexist” (White 970). To combat these struggles, it was necessary that women of color prioritized inclusivity. An individual black woman stood little chance of triumphing her oppression alone. Thus, many turned to organizations such as the National Black Feminist Organization (Barnes). Mae Jemison was no different. She spoke of the discrimination she faced as a black woman in a field dominated by white men. Yet, she drew power knowing that she could be an inspiration for many to come. If she were able to continue to stand proud, she would be able to empower many more like her and increase inclusivity in the scientific community. Even at a young age, Jemison was able to recall her Kindergarten teacher doubting her goals of one day becoming a scientist. When revealing her dream, the teacher responded “Don’t you mean you want to be a nurse.” Tragically, it was not uncommon for educators in predominantly black areas to look down upon the capabilities of black students. Chapter Sixteen of Freedom on My Mind reminds us that as gang violenced increased during the late twentieth century, even more so were innocent black people grouped into the stereotype that all Black people were violent criminals. These stereotypes existed everywhere from poverty-ridden cities to middle-class school systems, never were black people safe from prejudice. Yet, Mae Jemison reminds us that with pride in your desires and dreams, black people are capable of superimposing the systemic racism that has plagued the nation for so many centuries, and move toward an inclusive community. 

 

     Mae Jemison is one of many African Americans with a story of struggle, perseverance, and eventual success. Her remarkable achievements as a scientist inspire women and African Americans alike in the growth towards a fully inclusive world. With her story, powerful parallels can be drawn to the rich tapestry of history through key themes of sustainability, self-empowerment, and pride. Each of these themes directly correlate to lessons that can be viewed as growth in our march towards equality, but also as a constant reminder to continue fighting. 

 

WORKS CITED

 

Alexander, Kerri Lee. “Mae Jemison.” National Women’s History Museum, 2019.

Accessed: 1 May 2023.

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/mae-jemison

 

Barnes, Sharon L. “Black Feminism.” The American Mosaic: The African American 

Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2023, Accessed 8 May 2023. 

https://africanamerican2-abc-clio-com.sandiego.idm.oclc.org/Topics/Display/2010428?sid=1405223&cid=150&subId=32&useConcept=False. 

 

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2021, August 6). Women in the Civil Rights Movement 

Historic Context Statement and AACRN listing guidance (African American Civil Rights Network) . National Parks Service. Accessed 10 May 2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/women-in-the-civil-rights-movement-historic-context-statement-and-aacrn-listing-guidance-african-american-civil-rights-network.htm 

 

White, Deborah Gray, Mia Bay, and Waldo E. Martin Jr. Freedom on My Mind: A History 

of African Americans with Documents, Third Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s, (2020).

 

The blog I attended was called Black and Born Outside of the U.S., which included several USD speakers from Africa and the challenges and obstacles they faced when they first arrived in the U.S. The discussion contained many questions on how those students/teachers adapted to the social and political changes from Africa to the U.S. Some questions that were involved in the discussion were the cultural shocks, unexpected challenges before arriving, perception of racial identity in Africa versus the U.S., and in what ways the audience could support those that identify as Black who were born outside of the U.S. These themes and narratives of this program help understand how different the history and discrimination of African and African Americans went through, this is due to the country of origin, socioeconomic background, and personal circumstances and the different experiences that they both faced. 

One of the most significant issues African students/teachers faced was not being entirely accepted into the African American community, and moving to a different country, especially when cultural and social differences are very intimidating. Language was one of the issues that the African students faced because the vocabulary and use of words were much different between the African and African American communities. Even being the same skin color, there was a sense of isolation and physical differences between the African and African American. They were still seen as outsiders. According to author Ohimai Amaize, he says “For a very long time in the twentieth century, during Jim Crow years in particular, African-Americans were encouraged to shun the idea of a connection to Africa, to think poorly of Africa–to celebrate traits in themselves, which supposedly distanced themselves from Africa, in other words, to think of themselves as more cultured, more Christian, more White, more civilized than Africans and therefore to look at ‘Africanness’ as a matter of shame or a kind of taint that need to be avoided” (Amaize, 2021). This quote represents the harsh reality of how African Americans were sought to view Africans. However, they had little knowledge of how to judge Africans.

 In Africa, the students/teachers were more exploited by tribalism than racism. The perception of race was more common than ethnicity in America; when growing up in Africa, race was not something to consider. For example, living in Kenya was more about what tribe you came from rather than the color of your skin; however, African and African Americans, to some degree, had the same sense of tribalism, knowing what is most important and what to value in life. The black identity had to do a lot with the location you grew up in. Africans at first did not understand the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Africans had an uneducated belief that African Americans had much more resources and overall quality of life than Africans. African people had to undergo real-life problems such as tribal wars, food, water, shelter, etc. But when African people came to the United States, they understood the horrific history of racism and segregation that African Americans went through. They understood how discrimination affected every aspect of life, employment, education, and interactions with law enforcement. During the discussion, one of the African students included, “You’re the ones who sold us” meaning African Americans have that perception and assumption that African people were a big reason for bringing enslaved people to the United States. This created a boundary between African and African Americans because they didn’t believe that Africans had the same experiences toward slavery as much as African Americans did. These cultural differences and experiences between African and African Americans lead to misunderstanding and hesitation rather than embracing and understanding their differences and connecting from similar backgrounds.

Although there are many differences regarding historical background and ethnicity, Africans and Americans are more similar than different. African immigrants often experience discrimination in the United States. “Indeed, black Africans are at greater risk for indicators of discrimination such as skill devaluation, underemployment, and lower earnings despite high levels of human capital among this group” (Saasa p.198). An apparent similarity between African and African Americans is that they both have African heritage. While the experiences of slavery were different for African and African Americans, they both contain ancestral roots from Africa. African culture played a significant role in the influence of African American culture. From the beginning of slavery in the United States, African culture was crucial to slavery’s way of life. Dancing such as Ring Shout “Practiced in both the West Indies and North America, the ring shout combined West African – based music and dance traditions with the passionate Protestantism of the Second Great Awakening to create a powerful new ritual that offered emotional and physical release” (Freedom On My Mind p. 222). This quote explains the significant importance of cultural dancing and music because enslaved people could only find a few joys in the world. The Ring Shout was a substantial element in their culture. Another similarity between African and African Americans was family and community.

What Africans and African Americans care for and value most is their families. During the Black Power movement, all African Americans had was their community, it was them against the rest of the country. Staying close to family was vital for self-growth; families taught the values of preserving cultural traditions and the sense of core values of how to be a good person/citizen. These essential life lessons are necessary for people to make good choices and stay on the right path. One of the essential values of families and communities was the sense of belonging and the safeness and comfort of that feeling. Being a minority in a country is isolating and intimidating, but having a strong community/family can help overcome those fears and result in a more positive and happier life. It is imperative to understand that African Americans may have social and cultural differences in today’s world. Still, they will always have similarities no matter what, and to embrace the similarities, both African Americans and Africans need to understand the history of each other. By doing that, there will be a clearer mind on both sides. 

Although there are many differences between Africans and Americans, which may prevent the connection between the two, there are also many similarities. Coming from Africa to America is challenging because people of the same skin color see you as different and therefore don’t fully accept you. While that may seem complicated, undertaking their reasons for that and adapting to it is the only thing that can be done. Both African and African Americans need to understand that they are the minority race of the United States, and they should not divide themselves. Instead, they should embrace their cultural and social differences and come together. At the same time, their language and culture may be different today; in the past, dancing and music such as Ring Shout was part of the foundation of that culture. Family and community are vital elements in African and African American cultures; they need a solid community to self-grow and adapt to the cruelty and discrimination of the outside world. This issue with African and African American citizens in the United States is improving; dividing them is never the answer because isn’t that what they are trying to fight? It is crucial to understand the Black history for this situation because then both African and African Americans will have a much better understanding of each other, leading to embracement rather than separation. 

 

Works Cited: 

Sassa, K Saasa. “Discrimination, Coping and Social Exclusion Among African Immigrants in the United States: A Modern Analysis” Google Scholar, Oxford Academic Social Work 12 June, 2019 p. 198

https://academic.oup.com/sw/article/64/3/198/5514032

Ohimai, Amaize. “The Social Distance between Africa and African-Americans” JSTOR DAILY

14 July, 2021. 

https://daily.jstor.org/the-social-distance-between-africa-and-african-americans/

 

White Deborah Gray, Bay Mia, Martin Jr. E Waldo. “Freedom On My Mind” New York City, Bedford/ St. Martins, 2021

 

 

Sam Jorgenson

Dr. Channon S. Miller

HIST-128-01

12 May 2023

Red Lip Theology Blog

On February 27th, 2023, I traveled to the Copley Library to hear author and theologian Candice Marie Benbow speak about her book, Red Lip Theology. In this collection of essays, Candice explores topics such as faith, identity, and authenticity. Her goal is to give black women who feel unsupported or isolated from the Church a voice by sharing her experiences growing up in the Black Church and how that has shaped the women she is today. She articulates her message using stories from her childhood, Black Church culture, and her journey beyond; to become a theologian. Her central statement is that the impact and influence of African American women in the Black Church have been underappreciated.

Candice was raised by her single mother with a strong emphasis on faith and femininity. She describes her mother’s situation, recalling that “as a single mother raising a Black girl during the height of the crack epidemic and the rise of gang violence, Mama believed the church would keep me safe” (Benbow, 2023). Her mother was a college professor, and she raised Candice with the same beliefs as herself. She always urged herself and Candice to push back against the norm of sexism that Black women experience throughout life, but especially in the Church. Her mother had very limited options, as many criticized her for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Her mother was forced to stand in front of the Church and apologize for being pregnant, but refused as she felt no shame or regret for her pregnancy. However, the father, who was in the choir, was not expected to apologize or acknowledge the situation. This shows the disparity that existed between Black men and women in the Church, which plays an extremely influential role in Candice’s life. She remembers how the church and her family would make bets that she would “go off to college, become ‘buck-wild,’ get pregnant, and be forced to drop out. It would be years before I could see the projection behind their doubts about me, but as a child, I didn’t understand how people could be so mean” (Benbow, 9). Candice and so many young black children are exposed to racism in many different forms and at a much younger age than many realize. In Candice’s mothers’ case, even in the Black Church. The same Black Church that was built because previous invisible churches, or secret institutions where black people could practice faith and Christianity freely, stood strong and preserved by black women. Even now, black women are still living in spaces where they are taught to be inferior because of slight differences in family structures. In the introduction to her book, Candice recalls how the Black Church was planning a ceremony called “Hoody Sunday” to commemorate the murder of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. Three days before “Hoody Sunday,” Rekia Boyd was murdered in Chicago by an off-duty police officer. Candice was told there was no mention of Rekia because she was a woman, and the pastors were “leaving it up to their respective youth and women’s ministries to honor her…The omission of Rekia from any institutionalized movement reinforced Black churches’ refusal to see the conditions and experiences of Black girls and women as the same as those of Black boys and men” (Benbow, XXIII). This frustration that Candice felt has the same roots of so many African Americans who struggled to understand why they were living in a country that didn’t support them. Why should Black men be drafted to fight in Vietnam when the country they’re fighting for doesn’t support them back? Why have Black women put so much effort in faith and the Black Church when they don’t receive that same effort back? The Church was all many Black girls had; a place where no mask had to be worn, and no racism was experienced. Most importantly, Candice’s mother never scorched the fire in Candice to ask questions about faith, no matter what the question was. She often asked her mother, “Do we owe the churches to change and push themselves to be the best they can be? How do we acknowledge the wrongs the Church has committed?” (Candice, 2023). She’s seen how the Black Church has treated her mother but doesn’t yet understand why.

After her mother died, Candice’s world fell apart. The connection she shared with her mother was deep and had profound effects on multiple aspects of her life. She began to struggle in college and with the Church, as praying and attending mass brought her too much pain. Her idea of faith had been so intertwined with her mother that when she died, her vision of faith felt much too hollow and inauthentic. As a result, she took a year and a half break from the Church to focus on grief and self-love. She describes how her college refused to give her a leave of absence three times because the death of her mother and her encounter with sexual assault wasn’t a valid enough excuse. She felt embarrassed and angry, as she felt they wanted her “to be like her ancestors who watched their loved ones die, be killed, or be sold off, and had no choice but to keep working in the fields while they mourned” (Benbow 68). She uses this comparison of her experience to her ancestors forced into slavery to reinforce the idea that Black women are disproportionately discriminated against in multiple areas of life. Even throughout the study of African American History, most of the famous names we hear, and study are Black men, even though Black women have had just as important of an impact on the Black Freedom struggle and in the Black Church. Throughout history, black women have “understood that their race, class, and gender intersected and reinforced one another. They were poor not just because they were female or because they were black but because they were both female and black” (Freedom on My Mind Chapter 16). This “double battle” has largely prevented black female voices from being heard or remembered, which is a shame because those voices are how we study the past and how those events have led to the present. The history of African Americans have been used to justify the racism and mistreatment they have encountered since the beginning of slavery, so it’s extremely important that Black women are heard too in order to create an accurate representation of African American History.

In this time away from the Church, she attended weekly Buddhist talks that explored topics of self-love and acceptance. These meetings created a shift in Candice’s mindset where she began to strengthen her relationship with herself. She realized that “removing the expectations and labels of God restored the faith and strengthened the relationship…God can take many forms, even ones that the Church may not consider “normal” or acceptable” (Benbow, 2023). She describes that, at the very core, Red Lip Theology is rooted in truth. It’s dedicated to giving women who are deeply faithful, but also different from the “norm” a connection where they feel related to, accepted, and strengthened by Candice’s story. She shares that she hopes the book will encourage other women to refuse to stand down against the racist and sexist ideas and beliefs that can control the Church in order to cultivate a space where everyone is welcome. She’s working for a future in which black women play a much larger role in the Black Church and have more influence in the world to come.

 

Sources :

Benbow, Candice Marie (2023, February 27). Red Lip Theology With Candice Marie Benbow [Speech & Book Signing]. Copley Library, Mother Hill Reading Room, University of San Diego, California.

White, D.G., Bay, M., & Martin, W.E. (2021). Freedom on My Mind, Third Edition: A History of African Americans, with Documents (Third Edition). Bedford/St. Martins. Gilkes, Cheryl Townsend (2023, November 1), If It Wasn’t For Women: Black Women’s Experience And Womanist Culture In Church and Community. First Edition. Orbis Books.

About a year ago in April 2022, the Humanities Center at USD held an online presentation featuring Alexis V. Jackson and her poetry collection, My Sister’s Country. Along with Jackson, Dr. Channon Miller and Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffi joined for the discussion of her poetry collection. This presentation allowed the audience to examine the personal experiences of African-Americans, both past and present, that others outside of the African-American community could not understand. Jackson’s poetry collection not only includes her own profound work but also possesses Zuihitsus, a type of poetry that collages pieces of other’s work to create a poem in response to one’s own surroundings. Her pieces of Zuihitsu include fragmented pieces of the voices of other African-American women, creating a platform to elevate the voice of Black women to show their collective experience and not just hers.

Jackson’s presentation of her poetry work “My Sister’s Country” is significant to our understanding of African American history because her poems demonstrate the enduring impact of past experiences, revealing how they continue to reverberate in the present and shape the lived realities of Black individuals in America. In art and cultural movements, we see throughout history that poetry became a way to express the complexities of Black identity, explore racial pride, challenge stereotypes, preserve African culture, and critique social and political issues. Poetry provides an outlet for African-Americans to share their lived experiences, perspectives, and emotions in their own words. 

When tracing the origins of African-American poetry, we find its roots deeply intertwined with Africa’s ancient oral traditions that predate the era of slavery. This consisted of storytelling, proverbs, folklore, legends, and many other forms. These are “…kept alive by being passed on by word of the mouth from one generation to the next” (Hamlet, 74). Oral communication and the use of language have always been one of the dominating features of African culture. It is said that “The people’s cultural mores, values, histories and religions were transmitted from generation to generation by elderly individuals… who were known to be excellent storytellers” (Hamlet, 74).  However, when the slave trade began in the fifteenth century, African culture underwent significant transformations as enslaved individuals were forcibly separated from one another by slave traders. This restricted all forms of communication among enslaved people. While the purpose of this isolation was to suppress rebellions, its additional consequence stifled African and African-American voices, thereby preventing the passing down of traditional culture across generations. By incorporating elements of African storytelling into their poetry, both past and modern-day African-American poets maintain a connection to their ancestral traditions and convey the richness of African and African-American cultures. It provided an opportunity for African Americans to reclaim elements of their culture that had been appropriated or eroded by the dominant white society, while also preserving the remaining aspects of their heritage that could be passed down to future generations.

African-American poetry started to form rapidly during the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement that used art to express African-Americans politically and socially. While many forms of art emerged from this movement, poetry was one of the most pivotal components, especially with the importance of oral tradition within many African cultures. Most of the poetry during the Harlem Renaissance had the intention of reaching out to the white audience. By  seeking the attention of white audiences, poets aimed to challenge the prevailing stereotypes, prejudices, and marginalization that African-Americans faced in society. White readers were invited to empathize with these experiences, fostering a greater understanding and promoting dialogue and solidarity across racial lines. However, some viewed that poetry and other art should only be used for political advantage. For example, “Du Bois had insisted that ‘all Art is propaganda,’ by which he meant that art should deal with subjects that would advance the black freedom struggle” (White et al., p. 1173). Others thought that poetry should be directed at a more integrationist approach rather than separatist. Regardless, poetry emanating from both perspectives exerted a significant influence. Additionally, Fire!!, an African-American magazine dedicated to the cultural art movement, “…would embrace the lower classes and the gritty realities confronting blacks, not just genteel, middle-class concerns” (White et al., p. 1173). Poetry provided African-Americans with a powerful medium through which they could authentically express their raw, unfiltered, and often harrowing experiences.

One of the most notable poets of the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes. Hughes played a crucial role in popularizing African-American poetry and making it accessible to a broader audience. His poems were published in mainstream magazines, newspapers, and literary journals, reaching readers beyond the confines of the Harlem Renaissance. By bringing African-American poetry into the mainstream, Hughes helped to challenge the notion that African-American literature was only of interest to a niche audience, paving the way for future generations of African-American poets to gain recognition and acclaim. It also defeated the stereotype that African-Americans were intelligently inferior. 

My Sister’s Country is a great modern-day example of how African-American poetry has developed over time to become a significant cultural influence in America. Poems from Jackson’s collection include both past and present-day components of African-American culture: lyrics from modern-day black singers, references to proverbs and religion, and references to how the slave trade and oppression against African-Americans have shaped the lives of the African-American community today. Her poems specifically depict a deep level of emotion that allows others to humanize African and African-American experiences. Unless you are African-American yourself, people can’t fully comprehend the severity of how the slave trade and racism affected African-Americans and their families, even to this day. Poetry serves as a channel for evoking and eliciting emotional responses from readers, endeavoring to communicate personal experiences with the intention of creating a rapport grounded in connection and understanding. My Sister’s Country also promotes intersectionality and makes mention of the stereotypes that African culture has also conducted, such as in the poem “My Sister’s Country” when Jackson mentions small details such as saying “Here, it is criminal for men to make breakfast” (Jackson, 23). African-Americans were once largely viewed as one-dimensional, but Jackson’s poetry illuminates the multifaceted nature inherent within the African-American experience. It highlights that African Americans do not have a singular or homogeneous experience but face a range of intersecting social, economic, and political factors that shape their lives. It recognizes the complexity of individual identities and experiences, debunking the notion that all African Americans share identical perspectives, struggles, or achievements. This helps eliminate stereotypes that all African-Americans are inherently the same and contributes to the elimination of stereotypes that preserve the idea of homogeneity of African-Americans,  recognizing the great amount of diversity within the community. In the poem “Therapy Session Number 19”, there are also mentions of the additional challenges of being an African-American woman such as “…trying to normalize the word vagina. And the habit of blaming systems over individuals” and “…only [drinking] coffee when dieting” and “I hate having a body” (Jackson, p.60). These are just very few of the multiple references she makes throughout her poetry collection of being not only the experiences of being African-American but a woman as well. African-American poetry is a great way to promote intersectionality not only for themselves, but for other minorities around the world too.

The narratives and themes of African-American poetry are significant as they provide authentic voices, humanize the African-American experience, challenge stereotypes, inspire resistance, and offer cultural and historical context. They contribute to a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of African-American history by centering African-Americans’ perspectives, struggles, and triumphs. Jackson’s “My Sister’s Country” exemplifies the evolution of African-American poetry, incorporating elements of contemporary black culture, religious references, and reflections on the lasting impact of the slave trade and oppression. Ultimately, African-American poetry, as exemplified by Jackson’s work, serves as a channel for evoking emotional responses, bridging gaps of understanding, and challenging societal narratives. It allows African-Americans to share their lived experiences, perspectives, and emotions in their own words, reclaiming their voices and preserving cultural heritage. By engaging with African-American poetry, we gain valuable insights into African-Americans’ historical and contemporary struggles, triumphs, and complexities, contributing to a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of American history and culture.

Works Cited

White, Deborah G., et al. Freedom On My Mind: A History of African Americans With Documents. Bedford/St. Martins Macmillan Learning, 2021.

Hamlet, Janice D. “Word! The African American Oral Tradition and Its Rhetorical Impact on American Popular Culture.” Black History Bulletin, vol. 74, no. 1, 2011, pp. 27–31. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24759732. Accessed 11 May 2023.

Jackson, Alexis V. My Sisters’ Country. Kore Press, 2022.