Understanding the Importance of African American Studies

There is such a great importance to the studies of African American History. As stated by George Santayana, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it".
The history of the African Americans in America can sometimes be a touchy subject because of all the attachments that comes along with the story. The mere thought of the North American slave trade in such a modern time as this causes many to feel uncomfortable. As uncomfortable as it may seem I think there is a lot to be celebrated post the Slavery Era, Reconstruction Era and Civil Rights Era. Through the proper study of African American History/American History/World History one can see the great maturity of a Nation!
African Americans and America have come alone way since our original blend in 1619 when the first 20 slaves arrived to the Colony of Jamestown, Virginia. If you truly examine the tenacity and the courage that was displayed by these Africans turned Americans you would be nothing but inspired. Here you have a people that even when being bound by chains and restricted by the laws of the land, still found a way to rise above these complexities.
A clear and precise study of the African American people should be mandatory to all Americans because many of the traditional History books in the classrooms throughout American have left many to believe that the African American people have always been a helpless/hopeless people, a people of despair. However, when one thoroughly study and examine the likes of Anthony Johnson who was one of the original 20 slaves turned first African American Entrepreneur, Denmark Vesey who fought to liberate his people from slavery by organizing 9000 slaves and freemen to revolt and Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler who was the first African American woman to earn a medical degree in the US, they would conclude that African Americans have always been innovators, fighters and intelligent.
Growing up as a young African American male I often felt lost as if I had no identity. In my mind all whites were slave owners and all blacks were slaves. I lived with this for some 30 years. This made me feel as if whites were superior and that we as blacks were inferior. Once I became a dad to a boy child I had it in my mind that my son could not and would not grow up not knowing who he is as an African American. So I told myself that I must learn and teach from this point on. When my son reached his preschool years and Black History Month rolled around I felt as if I was being put to the test. Of course he would start to learn about the first of Black History Month's Fav 5 "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr". I felt that there could not have been a better time than this to teach him more. Therefore, we packed our bags and headed to Atlanta for the weekend.
This trip to Atlanta was the start of his cultural education as well as mine. While in Atlanta we visited the Dr. King Memorial Site and King Center. My then 5 year old son was very intrigued with the images he saw on the walls throughout the King Center and was fascinated to actually see the very house that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. grew up in. Our Atlanta fun soon came to an end and we had to get back home to St. Louis and prepare for another week of pre-school and work. Though we had left Atlanta and had left the King Center my sons' mind did not stop ticking. On our drive home my son inquisitiveness kicked into full gear. He asked me, "Daddy, can you turn off the radio so we can talk?" From this point on I became a true student of the history of people that defeated all odds.
Back home from our Atlanta trip my son would often sit on my lap, turn off the TV and ask, "Daddy, would you tell me about more important black people I should know about in our history?'" These questions and my own quest for knowledge led me to doing extensive research of the African American people. After spending countless days and nights studying I was beginning to fall in love with who I was as an African American. I know longer felt inferior; neither did I feel that whites were superiors.
For the first time in my life I felt that we were all the same. I found many eye opening facts like blacks and whites would work together, fight together and live together in times as early as the 1600's. Do this mean that all blacks weren't just slaves and that all whites weren't just slave owners? That's what it is beginning to look like. Why then are these things not discussed in classrooms and homes all across America? This would truly put an end to the age old race divide and would instill great self value and self worth to the millions of African American kids who grow up feeling the same way I did.
Learning and teaching my own history (the African American History) in my own home led me to putting together a collection of phenomenal African American Achievers' biographical summaries and composing them into a book entitled "RISEN: From Jamestown to the White House." I wrote the book RISEN after being inspired by my now 8 year old son to inspire others through the lives and contributions of some great African American Achievers dating back to the year 1619 when the first 20 slaves arrived to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia up to our present day in time when we have a family occupying the White House that resembles those same 20 passengers that arrived some 300 years ago.
To conclude there is a great importance in studying African American History which includes instilling self worth/self value in African Americans, it showcases African Americans as we truly are, as a tenacious and hopeful people and it paints a beautiful picture of Americas Maturity!

Anthony McDonald is an author who lives in St. Louis Missouri. He grew up in the crime-ridden section of the North Side. As an A student in an inner city environment, he often felt ostracized from his peers. His desire to belong complicated with a challenging home life led him on the wrong path of life. Years later an intervention of faith and purpose instilled a desire to change. Today McDonald's greatest joy is being a father to his son, Anthony JR. He plans to pursue his dream to obtain a higher education degree in African-American studies.
More about Anthony McDonald and "RISEN: From Jamestown to the White House"

The African American Church - Growth, Essence and Context!

When it comes to the historical development of the African-American Church like no other, various areas of expertise were blended and many backgrounds united on a common ground. The main purpose of these unified bodies was to establish and advocate a common goal for the development of the African-American Church, which some refer to in an interchangeable manner as the Black Church.

The collaboration of these inspiring individuals, and functional groups, were centered on a shared and singular vision of establishing and uplifting the African-American Church for African descendants. There were many pioneers in this effort including the following: W. E. B. Dubois who authored The Negro Church (1903); Carter G. Woodson, author of The History of the Negro Church (1921); E. Franklin Frazier who penned The Negro Church in America (1963); and Benjamin E. Mays and Jacob Nicholson, who collaborated on writing The Negro's Church (1969).

Additional support was received from Colgate Rochester Divinity School in 1966 by the hiring of Dr. Henry H. Mitchell as the first Martin Luther King, Jr., Professor of Black Studies. The university provided intellectual, professional, and inspirational development and guidance coupled with transformative leadership for the establishment and enhancement of the African-American Church.

Inspiration and development were acquired in the areas of innovative teaching and learning based on imaginative vision and ministerial leadership of Black Christianity. Potency in the program fostered and cemented when Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans bonded together to support and promote the program by taking courses to strengthen their vision and base of knowledge regarding African-American Christianity.

Consequently, the springboard effect of this critical and methodical approach evolved into a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary intellectual richness of practical and theoretical African-American Spirituality. The interdisciplinary area resulted from an integration of rich and vibrant knowledge from a perspective of multiple disciplines, which holistically solved many issues through the medium of research and educational applications.

On the other hand, the multidisciplinary integration of efforts encompassed various fields of study which were delved into, thus resulted in conversations which illuminated the objective areas of African-American Studies and the Black Church. Many of the applications used during the program investigated and solved grievous problems arising from:

1. Racism and its disparaging and discriminatory impact on African-Americans
2. Sexism and how such practiced negatively affected African-Americans
3. Classist society and its adverse influence on African-American members of society

The eventual realization of this combined undertaking proved that the Black Church was and still is a necessary, vital, integral, and developing component of American society. The awakening resulted in the Black Church emerging in the forefront of religion as an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and culturally dynamic component: Naturally, it cuts across the spectrum of African-American spirituality thus providing a larger view and context of the Black Church.

Joseph S. Spence, Sr. (aka "Epulaeryu Master"), is the author of "The Awakened One Poetics" (2009), which is published in seven different languages. He also co-authored two poetry books, "A Trilogy of Poetry, Prose and Thoughts for the Mind, Body and Soul" (2005), and "Trilogy Moments for the Mind, Body and Soul," (2006). He invented the Epulaeryu poetry form, which focuses on succulent cuisines. Joseph is a Goodwill Ambassador for the state of Arkansas. He has completed over twenty years of service with the U.S. Army.

http://www.trilogypoetry.com/

High Blood Pressure Causes in African Americans

More than 40 percent of African Americans suffer from high blood pressure, according to a study just released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Many theories exist about why black Americans experience higher levels of hypertension disease than other groups. One major study suggested a connection between high levels of uric acid and hypertension among blacks as a possible explanation. Researchers and medical professionals already know that excessive levels of uric acid are a major cause of kidney disease. African Americans also experience higher levels of kidney disease.
Other theories include a failure by bodily systems to eliminate excessive salt in the urine and the presence of higher levels of the hormone aldosterone. Let's look briefly at each of these.
Do High Uric Acid Levels Cause Hypertension?
Study results, published in the American Heart Association's Hypertension Journal in 2006, revealed a stronger connection between high uric acid levels and high blood pressure (HBP) among African Americans than for other groups. The level of uric acid in the body is influenced by diet. For example, eating large amounts of protein can increase uric acid levels.
Usually, uric acid is eliminated through urine. But, when the body produces excessive amounts of uric acid and the kidneys fail to remove enough of it, then it can build up in the blood.
None of the 9,104 participants in the study, conducted by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, had HBP when the study began. Participants represented multiple races and ethnic groups and ranged in age from 45 to 64. This was the first time that African Americans had been included in this type of study in numbers that were statistically significant. All participants' blood pressure and uric acid levels were examined every three years.
Participants whose uric acid levels registered in the highest quartile had an increased risk for high blood pressure of about 15 percent. The strongest link between uric acid and hypertension was found among black men. The interracial findings were particularly telling. African American women whose results registered in the highest quartile were at a 30 percent higher risk for hypertension than African American women who ranked in the lowest quartile. African American men in the highest percentile had double the risk of African American men in the lowest percentile.
The implications from the study suggest that if doctors can lower uric acid levels in patients, they might be able to prevent or control high blood pressure in black Americans and other groups with higher than normal levels. A blood test for uric acid levels could predict whether an individual was at risk.
Does Excessive Salt in the Urine Cause HBP?
In a healthy body, stress is relieved by the release of sodium into the bloodstream. That salt is then later removed from the body through urine. However, in a recent study, researchers found that this fail-safe system breaks down in about one-third of African American youths. The result is that excessive salt levels remain in the body, putting them at risk for high blood pressure now and as they grow older.
The study of 168 black and white youths by researchers at the Medical College of Georgia found significant differences between the functioning of this natural blood pressure regulator system in the two groups. The system, known as renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAAS), works by instructing the kidneys to retain salt when blood pressure is too low and excrete it as urine when it is too high.
Researchers are doing further studies to determine whether a genetic mutation may interfere with the proper release of salts from the kidneys in African Americans.
Is Too Much Aldosterone the Cause?
Another possible cause may be aldosterone, according to a study conducted at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Aldosterone is a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands that causes kidneys to retain salt.
The study, whose findings appeared in the September 17, 2009, edition of the American Journal of Hypertension, compared African Africans with HBP to those without it. The 224 blacks with HBP had statistically significant higher levels of aldosterone than the 217 blacks who did not have it.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute for more than a decade, suggests that aldosterone not only contributes to high blood pressure but to heart, kidney, and blood vessel diseases among African Americans as well.
Researchers continue to study these and other theories that may one day reveal the key to preventing high blood pressure among all groups.
Copyright 2010 by High Blood Pressure Natural Remedies.

Sher Harrison researches and reports on health-related issues. 

Effective Hair Loss Treatments For African American Hair - Tips For Growing Black Hair

In order for African Americans to successfully stop hair loss, they must take an approach that involves using regular hair loss treatments along with remedies that are designed especially for growing black hair. You must determine the type of treatment you will need in order to get your strands to grow back.
Why Strands Shed Excessively
Medical conditions such as anemia, thyroid problems, hormonal fluctuations, stress, unhealthy eating habits, or vitamin deficiencies can cause you to lose an excessive number of strands. It is considered normal to lose around 100 strands per day. Anything more than that is a problem.
Decide on a Course of Action
Talk with a physician or licensed dermatologist about your excessive shedding. This will uncover if it is caused by a medical condition. If there is a medical issue, then get treatment for that condition and that may be all that is necessary for your strands to grow back. Remember that certain medications can cause shedding. Do not stop taking medicines or switch medications without consulting your physician.
Nutritional Issues
Nutritional deficiencies can also affect your hair. Make sure that you are getting enough vitamin B and zinc. These vitamins keep the strands strong and cause them to grow. Biotin is a form of vitamin B that can really help regrow hair. You can also get vitamin B from potatoes.
You should also eat spinach, cabbage, and broccoli because they are loaded with iron, which is essential for maintaining healthy strands.
African American Hair Loss Treatments that Promote Growth
African American strands are very susceptible to drying out and becoming brittle, which can lead to breakage. Strands that are chemically treated are even more vulnerable. Keep in mind that your strands are made primarily out of protein. Strands that are constantly styled with perms and relaxers are stripped of their proteins. The protein must be replaced or the strands will break.
Give yourself regular hot oil treatments to give your strands their strength back. You can use castor oil, coconut oil, or olive oil. Massage one of these natural oils onto your scalp. Put a plastic cap on your head and leave it on for at least one hour. The cap will lock in the heat from your head. This will allow the natural oils to penetrate your strands and follicles.
Other Effective Hair Loss Treatments
You can also regrow your strands using certain herbs. Saw palmetto is very effective. This herb blocks the production of the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT causes thinning because it attacks the follicles causing the strands to fall out. Rosemary, nettle root extract, and pumpkin seed are other herbal options.

Jenna Grey is a writer who does extensive research on treatments that help re-grow hair.

Weak African American Leadership in New York, Responsible For the Gentrification of Harlem

The following statement was made in the July, 1911 edition of Harlem Home News, a real estate publication for Harlem at the time.
The Negro invasion must be vigilantly fought, fought until it is permanently checked, or the invaders will slowly but surely drive the whites out of Harlem.
One hundred years later, the script has now been flipped. Today's headline would read:
The Caucasian invasion must be vigilantly fought, fought until it is permanently checked, or the invaders will slowly, but surely, drive the African American out of Harlem.
Harlem became an African American community beginning in the early 1900's. It started with the Great Migration - a period where over a million and half African Americans migrated from the southern states to the northern states. This migration was precipitated by African American's desire to escape the oppression of Jim Crow laws and the promise of better employment opportunities up north.
By the 1920's Black Americans had formed a significant middle class community in many northern cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Detroit. However, Harlem - New York, was the place where African American cultural, political and social consciousness manifested itself on a grand scale. This period of African American development is commonly known as the "Harlem Renaissance". This period of development came to a crashing halt with the arrival of the "Great Depression".
Today's Harlem bears hardly any resemblance of the "Harlem Renaissance" era. Black Americans in Harlem today wield little, if any, political and/or economic influence. This predicament has grown worse in the past two to three decades, due primarily to weak African American leadership in Harlem. The absence of strong, intelligent, and fearless leadership that functions with a high level of integrity is the primary reason why African Americans have no say in the future growth and development of Harlem.
This lack of strong, intelligent and fearless leadership was clearly demonstrated by what happened in Harlem during the 1990's. In the early 90's, the City of New York created a program that offered to sell city owned property in Harlem to the residents of Harlem at below market value. This was a great opportunity for African Americans to actually have some ownership of Harlem.
What happened next is indicative of ineffective and corrupt leadership. Buyers of these properties had no intention of making Harlem black-owned. Their intention was to make a profit in a most unscrupulous manner.
These buyers; mostly African American, would become involved in a scheme to basically defraud New York City and the Federal Government as well as the people of Harlem.
Here is how the game was played.
The original buyer of the property would find a church or other charitable organization to purchase the property from them, at or above true market value. The church or charitable organization wasn't concerned about the above market price of the property because they weren't using their money to buy the property. The church or charitable organization would obtain federally guaranteed 203(k) mortgages to buy the property. The church or charitable organization would then default on the "guaranteed" mortgage. The church or charitable organization would receive a kickback from the seller - the original buyer.
In the aftermath of the defaults of these loans, these building were left to further deteriorate; even though many of them were currently being occupied by tenants. This selfish act of greed caused harm to the people of Harlem and to the residential real estate market in Harlem as well. This period of Harlem history explains why approximately 90%-95% of African Americans in Central Harlem rent and not own their homes.
Strong, Intelligent, Fearless and Scrupulous Leadership This would not have happened if Harlem had strong, intelligent, fearless and scrupulous leadership. The gentrification of Harlem would not be happening today if Harlem had strong, intelligent, fearless and scrupulous leadership. Today, these properties are in the hands of greedy developers who are hell-bent in their endeavor to gentrify Harlem. The disheartening aspect of this is that the current leadership in Harlem appears unwilling or unable to do anything about it.
What Harlem needs right now is a blast from the past in regards to African American leadership. Harlem needs to rekindle the spirit of the Black leaders of the past; leaders who stood up for black people regardless of the price to be paid. We sorely miss leaders like, Malcolm X, Hubert Harrison, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Stokely Carmichael aka (Kwame Ture), Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
Too many of today's African American leaders preach individualism. Individualism teaches our children to go for self; it teaches that "You" can be anything "You" want to be. Preaching individualism plays right into the hands of the enemy; those who wish to limit or control the political and economic influence of African Americans.
The problem with individualism is that it breeds selfishness. Selfishness is the antithesis of Unity. "Divide and Conquer" is a tried and true strategy. If African Americans want to improve their quality of life in America, then we must be willing to come together for the common good of African Americans - the descendants of African slaves. To further make my point I will end this article with a few quotations from true Black leaders.
"You cannot look at the success of black people by seeing who is on the front of Ebony magazine or by looking at Oprah. When you consider that only 1 percent of all business revenue comes from black-owned businesses, you have to ask yourself if this class disparity is the kind of society we want." -- Elaine Brown, Author and Former Black Panther Party leader
"Careful study of the modern black freedom struggle offers support for the more optimistic belief that participants in a mass movement can develop their untapped capabilities and collectively improve their lives."
Clayborne Carson - The Black Scholar 24 (Fall 1994).

Malik Green is the author of "The Black-Print: Black America's Blueprint for Achieving Wealth, Prosperity and Respect". To learn more about this topic and other issues concerning African Americans go to: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/black-america-rising

"Go Play!" Thinking back to summer vacation...

It's that time of year --summer vacation-- and the children are out in full force! Okay maybe not in full force thanks to all these gaming systems nowadays. Summer vacation usually makes me have a few flashbacks like spending summer time down grandma's house in Pittsburgh during the eighties.

I heard "go play" often, because it was too hot for everyone to be in the same house together. That's right, the same house even being in a different room sometimes was too crowded because you best believe someone was going to come in and crowd you out with their noise whether turning on the TV or talking loud on the telephone! Take for example, you are in the kitchen helping yourself to something in the fridge and dare you forget to wash your hands, not only were you going to get cussed out for not washing your "nasty hands" but you were going to be told to, "Get on outta here...didn't I say go play!" So off you went to play jump rope, hopscotch, freeze tag, bike ride, play jacks, or (if your parents had a little money to spend) you were at your local amusement park or a cookout.

I needed to "go play," because I think my folks woke up with attitudes! They could have had a bad dream, still mad about what happened the night before, or what they still had to do that morning or night. I learned to get lost, because I didn't want to be accused of anything, be cussed out, or given something to do that I didn't want to do. So while I'm told to, "Go play!" I'm also called back to do something. One summer, my dad had bought a three-story apartment complex and told my sister (who was only about 7) and I (about 11 at the time) to help more often. We were seriously treated like maintenance people. We were expected to coordinate the tools he needed, clean up afterward, bring supplies to him, and whatever else he needed to complete a project. He wasn't a professional so any task he did took all day and sometimes all night. I can't tell you how many times we saw the sunset working with him while listening throughout the day to the neighborhood children outside laughing. I admit I was jealous. When we finally got to go somewhere it was usually our annual visit to a local amusement park or to see his folks down south who talked slow and worked in fields. The bulk of the summer was spent either watching TV or watching someone else watch TV until I became a teen and got smart -- sign up for summer programs that required leaving home!

Anyway, there were those times when summers got exciting with gunshots fired in the background while staying in the hood with grandma. "Someone doing something they wasn't suppose to" was all I heard when I asked, "Why?" Sometimes it became difficult to "go play" when the neighborhood was shook by a fire, a death or someone's child dying. Sometimes "go play" was in the next room and you know you had to be quiet, because if you didn't there was going to be some drama in a hot house (no air conditioning) and if you know anything about black folks, you know being hot puts us in a bad mood! American blacks ain't accustomed to Africa -- okay!?

Anyway while we are playing and taking a break here and there to drink cherry or grape Koolaid, eat a sandwich, or whatever was given to you (oftentimes there was no choice if grandma ate neckbones, black-eyed peas, and cornbread or some other food that wasn't "fun" that's what you ate or "don't eat then!") adults was cussing and fussing about something or laughing usually about what someone looked like. The summertime always brought out made up clowns with cellulite thighs, mountains for butts, ashy feet, and all sorts of weird smells covered up with some cheap perfume or cologne. While the adults talked about "getting your butt in the tub and soakin," I was thinking, "I hope you plan on getting your stanky butt in the tub too!"

Oh those summer, summer time memories....

Nicholl McGuire is the author of Laboring to Love Myself.

African American History - Reasons to Learn Black History Even If You Are Not Black

If you are not African American, chances are you may not know about the part African Americans have played in shaping this nation. Yes, you are aware that a long time ago slavery existed in this country, and perhaps you've heard of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., but does your knowledge stop right about there? If so, I humbly suggest to you that you've been cheated! From inventions and medicine to warfare and back breaking labor, blacks have been an integral part of building the United States of America.
Tell me, did you put sugar in your coffee this morning? How about on top of your cereal? Thank Norbert Rillieux, who came up with the technique for changing sugar cane juice into white sugar crystals.
When you were last out driving, there were traffic lights to prevent mayhem. Well, Garrett Morgan developed the first automatic traffic signal. Imagine life without this invention! Not a pleasant thought.
Frederick McKinley Jones developed the first automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks. Remember that the next time you see a Tyson Chicken truck rolling down the interstate. My personal favorite is the Velvet Ice Cream truck with the mouth-watering photo of different flavored scoops on the side!
For eight years, I lived in Washington, D.C. If you've never visited our nation's capitol, make a point of doing so, and while you are there, gaze upon the White House and Capitol building. Yes, these were built by slaves who worked along side paid laborers.
Eleven years ago, scientist Lonnie G. Johnson invented the Super Soaker Squirt Gun. My kids (and probably yours, too) love those things on hot summer days! Who says there can't be innovations that promote pure fun? Aren't you glad there are?
Oh, and backing up to the Revolutionary period in America, Crispus Attacks, fugitive slave, was the first man to die for the cause of freedom in the Boston Massacre. Now, I'll admit that this one holds a special place in my memory; I was born on the fifth of March, the same day that this historical event occurred, only 240 years after the fact!
Most contributions by Blacks (and I've barely scratched the surface), have sadly been excluded from American history books. Nonetheless, in today's high tech world, there's little excuse for failing to enrich one's knowledge of this very interesting subject.
Go ahead. Catch up on the past and the present. You owe it to yourself, your children, and your country.

I'm Sherryl Fegan, wife, mother of four teenagers, and homeschooler of 14 years. My desire is to share my love of African American history.