Week 4 - Abandonment and Dismemberment: "Something Torn & New" Lecture By Dr. Beatty

Abandonment & Dismemberment: "Something Torn & New"
Lecture by Dr. Beatty

On my first blog post, this lecture was one that I mentioned I had great interest in, and after hearing the lecture by Dr. Beatty I was assured that my interest had good means. Dr. Beatty discussed 3 main concepts that summarized the entire jest of information he was teaching. They were: the dismemberment of African natives to (from) their homeland, also known as the Middle Passage, the African dispora, and the effects of dismemberment to our culture.

Africans were taken by force from their native lands and displaced on colonial lands where they would become slaves. Colonial Europeans forced their ways of life on to the Africans in hope of breaking their cultural and community ties. They thought that this forced assimilation would render us helpless, hopeless, and thus easier to control. But Europeans were in for a wake up call whe it was discovered that the bond of the African community wasn't as weak as they thought.

The African dispora placed African's throughout the world and began in the 16th century. As time passed, by 1776, five out of six people in what would become America, were African descent. This separation did not break the spirit of the people to continue their cultural ways, though. African traditions continued in these new settings and societies of slaves called Maroon societies, were created. These societies practiced their culture's traditions, teachings, and ways of life. In their new condition of life, slaves continued to sing, dance, tell stories, and practice the ideals of their native cultures.

The oppression of African's through dismemberment was unsuccessful. As a people, we managed to maintain our roots through times of such peril. The structure and roles of family were kept in tact, as well as science and technology skills, and the language. We even went as far as to create new teachings, cultural significances, and traditions. As a race, we are strong and our capturers belief that we weren't was a grave mistake.

Kelvonna Goode