African American Cultural Background

Table of Contents

African American Cultural Background1

African American Cultural Background1

Introduction1

Discussion1

Historic Influence on African American Families1

Cultural History in West Africa2

Social Influences on African American Families in Modern Times3

Urbanization and Racism3

Poor Economic Status5

African American Families of the 21st century6

Family Formation6

Extended Families7

Fathers8

Grandparents9

Siblings9

Spirituality10

Coping Mechanism10

Conclusion11

References12

Appendix13

African American Cultural Background

Introduction

The objective of this paper is to present a comprehensive analysis of African American culture, in pursuit of identifying how one's culture influences family setup and overall personality. The analysis takes into account the research work carried out highlighting various aspects of African American culture as well as its explanatory factors. This helps compare my family with the general African American family setup, lifestyle, and psychological makeup. The paper concludes by proving that cultural influences are the strongest influence in shaping one's attitude, approach, and overall personality.

Discussion

Culture is a multidimensional whole which takes into account belief, customs, traditions, language, art, knowledge, and morals (Hunter, 1992). It is a mix of all these factors which help shape an individual's habit, attitude, and other behavior patterns. Therefore, it can be taken as the most basic element in establishing the foundation of behavior and personality of a child, which gets strengthened and engraved in the psychology with the passage of time. One of the most noteworthy aspects pertaining to any culture is its constant adaptability to the current societal norms; however, some prominent features show commonality between historical and contemporary eras. The same has been observed for African American culture which finds its root in the West African Society.

Historic Influence on African American Families

Today, African American families which form over 14% of total population in the US (US Census Bureau, 2011); are not very much different from European American families. However, there are certain characteristics which make their culture unique; particularly with regards to the parenting style, approach towards marriage and family structure, roles of men and women in the family, and strategies devised to manage hardships. These factors are different in their culture primarily because of the historical influences of slavery resulting in poor control on family structure, forced integration of African families into American culture, and economic inequality between African American and European Americans (Hattery & Smith, 2007).

Cultural History in West Africa

Majority of African Americans find their roots back in West African families, which are characterized by very strong family association. The marriages were not only regarded as a relationship between a man and a woman, but strong ties between the families of men and women in matrimony. Therefore, they had very strong relationships in extended families as well. However, the most distinctive characteristic of West African families is their matriarchal approach; i.e. children were regarded as a lineage and generation of women, and not men like in contemporary societies (Loyld, Hill & Dodge, 2005). Thus, women were taken as the head of the family in their society. Likewise, maternal family had much more association with children than their paternal families.

This matriarchal bent of mind, where father does not feel responsible for his children's ...