African American Studies Essay Examples and Topics

Introduction In the seventeenth century, many Africans were enslaved and transported to America as farm workers. During this period, planters from Virginia and some parts of South Carolina relied on African slaves to help in farm activities such as clearing the farmland to harvest and storing of the products. Since this labor force was cheap, […]

Martin Luther King, Jr. is one of the brightest and most persistent leaders within the Civil Rights movement. He inspired millions of people and made them take their stand. First, this preacher was seen as a religious leader who stood for Christian morality in terms of the American society, but soon he entered the US […]

Two veteran journalists come together to investigate the role played by the media during the Civil Rights era. Hank Klibanoff and Gene Roberts are both seasoned award winning journalists whose familiarity with south side journalism proves valuable in “The Race Beat”. The two journalists have done a tremendous job in arranging the history of the […]

Introduction The interracial bonding that takes place in the film testifies to the cultural and social discourses encountered by the two males. It challenges notions of race because these two individuals eventually surpass their biases in order to achieve a common goal. More importantly, the bonding between the two individuals renegotiates the role of the […]

Diaspora can be discussed as one of the most typical characterizations used in the modern world and society which develop according to the contemporary principles of globalization and multiculturalism. In spite of the fact the notion of diaspora is connected with the definite public’s associations and examined by many researchers, historians and sociologists are inclined […]

Introduction Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson played crucial roles in the Civil Rights movements in the USA. The African Americans and other minority groups in the US faced discrimination. For instance they were not allowed to vote. They were denied freedom to mix and mingle with Native Americans in both public and social gatherings. […]

Introduction The Harlem Renaissance was also referred to as the New Negro Movement. It spanned for about two decades from the beginning of 1920s. Besides, the movement tagged its practices to cultural matters among the African-Americans. The Alain Locke anthology of 1925 was the main impetus that gave rise to the name of this movement […]

In 1775, the black American’s constituted of about 20 percent of the entire colonial population, yet only 5 percent of the African-Americans were engaged in the Continental Army1. This presented worrying statistics on the American Revolution history. The black soldiers mainly originated from the Northern states, which constituted of many Freedmen. Historical findings ascertain that […]

Introduction Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (PTSS) is a traumatic disorder that African Americans have developed following the traumatic experiences of slavery and associated treatments by the whites. Ideally, PTSS is a theory that elucidates the nature and occurrence of certain behaviors among African Americans that relate to slavery. The social problems that Africans Americans and […]

Introduction This paper covers two parts. Part one of the paper is a summary of chapter ten of the book “Studying At University, how to be a successful student” by David Mcllroy. The chapter title is “Applying for a job” where Mcllroy advises the university students on how to apply or seek for a job. […]

Education is an essential part of human life. Considering the problem of education in different parts of America and the history of its development, the education of Afro-Americans in the ex-slaves status can be interesting to dwell upon. It is possible to consider the problem of democratization of the society and an attempt to make […]

Introduction The book “Globalization and race: Transformations in the Cultural Production of Blackness”, explores a number of issues related to the race of the “black”. The book mainly revolves around diasporic movements, missions and modernities, geographies of racial belonging and the popular blackness and legitimacy. The book is a collection of essays which explore the […]

Introduction Case laws, statutes and activities of civil rights groups, unions and the media have influenced the evolution of civil rights in the US. Decisions made by courts over the last 200 years have contributed significantly to the evolution of civil rights in the country. This research paper seeks to analyze the court decision in […]

Glen Loury is an American author and a champion of civil rights movement. He is widely recognized for his role on the attempts to re-focus the civil rights movement. Martin Luther king Jr. is an American activist, leader, and a clergyman. He is widely recognized for his African-American Civil Rights Movement (King, 2010). Douglass (1852) […]

Racial capitalism does more harm than good especially to the colored individuals. It does a great deal in hindering progress in the fight against racial discrimination. Social capital should be the way to go because it promotes the community as a whole. The oppressions brought by racial capitalism are responsible for the transformation of the […]

Introduction The black community is being constituted and reconstituted socially and historically to build a new and diverse society. This community is contingent and is shifting constantly under the influence of the racism experiences and shared histories with other nations. The Diaspora has been identified as a process because it is evolving through moving, relocation, […]

For over four centuries, millions of Africans were shipped to the Caribbean Islands and North America as slaves during the historic Atlantic Slave Trade. During this period, Africans would first be captured from their native homeland and isolated from their families before being shipped and enslaved at a foreign land (Patterson and Kelly 11). The […]

The movement of human beings from one place to another is not a new concept. Centuries ago, most of the movement occurred locally. However, the development of effective transport systems has promoted international movements. The term Diaspora, refers to any group of people who share a similar sense of identity and connection to a real […]

Abstract Black Nationalism puts its basis on only the blacks rather than supporting multiculturalism. Black Nationalism promoted race pride for Africans Americans, black independence and economic self-reliance. The black nationalists disapproved of the technique of Martin Luther King Junior in the 1960s. African American leaders advocated for the evacuation of blacks to Africa. Here they […]

The meaning of the concept of diaspora changes according to alternations in the people’s perception of the processes of migrations and diasporas’ development. The African diaspora is presented in many countries all over the world that is why it is impossible to focus on the general opinion on diaspora in order to explain the particular […]

Introduction The presence and continued immigration of blacks into the Diaspora have generated increasing interests and debate from scholars, the general public and policymakers. Many authors have argued that the continued migration of Africans in the Diaspora is attributed to interplay of inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary facets. Such facets have been thought to penetrate the presence […]

The problem of defining such notions as ‘diaspora’ and ‘cultural identity’ should be analyzed with the references to the questions of nationalism, transnationalism, and globalization to present the discussion of the issue of the African diaspora completely. Thus, in their article “Unfinished Migrations: Reflections on the African Diaspora and the Making of the Modern World”, […]

The history of the Harlem community is rich in various events, struggles, conflicts and resistance. This is of particular concern to social, economic, and political pressure imposed on the African-American community suffering from high unemployment rates, poor social conditions, and high level of crime. During the development of the Harlem culture, the members of the […]

African-Americans in the 1960s faced segregation, discrimination and stereotyping from their white counterparts. The African-Americans were discriminated based on their race, color, origin, religion and creed. Therefore, they were excluded from many activities of the country. The segregation included access to certain schools, waiting for long before being served and denial of voting rights. However, […]

The fourth of July is wounding to the African American. While it marks the freedom, of the nation, from colonialists and champions the resolution of equality, the oppressions against African Americans pertinent during the period of 1852 make any kind of commemoration ironical. The day claims to symbolize the freedom that every American citizen enjoys. […]

Mumia Abu-Jamal was born on April 24, 1954 in Philadelphia. He was a radical politician and an activist in the Black Panther Party (Weinglass 16). He was a strong follower of religious teachings preached by John Africa. There are many versions that have been forwarded by the people who knew Abu-Jamal. These people describe him […]

African American Institutions The advent of organizations like the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is widely perceived as necessary for this advancement of African Americans. This is because these organizations are established and run by members of the African American community. This is what makes the organizations pivotal to the advancement of African […]

Introduction Slave trade refers to the business of shifting slaves from Africa to the North and South America to provide services such as farming to the white cotton plantation owners. This activity mainly occurred between the sixteenth and the nineteenth centuries. During the year 1808 international slave trade was terminated but was quickly replaced by […]

Introduction Professor Tiffany Ruby Patterson is an Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University of African American. She teaches history, Diaspora and American Studies. Among many other writings she has co-authored with Robin D.G. Kelley an essay called Unfinished Migrations: Reflections on the African Diaspora and the Making of the Modern World. Robin D.G. Kelley is also […]

Between mid 1950s and late 1960s, civil rights movements in America were at its peak. The civil rights movement was sparked by various factors that undermined and oppressed the black population. As a matter of fact, blacks were treated like half citizens, and they had no right to complain. For instance, the South had devoted […]

Introduction Black power moment started in 1960s. It had interest of bringing black American together in fight for equality among black and American. Black power movement was formed to fight for racial pride and joint interest. It was against multiculturalism. It aimed at protecting black people from racial discrimination. It supported formation of separate social […]

Introduction Nat Turner acknowledged the worth of freedom early in 1800s at a tender age. As a lay cleric at such a time, Nat Turner utilized his immaculate status in planning a slave insurgence in 1831 (French 26). His action instilled fear together with ignorance on Virginia whites regarding the practice of slavery. Consequently, these […]

Slavery went against the basis of what the American country was founded on; democracy. There were incidences of conflict between the states regarding the slavery issue, prior the civil war. The southern states were for slavery but the northern states opposed slavery. During this time, Africans were brought from Africa to work in the fields […]

Introduction The word radical is used in connection with the way a person actually tends to solve a problem or provide a solution to a complex situation. The word is often used to refer to the use of extreme measures, which often lead to violent actions against those with differing views. In her autobiographical book, […]

Several variables have shaped and influenced the course of the African American. This essay explores three of these variables namely race, class and location. Coming from slavery and being considered as equal to animals without rights made African American race to be frowned upon by whites (Washington p.8-9). African Americans had limited opportunities for work, […]

The period of 1850 to 1915 offered great historical experience to the African American in the United States. It was characterized by historic events that served to change the course of the African American from that of being dominated upon in economic, social, and cultural affairs to that of emancipation in these areas. This essay […]

In the middle of the 1800s, slavery and interpersonal relations between people with different social conditions were considered to be one of the most burning issues for consideration. Different families introduced absolutely different attitudes to the idea of slavery and owner-slave relations. The vast majority of rich people did not find it necessary to respect […]

Introduction The Harlem Renaissance was a term used collectively by social thinkers to represent the efforts by African-Americans to transcend the white-favored government systems in the new states, especially New York, from the southern states where they fled the oppressive system of Jim Crow. The movement raised significant issues influencing the lives of blacks through […]

The progressive era is a period covering the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century (Kirby 2). During this period, Americans faced a lot of problems. The need to solve the problems led to the emergence of pro-reform groups. These groups had been labeled populists just before the beginning of the progressive era. The […]

Introduction The American Civil War continues to engage historians and mainstream commentators alike, as they endeavour to understand the real meaning and essence of slavery, race, and violence that characterize the nation’s history. While much has been written about the specific battles and the officers involved, less is known about the role of African American […]

Introduction More than five decades have passed since the monumental occurrences of the Watershed Civil Rights Movement (CRM) of the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. This period was marked with events that challenged racial prejudice against African-Americans before and after the start of the twentieth century. The Black Americans agitated against inequality, oppressive […]

According to Martin Luther King Jr., the white moderates are highly irresponsible. Thus, extremists like the KKK are far much better as they take reasonability for their actions and completely express their hatred and racial sentiments for black people. The “white moderates “are impartial, yet claim to be aligned to the woes of the black […]

The reasons for the discontent of the Southern states can be found in the historic documents. Among the latter, South Carolina Declaration of Causes of Secession signed on December 24, 1860 must be mentioned. The Declaration stated that the Constitution of the United States restricted the power of the certain states. As a result of […]

Introduction In a segregation system, people of a particular race or ethnic group have a different education system, commercial and housing facilities from that of other race(s). The document, “Desegregation: Civil rights or State rights”, by Charles Clotfelter, addresses the historical and legal aspects of the desegregation movement that followed the Supreme Court ruling in […]

There have been conflicting views on how to re-unite the nation and deal with freedmen after the American Civil War. Some scholars were of the opinion that the government should guarantee every state in the South, a republican form of governance. However, according to Charles Summer, a radical republican, secession would result into destruction of […]

Introduction The United States is the world’s ultimate super power constituted by a diverse mix of different races. 13 percent of these constituents are pre-dominantly blacks. Even in this era, inequality and racism seem to be rampant in the country and in fact, capitalism seems to feed off these vices; as Malcolm X said, “You […]

Introduction The history of African Americans can be traced back to 1600s. It is thought that the first African American set his foot in the U.S. between 3100-2100 B.C (Schaefer, 2011, p.14). The number of African American has since grown to over 42 million people according to the latest census report (Schaefer, 2011, p.14). This […]

Panther is a movie based on a true story accounting on activities of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the organization acting from 1966 to 1982 to struggle for freedom and equality of the African Americans by using armed forces. The film starts with the description of organization’s leaders Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, two […]

Introduction The Reconstruction period started after the American Civil War and lasted between 1865 and 1877(Encyclopedia Britannica, Web). The Congress implemented the period whose main objectives were two. First, there was the need to rearrange the Southern states that had successfully seceded prior or during the war by putting in place ways of readmitting them […]

The Civil rights movement started back, when the Supreme Court passed a ruling that African Americans were neither free nor regarded as citizens, but it was later overruled in the Civil Rights Act in 1866. The issue of slavery was finally abolished in 1865, and took effect in December. The Thirteenth Amendment of the constitution […]

“I Have a Dream” is widely regarded as the most memorable speech delivered by the American clergyman and civil rights activist, Martin Luther King. This address was made on August 28, 1963, to a gathering of two hundred and fifty thousand people at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. In the speech, King inspired the […]

Introduction By the middle of the 1960s, young black people in the United States were growing weary of civil rights leaders telling them to turn the other cheek so that they could overcome someday. The inspiring eloquence of Martin Luther King, Jr. had been challenged, even ridiculed by the fiery message of Malcolm X (Jones […]

Introduction Living in the multinational world, the problems of racial discrimination are absent and many nations try to reduce the remains of this issue. However, remembering the middle of 1900s, when racial discrimination was an ordinary issue even though the demolition of slavery took place, the problem of racial inequality was rather urgent. The declaration […]

Introduction Sara Bartman worked in Europe as a freak show entertainer. She was born in South Africa and shipped to Europe as a slave. Bartman’s “unique” feminine features made her an object of human interest. Therefore, after her death, Europeans preserved some of her body parts for scientific research. Besides her treatment as an object […]

In the 1940’s and actually up to 1950’s black people in America were treated as inferior to their white counterparts. African Americans were not allowed to eat in the same restaurants, travel in the same bus or even use same recreational facilities as White Americans. All social amenities were divided into two; one group which […]

Whenever the Civil Rights Movement is mentioned, only a handful of names come to mind. It is now apparent that the Civil Rights Movement was a concerted effort orchestrated by a group of individuals. The only difference is that some of these gained “celebrity” status while the others slipped into oblivion. Besides Dr King and […]

Tushnet, Mark V. The American Law of Slavery 1810-1860 Considerations of Humanity and Interest, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1981. Print. Mark Tushnet has conducted a thorough and has presented it in a book The American Law of Slavery 1810-1860 Considerations of Humanity and Interest. This book presents a thorough analysis of different cases where […]

Angelina Grimke is one of the most famous writers who had a huge impact on the Harlem Renaissance. She was born to the family of mixed racial heritage; her father was black and her mother was white. Her literary works are all about the constant racial discrimination and injustice the black people in the US […]

During the lead up of the American Civil War, national ideological focus changed to what is known as the slavery debate. This shift was particularly important for a nation that prides itself on the principles of liberty and freedom. This debate over whether the ethical issue concerned with slavery exploitation was protected under the Constitution […]

Martin Luther King (Dr. King) is perhaps the most renowned personality of the civil rights movement in America. King was practically the leader of the civil rights movement. His popularity started after he led other activists in boycotting the services of the Montgomery Bus Service in the year 1955 after an incident of open discrimination […]

Africans in the north and the south reacted to colonialism with a lot of resistance. For this reason, they started their struggle for independence. The lives of the Africans were affected by the aftermath of the war of independence. The Africans had been enslaved in their own countries. The colonialists had deceived the Africans that […]

Introduction Harold Washington was a Black American born in 1922 in Chicago State, where he lived and schooled. During his lifetime, Harold served as a lawyer fighting for the rights of the Blacks, and in many political positions, including the mayoral position. During his tenure in the political arena, Harold championed for the rights of […]

Introduction The significance of slave trade beginning in the Americas at Santo Domingo is that Santo Domingo became official center for exploration, organization for the conquest of other regions and capture of slaves who were later transported to the Americas to provide labor in sugarcane plantations (Spielvogel 426). According to Spielvogel, the discovery of the […]

By 1750, most slaves in America were not African born but America born. Several slaves worked in sugar, cotton and tobacco plantation. Very few of these slaves were African born, because the reduction in the importation of slaves from Africa. Majority of these slaves were born in America, but they were descendants of Africans who […]

Introduction In the past and contemporary world, people have developed a tendency of gauging the performance of other people by their backgrounds. The United States of America and the African continent have a long history of association, which can be traced back to the 16th century. During this period, Spanish and Portuguese merchants went to […]

The struggle against segregation, discrimination and isolation is a protracted battle that claimed many lives. During the time of slavery to the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans longed for real freedom. For many centuries they were denied the basic rights of an American citizen. They were supposed to be free after the Civil War but […]

Introduction Martin Luther King, Jnr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” in April 1963 while in Birmingham jail addressing it to his fellow clergy. The letter was in response to the then recent statements referring to his actions as unwise and untimely. The King’s presence in the city of Birmingham was questionable because he was an […]

The civil rights movement marked the period in American history when African-Americans vehemently fought against white supremacists to demand full legal equality. Prior to the civil rights movement, people of color faced discrimination in employment, housing, education, and transportation in the US, particularly in the South. Consequently, segregation became a major barrier to unity throughout […]

Introduction African Americans that had been transported to America as slaves found themselves lost with no sense of identity. It was a White man’s world and the Black man felt ostracized. In seeking to have a connection with their original culture, the Blacks began to connect with African culture in terms of dressing, religion and […]

Thesis For over about 30 years, it has been noted by many experts that there has been a great advancement towards the African American community. With many accrediting the American civil rights movement, which was considered to have helped improve the quality of life of the under represented minorities who mostly were many African American […]

Introduction Ever time immemorial, man has enslaved his fellow man due to the feelings of being superior or more important than the other. All this time what varied were conditions of servitude or slavery. Throughout history, inequality has existed: it was employed by the ancient Mesopotamian, Indian, and Chinese civilizations, in classical Greece and Rome, […]

Introduction British involvement in the Atlantic slave trade came as a result of three distinct factors: the expansion of the British Empire into new territories, the need for man power in order to operate newly established colonies and the economics of free labor that came with owning a slave. Basically, the Atlantic slave trade was […]

There are many people who would want to rule the world and there are also many people who would want to change the world. Few succeed in doing so but there are those who belong to neither group and yet left a legacy that became some form of blueprint that others try to emulate. The […]

Introduction It is notable that blacks faced extreme discrimination in the historical America. During that period, the freed “blacks” of 1840s were encountering various challenges while trying to integrate in a society that racially segregated them. Previous political regimes had enacted legislation that led to institutionalisation of racism. American leaders’ assertion that the country stood […]

Introduction Published for the first time in 1933, The Mis-Education of Negro is one of the most successful books written by Carter Woodson. Woodson experience as an African American student armed with the necessary information to write such a compelling masterpiece. He criticizes the American syllabus, which ignores the historical and cultural systems of the […]

The Harlem Renaissance denotes a movement formed by the African Americans during the 1920s and 1930s. It was a period of social integration and the development of literary and artistic skills by the African Americans. African Americans migrated from the south because they were running away from racial discrimination, violence and oppression and settled in […]

Introduction This paper is aimed at showing the understanding and application of American history by bringing out historical concepts that played a major role in shaping America as it is known to day from 1865-2011. This paper will look into some of the social, cultural, economic, literary, political, and religious challenges that brought about the […]

Introduction The Kingdom of Matthias is a great literary work that is as intriguing as it is captivating. Its capture of a myriad of characters with divergent cultures and social class and its basis on contemporary issues that affected the people of the time is particularly of great interest and makes the story equally authentic […]

The Brown v. Board of education case marked the end of racial segregation in American public schools. This ruling was made by the Supreme Court in May 17th 1954 and it is still celebrated to date (Rountree 2006, 144). However, various newspapers reacted to the Supreme Court’s ruling differently (by the time the case was […]

The historical issues often are rather controversial. Any historical fact can give rise to doubts of the historians and become a subject for scientific debates. An autobiographical work Up from Slavery by Washington Booker describes the relationships between the black and white people in the United States before the Civil War from a new unexpected […]

Introduction The Life of a slave girl is a story depicting the slavery experiences of Linda Brent. Linda Brent was born, brought up and lived under the conditions of slavery. The Whites enslaved the Colored people by making them their servants, working in plantations and taking care of their children at home, particularly women. During […]

Introduction The United States is one land that was discovered by explorers and settled on by almost every people of every color. The US’s population is largely composed of white people of Anglo Saxon origin, Black Americans and people of Hispanic origin. People of African origin popularly referred to as African Americans have the most […]

Slavery is a practice which dates back thousands of years. Conversely, racial discrimination is more appropriately defined by the mental and concrete conduct of the tormenter and the oppressed and their environmental context. Racism essentially defines the revulsion and trepidation that people keep on mankind with different skin colors. The advent of the trans-Atlantic slave […]

Introduction Background of the study The civil rights represents the basic rights that are enjoyed by the people in any given country. These include the right to property ownership, the opportunity for citizens to vote, the rights to freedom of speech and expression among others. These rights protected by governments are in place in order […]

Oroonoko, written by Aphra Behn, is a story dealing mainly with slavery traversing from Africa to Europe where slave trade dominated. Behn employs literature widely by use of literal elements like symbolism, metaphor, tone and personification among others. Greater part of this novel does not give a direct meaning and the reader has to have […]

Introduction Among the most significant icons in the US history was the slavery incident that loomed before and to some extent after the civil war. Slavery had various social, economic cultural and political implications for both the African Americans and the Whites after the civil war and in as much as it was officially abolished […]

Introduction Several major events took place in the United States and around the world during the 1960’s. The United States witnessed counter culture and social revolution that ended with abolishment of retrogressive laws that had established social taboos in the country (Beito & Royster, 2009). In this paper I will discuss how my own life […]

The history of the Unites States of America is full of different points of view and still rests on racial issues, which always divide people on black and white. The author of Navigating Distant Shores: A Historical Overview, Ronald Dorris, makes a wonderful attempt to evaluate this racial division that is so inherent to all […]

The Civil Rights Movement is an era that was dedicated for equal treatments and rights to the activism of the African American in the US. In this period, people were united for the political, legal, cultural and social changes to end segregation and prohibit discrimination. The civil rights movement spanned following the decision in the […]

The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to a group of activists in the United States targeted at banishing the racial discrimination against Black-Americans and reinstating voting rights mainly in Southern states. It covers the duration of the movement in the early 60s especially in S. America. By the year 1966, the rise of the Black […]

The Royal African Company of London was initiated by King Charles II in his ambition to expand the slave trade of England. King Charles II together with the duke of York invested their own funds into the company to establish it. Miers (45) explains that it was “Initially it was known as the Company of […]

Introduction In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr (MLK), one of the United States’ most famous civil rights activists in Birmingham, was imprisoned for his participation in a civil rights demonstration in the city. While in prison, Dr. King wrote a letter seeking to address some criticism brought against him by the clergy. This letter from […]

Many of the exceptional leaders in the past have spent some time in detention centers due to their aspiration to transform the society. King is one of these leaders, who wrote an essay talking about the injustices in the society while addressing the church (Armstrong and Fahey 113). In his essay, King states that he […]

Introduction The American Revolution is typically depicted as a major step in the realization of liberty and freedom for all. When the lives of African-Americans who lived during the time of this important event are considered, however, our view becomes quite complicated. Liberty came about as the American colonists pursued freedom and independence from rule […]