My ancestors came to America with nothing and still built communities and legacies, even when harmed or stolen, which created an impact on American culture that can never be denied.
Designated as Black History Month, during February the general population focuses on Black American history. This includes the people and events that came before us, as well as the innovations and cultural shifts currently present.
The history of Black people in America is a long and brutal history of fighting submission and displaying resistance in small ways.
Over 400 years ago, millions of people from various African countries were kidnapped and taken across the Atlantic Ocean, where they endured brutal hardship, in the Atlantic slave trade. Then, to survive the horrors that were waiting in the Americas with slavery, where my people were brutalized and violated for sport, the enslaved Africans displayed resistance in small ways.
My African American ancestors came to the country with nothing, not even their own names, but still found ways to survive. They preserved the knowledge of their culture in hidden ways with music, dancing, food, garments, arts and crafts.
When I was thinking of writing this article, I struggled with choosing an avenue. I wanted to discuss Black inventions, the music empire African Americans built, the food scraps we were given but turned to delicacy, fashion and beauty. While trying to decide, I realized one thing all these attributes have in common: the community.
The community that Black people have created with each other is beautiful. Our ancestors took what they had and built on it. They then shared it with others, creating small communities where Black people could flourish.
One of the bigger things that we used to create community is our vernacular. We created a way of speaking that connects us to our roots and other Black people we never met, known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
AAVE words and phrases have become so popular and normalized that most people don’t know it’s Ebonics. “Unc,” “Sus,” “Sis,” “Bae,” “Snatched” and “Purr” are words African American communities use that become popular and then appropriated by other races and cultures.
Black people often don’t get the credit for the trends or culture we created, while others benefit. The use of AAVE isn’t just for Black people, but it gets to cultural appropriation when denying where or how the words came from.
I could discuss a million things that the Black communities have done for themselves and this country. However, one of the things I love the most about my culture will always be the community it brings.
The Black community lives in us, and everywhere our culture is the blueprint. We are connected by the way we greet strangers with a head nod or dap up someone the way we laugh and start running, the food we grew up on, the music we listened to on Sunday mornings before cleaning the whole house, the bows or curled bumps in our hair, the church dresses and nice shoes, the common phrases that every grandmother used like “You better be in or out my house!”
Sometimes I may be the only minority in my class, but I also know every time I pass an African American person, we share a part of the same backstory and history.
African Americans make American culture, and we are America’s history, period.
