Learning How to Communicate about the African Diaspora

26March2024

I want to reflect on all the things I have learned about the African diaspora including the understanding of the definition itself. In Colin Palmer’s Defining and Studying the Modern African Diaspora, he defined the African diaspora as “millions of peoples of African descent living in various societies who are united by a past based significantly but not exclusively upon "racial" oppression and the struggles against it and who, despite the cultural variations and political and other divisions among them, share an emotional bond with one another and with their ancestral continent and who also, regardless of their location face broadly similar problems in constructing and realizing themselves” (The Journal of Negro History, page 30). I learned that our ancestors were dispersed all over the Caribbean, South America, North America, and Europe and that our culture helped shape the culture that is known all over the world. This is information that is never taught in grade school, so unless a person is privileged to go on to higher learning and enroll in a class that actually teaches more than traditional American history, these things stay hidden, and we as a people stay ignorant to the beauty of what we bring to this world.

Some of the details that I received from the readings were related to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The slave trade consisted of the movement of Africans against their will from their home continent of Africa across the Atlantic Ocean on slave ships to other places such as Central and South America, and North America to become slaves. The Transatlantic Slave Trade started as early as the fifteenth century delivering as many as 200,000 Africans to European countries and millions to the Americas. Generally, the first slaves to arrive in the United States was around 1626; however, prior to this, slaves were delivered to Spain/Uruguay, Portugal/Brazil, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. I had no idea that the slaves were delivered to the Netherlands. I learned that the five countries/nations outside of the African continent with the largest African Diaspora populations are United States, Brazil, Haiti, France, and Colombia (Wikipedia). I had no idea that Brazil had as many or more people of African descent than the United States (US).

Some of the big picture questions or observations that I have made based on my readings/viewings and class discussions are centered around Brazil and Cuba, especially Cuba. I learned so much about Brazil and the racism that still exists there today while more than half their country are people of African descent. Chica da Silva, who was a former slave who became one of the richest and most powerful women in Brazil, was a topic of great debate in some of our discussions. While some people in Brazil think of her as a hero, others thought of her as a sellout. Many in our class thought that by her owning slaves, while mingling and living with the white skinned Brazilians that she was disowning her African heritage. I personally thought she was a great woman of survival for the times in which she lived, and she created generational wealth for her children. Brazil was one of the last countries to end slavery, so the racial divide still rings true in most of the cities, which I think we all were collectively surprised. Cuba was very interesting to learn about. The fact that Cuba had great black leaders like Maceo at a time when slavery was still going on was astonishing. The resilience that the Cubans showed in fighting Spain so long for their independence was mind blowing. I had no idea that the US stepped in and with them came segregation and racism. Learning about Cuba has been one of the highlights of this first half of the class. Fidel Castro was an interesting person who tried to erase racism through socialist rule. He was a true leader of the people who believed that everyone should have a right to free education, and healthcare, along with employment. To his credit, Cuba has quality healthcare that is free to its citizens, lower unemployment rates than the US, and most everyone is literate. These stats are something that African Americans should be aware of especially since 60% of Cuba are people of African descent. To be honest, reading the information on Cuba made me want to dig deeper into learning more about socialist practices. The revolution was brilliant and there is so much to be learned from Castro’s works.

The points I found compelling and disturbing were centered around how the US treated the Afro Cubans after the war. I knew how they treated African Americans in the US, but I had no idea their influence reached so far. The sheer greediness of white America has a long arm. I was so disturbed that we are the only country that still has restrictions and embargos on Cuba. I think it is ridiculous. I found that the way the African culture survived through our song, dance, religion, and food and became embedded in world culture is amazing. I look at a lot of things differently than before and I am now looking for bits and pieces of Africa in my everyday life.

I think that by us communicating with each other about the readings, that we are establishing a part of that connection to understanding the information by voicing our different points of view.   The various readings do connect to each other because the information about the slave trade led into the information about the diaspora in the Caribbean, and Brazil. It connected the similarities in the culture by bringing to light the religion, the beat of the drum, and the songs, which related to the African slave survival. Another favorite part of what I have learned so far was how Dizzy Gillespie incorporated Cuban music into jazz and he did it in a way where it blended and became CuBop music. I always knew about his big band sound, his trumpet playing jaws, and the jazz, but I was not aware that he helped to create the CuBop sound.

So far, I have found mostly strength in the arguments of the authors we have studied so far. The fact that David and Smitherman’s article “How I Got Over” featured information about call and response music being related to Africa was eye opening. I thought they made a good argument for relating the African culture and religion to the essence of the traditional Black Church. It was also interesting to learn that CPT could be in our DNA. Although I liked that argument, I did think that it was a little weak, but I am glad to blame it on something because a lot of us do have that in common.