A pictorial/quoted exploration by Footsteps of the process and substance of African American culture

1. African American Culture
The Well We Draw From

2. Definition of Culture
• “The way we do things around here”

3. Definition of Culture
• “The way we do things around here”

4. AA Cultural Platform
• The basis of AA Culture is Spirituality/Sociology as
played out by our Double Consciousness
– It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness,
this sense of always looking at one's self through the
eyes of others. . . . One ever feels his twoness,—an
American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two
unreconciled strivings; two warrings ideals in one dark
body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from
being torn asunder
• W.E.B. Du Bois, 1903

5. AA Culture: Form Becomes Content
• How: The Process of our Culture
– Amalgamating Africanisms with European content
– Connecting to the spiritual world
– Creative improvisation
– Individual expression within a communal
environment
• What: The Substance of our Culture
– A style of living

6. Spirituality
Process
• “There is that in us, call it a
spirit, which is not now and
never has been caught up in
earthly troubles of our bodies,
emotions, and minds. And so it
is free to undertake God’s
business for men on earth.
Whoever has this career has
everything that he can have.
Whoever lacks this career
lacks everything, no matter
what else he may possess”
– Jean Toomer
Substance

7. Religion
Process
• The black man’s pilgrimage in
America was made less onerous
because of his religion. His religion
was the organizing principle around
which his life was structured. His
church was his school, his forum, his
political arena, his social club, his art
gallery, his conservatory of music. His
religion was his fellowship with
man, his audience with God. It was
the peculiar sustaining force which
gave him the strength to endure
where endurance gave no
promise, and courage to creative in
the face of his own dehumanization”
– C. Eric Lincoln, 1962
Substance

8. Soul
Process
• “Soul is the ability to feel oneness”
– Johnetta Cole, 1970
• To the African singing and dancing
are the breath of the soul, no
matter where he goes or what kind
of life he is forced to live, these two
things he will do and in an African
way”
– James Lovell, 1972
• “Let me tell you something about
soul. Soul is something creative,
something active. Soul is honesty. I
sing to the people about what
matters.
– Aretha Franklin, 1991
Substance

9. Rhythm
Process
• “Rhythm is the architecture of
being, the inner dynamic that gives
it form, the pure expression of the
life force…It is expressed through
corporeal and spiritual means;
through the lines , surfaces,
colours, and volume in
architecture, sculpture, or painting
through the accents in poetry and
music, through the movements of
dance. But, doing this, rhythm
turns all these concrete things
towards the light of the spirit. In
the degree to which rhythm is
sensuously embodied, it illuminates
the spirit”
– Leopold Senghor, 1956
Substance

10. Nature
Process
• The man who interprets
Nature is always held in great
honor. I am going to live and
talk with Nature and know her
secrets. Then I will be
powerful, no matter where I
am”
– Zora Neale Hurston, 1939
• “Man is a child of Nature. He
cannot long separate himself
from Nature without withering
as a cut rose in a vase”
– Howard Thurman, 1971
Substance

11. Diaspora
Process
• “The roots of our
(Jamaican) distinctive
music, religion, politics,
philosophy, science,
literature and language are
African”
– Carolyn Cooper, 2012
Substance

12. Life’s Challenges
Process
• “Life for me ain’t been no
crystal stair”
– Langston Hughes, 1926
• “Those things in life that
matter will give you pain as
you learn to understand life”
– KeorapetseKgositsile, 1975
• “To live is to suffer; to survive
is to find some meaning in the
suffering”
– Roberta Flack, 1989
• “Black men are not going to
cringe before anyone but God”
– Marcus Garvey, 1923
Substance

13. Striving
Process
• "Champions aren't made in gyms.
Champions are made from something
they have deep inside them--a desire, a
dream, a vision. They have to have last-
minute stamina, they have to be a little
faster, they have to have the skill, and
the will. But the will must be stronger
than the skill”
– Muhammad Ali
• "I really don't think life is about the I-
could-have-beens. Life is only about the
I-tried-to-do. I don't mind the failure
but I can't imagine that I'd forgive
myself if I didn't try”
– Nikki Giovanni
• “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors
gave, I am the dream and the hope of
the slave. I rise I rise I rise”
– Maya Angelou 1978
Substance

14. Life’s Celebrations
Process
• “Believe in life! Always human
beings will live and progress to
greater, broader and fuller life”
– W. E.B. DuBois, 1957
• “Life loves the liver of it. Life
loves to be taken by the lapel
and be told: “I am with you
kid. Let’s go”
– Melvin Chapman, 1976
• “There is hope for the future
because God has a sense of
humor, and we are funny to
God”
– Bill Cosby, 1978
Substance

15. Style/Image
Process
• "For me, music and life are all
about style.”
– Miles Davis
• Then I saw Miles ... Miles was so
great. He played so good. He was
so amazing. Physically…he looked
so good and was strong. He has so
much charisma. You would look at
him all the time. Even when he
wasn't playing everybody kept
looking at Miles. He was really
attracting the eyes of everybody.
Me too. I was fascinated...
– Enrico Rave
Substance

16. Cool
Process
• "Regardless of how you feel
inside, always try to look
like a winner. Even if you are
behind, a sustained look of
control and confidence can
give you a mental edge that
results in victory. ”
– Arthur Ashe
Substance

17. Creativity
Process
• "Being black has a lot to do with my
being a good designer. My eye will
go quicker to what a pimp is
wearing than to someone in a gray
suit and tie. Most of these
designers who have to run to Paris
for color and fabric combinations
should go to church on Sunday in
Harlem. It's all right there”
– Willie Smith
• "I'm always thinking about creating.
My future starts when I wake up
every morning . . . Every day I find
something creative to do with my
life.”
– Miles Davis
Substance

18. Beauty
Process
• “The main thing is the YOU
beneath the clothes and
skin--the ability to do, the
will to conquer, the
determination to
understand and know this
great, wonderful, curious
world”
– W.E.B. Du Bois
Substance

19. Humor
Process
• “Humor may not be
laughter, it may not even be
a smile, it is a point of view,
an attitude toward
experience”
– Howard Thurman, 1953
• "My way of joking is to tell
the truth. That's the
funniest joke in the world”
– Muhammad Ali
Substance

20. Community
Process
• “An individual who can’t relate
to the black community,
understand and be understood
by her own people, isn’t well
educated”
– Johnetta Cole, 1972
• "That's how we do it in the
black community; we give
back to the people who made
us who we are. We never
forget that”
– Snoop Dogg
Substance

21. Family
Process
• “The institution primarily
responsible for the survival
and advancement of black
people from slavery to present
times has been the extended
family”
– Robert Hill, 1988
• “In the church, we think of
ourselves as all part of God’s
family. That means we think of
the people where we worship
as brothers and sisters – part
of our family”
– Benjamin Carson, 1990
Substance

22. Black Men
Process
• “We are men; we have
souls, we have passions, we
have feelings, we have
hopes, we have desires, like
any other race in the world”
– Marcus Garvey
Substance

23. Black Women
Process
• “Where there is a woman
there is magic. If there is a
moon falling from her mouth,
she is a woman who knows
her magic, who can share or
not share her powers. A
woman with a moon falling
from her mouth, roses
between her legs and tiaras of
Spanish moss, this woman is a
consort of the spirits”
– NtozkeShange
Substance

24. Black Children
Process
• “The question is not
whether we can afford to
invest in every child; it is
whether we can afford not”
– Marian Wright Edelman, 1992
Substance

25. Work
Process
• “Never let work drive you, master
it and keep it under control. It is
necessary to learn the difference
about being worked and working
– to learn that being worked
meant degradation , while
working meant civilization”
– Booker T. Washington, 1932
• It is ironic that in a society based
upon the work ethic, the worth of
an individual is often confused
with the work that he or she
performs”
– John Conyers, 1987
Substance

26. Money
Process
• “The eagle flies on Friday”
– TRADITIONAL
• “People ravin’ about hard
times/Tell me what it’s all
about/Hard times don’t
worry me. I was broke when
they started out”
– The Blues
• “It’s all about the Benjamins
baby”
– Puff Daddy, 1998
Substance

27. Music
Process
• In the African tradition, music has
three different functions: moral
and spiritual order and a means
of self expression
– Daniel Aldridge, 1988
• “Black music is not only
conspicuous within, but crucial to
black culture…Music is not only a
reflection of the values of black
culture, but the basis upon which
it is built, the investigation of the
black mind, the black social
orientation, and, primarily, the
black culture”
– Ben Sidran, 1971
Substance

28. Singing
Process
• “The spirit will not descend
without song”
– African Proverb
• Singers are saying things
that the public wants to be
able to say, but they don’t
know how to express
themselves. We’re like the
voice of the public
– Oleta Adams, 1990
Substance

29. Words
Process
• Music is the most shared
experience –the most vital
commodity among Afro
Americans. And poetry is its twin”
– Eugene Redmond, 1976
• The roots of hip hop are found in
African American and West
African music. The griots of West
Africa are a group of traveling
singers and poets, whose musical
style is reminiscent of hip hop
and who are part of an oral
tradition dating back hundreds of
years”
– Aces and Eights, 2011
Substance

30. Dance
Process
• The dance is strong magic.
The dance is spirit. The
body can fly without wings.
It can sing without voice”
– Pearl Primus, 1964
• “Americans will be amazed
to find how many dance
steps are relics of African
heritage”
– Paul Robeson, 1934
Substance

31. Art
Process
• “Art for art’s sake is an invalid
concept; all art reflects the
value system from which it
comes; for if the artist created
only for himself and not for
others, he would lock himself
up somewhere and paint and
play just for himself”
– Ron Karenga, 1968
• The black artist by defining
and legitimizing his own reality
becomes a positive force in
the black community
– HakiMadhubuti,
Substance

32. Dress
Process
• “Man has the power to
define himself against the
ravages of time through
artistic style”
– Ralph Ellison, 1986
Substance

33. Food
Process
• Soul food is our personal
passport to the past. It is much
more about heritage than it is
about hominy:”
– Sarah Ban Breathnach
• “It you want to be real
technical on the subject, while
all soul food is southern food,
not all southern food is 'soul'”
– Bob Jeffries
Substance

34. The Myth of Black Culture
Process
• “Americans don’t want to
admit that they owe much
to black culture. That goes
back to slave systems,
racism, distorted thinking,
and how people like to
perpetuate the myth that
there is no such thing as
black culture”
– Tevis Williams, 1987
Substance