America has been known to be a melting pot and culturally diverse since way back when. Although each ethnic group contributed to the creation of this diversified country that we are yet to be United States, it wouldn't be the same without Black culture. From Africa to the slave ships, the civil rights movement, and now the twenty- first century. It would be almost ignorant and naive to deny the influence of Africa in modern society. Joseph E Holloway, author of "What Africa Has Given America", writes about how African values and traditions are intertwined to African American lifestyles. In addition, explaining in detail how things like African language, music, dance, media, and agriculture are implemented in American lifestyles as well.
A video that kind of highlights a key point:
First time watching the Looney Tunes episode I thought it would be the media and arts of it all. However, when I tried to write this blog, I honestly couldn't put the puzzle pieces together. Taking a step back and stopped overcomplicating it, as the overthinker I am, I realized it's all about the bigger picture. I still try to find the proper words to explain but I hope you all are able to see what I mean.
In the clip Wile E Coyote is America and the New World. Bugs is the Africans and those enslaved. Just like in the beginning of the clip the coyote points the gun at bugs and attempts to shoot him, but Bugs outsmarts the Coyote every time. Even at the end of the clip Bugs still remains triumphant through the attempts. What Africans gave to the North American Diaspora was truly a long years' worth of lessons and honestly a blessing in disguise. The key point at least in my head was perseverance. As seen in the article their numerous instances of people from Africa in different regions taking what trauma they endured into a strategy of building a bigger blessing for the future. The recipes from Africa though, those enslaved were left with minimal ingredients, created some of the delicious dishes we eat until this day. For example, Okra. Okra also known as gumbo is an African dish. As the world crashed down around them, they preserved with the ingredients introduced in the New World (Holloway 46). This also opened a broader spectrum for not just feeding out hunger. This was also at home remedy to produce abortions (Holloway 46). The music and the religion they tried to snatch away influence some of our modern media and current spiritual beliefs. Buggs bunny after multiple attempts of the coyote attempting to harm him, he still ended on top. So, as the new world attempted to slaughter our ancestors and harm the Black magic that we have we ended up creating a blueprint that America can't live without. Happy Black History Month!
Hi Paige.
Thanks for sharing. I can agree with you that this is the melting pot for sure! Our culture has had an enormous amount of influence on everything from music to food and down to style/clothing. Everything we touch we bring a bit of swag to it. We give love but we don't always receive the love in return. They take our goods and turn around and sell it back to us at a higher rate.
Also, this was my first time being introduced to the Bugs Bunny information. This was shocking to me. But, once again they take, use and throw things back in our face daily. Someone should be getting reparations or compensation for this looney t…
I liked reading your post and the video was an excellent addition to bring your point home to us as readers. I would have never known Bugs Bunny was derived from African folklore and that they played such a significant part in the history of this tale. I am glad that the Coyote could never catch Bugs, because that means that our history and culture was not diminished and expelled as the Europeans wanted it to be. I am glad that they didn't slaughter our spirit and that we still have some of that in our culture today.
I really enjoyed reading your posts and being able to gain insight on how Africa has played such a big role in the way many people in America today dance, come up with different style in music, and much more. I look forward to reading more from you!