Black Contributions?
riceowl:
Just curious, because someone brought this up the other day and I was stuck (likely because of lack of education in the matter):
What have African Americans contributed to America outside of the arts and athletics?
opebo:
Quote from: riceowl315 on April 16, 2005, 03:26:41 AM
Just curious, because someone brought this up the other day and I was stuck (likely because of lack of education in the matter):
What have African Americans contributed to America outside of the arts and athletics?
Mostly labour, for the first few centuries as slaves, and then later as a very lowly paid serf-like working class.
Frodo:
Quote from: riceowl315 on April 16, 2005, 03:26:41 AM
Just curious, because someone brought this up the other day and I was stuck (likely because of lack of education in the matter):
What have African Americans contributed to America outside of the arts and athletics?
just to augment what Opebo has already said -they labored as slaves to build the White House, as well as the rest of the nation's capital in the middle of what was then a malaria-infested swamp, as well as were the backbone of this country's economic growth up until industrialization with the end of the Civil War.
they also served as soldiers in each of our wars that we fought including the American Revolution, the Civil War, as well as against the native American tribes in the 'Indian Wars' (the Buffalo Soldiers is a prime example), and fought in the Spanish-American War, the world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and in every war to the present day conflict in Iraq.
and this is just for starters.
riceowl:
OK, something new or different that is entirely from African-Americans...serving alongside other races doesn't count.
And yes, the Buffalo Soldier museum is down the street from my university.
dazzleman:
Quote from: riceowl315 on April 16, 2005, 03:56:35 AM
OK, something new or different that is entirely from African-Americans...serving alongside other races doesn't count.
And yes, the Buffalo Soldier museum is down the street from my university.
I'm not sure what you are looking for.
For most of their history here, blacks had little opportunity to contribute anything other than hard labor due to their sometimes brutal oppression by the white majority.
Still, there have been black inventors, black writers, etc. I'm sure there is a website that could give you some additional details.
The details are less important than the overall point that blacks have made contributions to a society that historically treated them very poorly. That is the main reason why there is a huge gulf today between the way white people and black people perceive the American dream, and America in general. For whites, blacks are the exception that proves the rule, and whites can look more at the big picture and argue that the terrrible treatment of blacks is a relatively small part of it. That's harder to do when you are black, and you are the exception.
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