Shaping of “Black” Culture

Black culture in America is something that has grown over many years and decades. The question then becomes how did black culture come about considering the fact that black people were not orginally from America? It is safe to say that black culture was first shaped by slaves and then further shaped by immigrants from different countries. Over the years the amount of immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa has grown significantly. What is also significant about this is how close these immigrants stick to their ethnic identities and how they influence others around them. In today’s society we are starting to see many black people adopt some of Africa’s fashion such as the various patterns seen in african clothing, head wraps, the bantu knot hairstyle, dashikis, and so on. I believe this is happening today because of three reasons: we see a lot of Africans still sticking to their ethnic identities even though they are on a whole different continent, many people are starting to appreciate their African ancestry and are more open to learning about it, and lastly we think it is cute!

Another example of how black culture is shaped by immigrants would definitely be music. Within the past year, I am starting to hear more American Hip Hop and R&B music with Caribbean vibes and beats. For example, the song Controlla by Drake has a Jamaican beat to it and Drake is not Jamaican so he was obviously influenced by the immigrants around him and their culture. Also many immigrants contribute to Hip Hop & R&B music, which has a main audience of black people and is important in black culture, and black people still enjoy their music. Food is also a big contribution to black culture from immigrants. Foods such as gumbo and fried rice were adopted by black people from different countries. All in all, black culture is not really composed of just influences from black American people, it really is a combination of various cultures assimilating into one culture.