African American Studies Course Reflection

Words: 1585
Pages: 7

Throughout this course, I was met with the reality that my true ancestral history was denied of me in my entire school education. Influential people like Marcus Garvey, Asatta Shakur, and Malcolm X, who were all central figures in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements were purposefully faintly mentioned or completely unmentioned. This course made me wonder why, why so much of my powerful history hidden from me? And then it clicked, white people do not want us to make the connection between African descent and power because they know how different society would be if we knew what we were really capable of. As a result, they chose to only teach about the times of enslavement in attempts to keep our minds bonded in an inferior and enslaved …show more content…
As a result of learning about my real ancestral history, I found my true identity. I am not a black person, nor an African American and I did not come from slaves. In truth, I am an African descent person who descended from powerful kings and queens who were enslaved by white colonist. In addition, I found self-importance and joy in that newly found identity. I am beyond proud to be who I am, and I would not trade it for anything in the world. Prior to this class, I did not truly see beauty nor power in being who I was. But after seeing how my powerful ancestors spun gold from the hard life they were given, how could I not be overwhelmed with admiration and thankfulness to be a descendent of these strong people. I found beauty in the skin I was in and began to fall in love with my versatile natural hair that defied gravity. Lastly, I found a yearn to protect that identity. And the only way to do so is to unmask the truth and spread that truth. We must get away from the comfortability of not talking about our past so that we can not only learn from it but heal and grow from it as well. I am a personal testimony of how this metamorphizing course has changed my mindset and I am a true believer that if adolescents were taught this that we would be mold powerful, prideful, kings and queens who will be able to rise against the predestined stereotypes they