Psych 12: Introduction to African American Psychology
SR Paper for
By
Halford H. Fairchild
Film: Black History: Lost, Stolen or Strayed, narrated by Bill Cosby.
Stimulus (Film Notes): Bill
Cosby visits an elementary school classroom which provides the setting for his
review of how Blacks’ contributions to American life and culture have been
omitted from textbooks. Worse, Pulitzer
Prize winning historians have produced racist tracts that refer to African
Americans as, for example, “Sambo.”
Cosby reviews a number of important historical figures in American
history: Jans Ernst Metzeliger (mass
production of shoes), James Beckworth (the
“History is a fable agreed upon.” (Napoleon)
Cosby reviews psychiatric evidence – in the drawings of children – that show the psychological scars from a distorted (or absent) history.
The film provides excerpts from early motion pictures that portrayed Blacks as servile, cowardly, and ignorant. Notable was Birth of a Nation, which treated the Ku Klux Klan with acclaim.
Two interesting segments were the group of Black women discussing the myth of meritocracy; and John Churchill’s pre-school that gave Black children the psychological armor to withstand the rigors public schooling.
Responses: The film demonstrates the following:
· Sins of omission (the absence of Blacks in history)
· Sins of commission (racism in the academy)
· Napoleon’s quote demonstrates a theme in our course so far, the fictions inherent in American scholarship.
· American scholarship had an investment in dehumanizing, or animalizing, African people. These attitudes have potency today.
· Contemporary films are problematic
o Monster’s
Ball (
o Training Day (Denzel Washington’s oscar performance)
o Crash
o Blood Diamond
o Apocalypto
o King Kong
· Some contemporary films are laudatory, such as Dreamgirls and Pursuit of Happiness.
· Dave Chappelle quit a film because the directors wanted him to dress as a woman – the obligatory costume of successful Black men. One would wish that Martin Lawrence had this insight.
· Many “authentic” Black stories are distorted by the White controlled media to cater to their interests, such as the television series, Roots.
· Many of the older, racist films, are available at the local drug store, such as Shirley Temple movies.
· Churchill’s children said they wanted “Freedom now,” but they’ll have to wait. How long?
· Uncle Tomism is richly rewarded, e.g., Clarence Thomas, Ward Connerly, Larry Elder.
McAdoo, H.P.
(2007). Preface to the fourth
edition. Pp. ix – x in H.P. McAdoo
(Ed.), Black Families.
Stimulus: McAdoo introduces the text with an overview and a statement of the problem(s).
Responses: The preface demonstrates the interdisciplinarity of research and theory on the Black Family (and of Black Psychology). Contributors span many different disciplines.
Kwanzaa’s pronunciation.
McAdoo asserts that “…Blacks are no
longer as essential to the economic survival and productivity of the
“As the
Slavery has not ended.
Franklin, John Hope. (2007). African American families: A historical note. Chapter 1 in McAdoo.
Stimulus: John Hope Franklin provides an historical review of the Black Family. He notes the disruption of enslavement (using the term “enslaved Africans”), and reviews the centrally of the Black family to the plantation culture. He reviews changes after emancipation, and the desire of many Blacks to legally marry. He notes that father absence was not such a problem in the years immediately following emancipation (until the 1960s). The 1960s had a devastating impact on the Black family—due to rapid urbanization, ghettoization.
Responses. A key question is why the Black family has suffered so much – particularly in the area of father absence, in recent years.
Karenga, Maulana & Karenga, Tiamoyo. (2007). The Nguzo Saba and the Black Family. Chapter 2
Stimulus. Karenga & Karenga review the origins of the Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles) and the import of these ideals for African people.
Assumptions: The family as a basic unit of humanity; male/female partnership as indispensable; the context of the family is indispensable (community, society, world); social analysis ought to provide an emancipatory social science; community vitality is based on relationships, not material wealth.
Purpose: To articulate the importance of cultural values. “Kawaida is an ongoing synthesis of the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world” (p. 10, emphasis in original).
Culture is defined as “…the totality of thought and practice by which a people creates itself, celebrates, sustains, and develops itself, and introduces itself to history and humanity” (p. 11)
Kwanzaa as a celebration of family, community and culture.
The Seven Principles were derived from Kawaida Philosophy, and function to: (a) organize and enrich relations; (b) establish standards of conduct; (c) reconstruct lost history; (d) communicate core values; (e) aim toward remaking a new African man, woman and child. The Principles include:
1. Umoja (Unity): “To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.”
2. Kujichagulia (Self Determination): “To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.”
3. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) – “To build and maintain our community together and make our sister’s and brother’s problems our problems and to solve them together.”
4. Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) – “To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.”
5. Nia (Purpose) – “To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.”
6. Kuumba (Creativity) – “To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.”
7. Imani (Faith) – “To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.”
Liberation begins with unity, and ends with faith.
Responses: The context of
the Black family is embedded in a broader culture and economy of war. The war culture of the
Karenga is a “cultural nationalist,” who re-invents culture as a tool of liberation. The Nguzo Saba is a set of ideals for personal and collective transformation.
The Nguzo Saba is an attempt to remake the African person in his/her own image. Vs. the alien images imposed – the deity, the Christ, Santa Claus.
African American cultural traditions revere the role of the elderly, something very different from contemporary American society.
The emphasis on the nuclear family disadvantages the majority of contemporary African American families.
Emphasis on respect on human dignity of the other ought to stem the tide of Black-on-Black homicide and violence.
Doing good includes good speech, and should be broad. Promotes altruism and philanthropy.
Karenga extols teaching.
Wealth is not for the sake of wealth, but for the sake of the good it can do for others. Bill Cosby is an excellent example here.
Karenga reminds us of
In Kuumba (Creativity), Karenga doesn’t mention the arts.
In Imani (Faith), Karenga doesn’t mention God.