Culture Lost and Found

African Americans are a people without culture. We were snatched away from our homeland, stolen from our ancient customs. We are therefore culturally disadvantaged compared to other races with origins from Europe, Asia, India and South America. The creation of the myth that we were a people without culture was part of the strategy to keep us in slavery, along with making it illegal for us to learn how to read and separating our families. Some of us have been conditioned to attribute negative acts or perceptions related to our people due to this myth.

Culture is defined as the customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group. Based on this definition, we are blessed with a culture rich in tradition and customs that began its evolution in 1619 when "twenty Negars" were sold into slavery in Jamestown.

We should not only accept but also be proud of a culture that continues to grow due to the contributions of our people, churches, and organizations.

We must continue to share the gifts passed to us through the ages. We must recognize and respect the strength of our women. For without them all would be lost. We must develop men determined to ensure the survival of our people.

We should bask in the contributions of the minds of African Americans such as:

• Paul Laurence Dunbar - Poet
• Phyllis Wheatley - Poet
• Benjamin Banneker - Mathematician and Astronomer
• Thomas Jennings - Inventor of the Dry Cleaning process
• Norbert Rilleux - Inventor of the multiple effect evaporator used to refine sugar, condense milk and manufacture soap.
• Garrett Augustus Morgan - Inventor of the Gas Mask and Three Way Stop Light
• Madame C.J. Walker - Perfected and the use of the hot comb to strengthen African American women's hair.
• Shelby J. Davidson - The of the Adding Machine.
• James A. Jones - Inventor of the Convertible Top.
• Caesarean Midwives - Women who brought the knowledge of Caesarean birth from Africa.
• Daniel Hale Williams - First person to perform open heart surgery
• Jan E. Matzeliger - Created first machine for attaching soles to shoes.
• Charles R. Drew - Pioneer in the use of Plasma.
• Jane Cooke Wright - First Doctor to see remissions in skin cancer and solid tumor breast cancer patients.
  
  We must educate ourselves about our African American leaders:
  
  
• Harriett Tubman
• WEB Dubois
• Asa Phillip Randolph
• Marcus Garvey · Malcom X
• Martin Luther King
• Booker T. Washington
• Ida B. Wells
• Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
• Thurgood Marshall
• Paul Robeson
• Hiram Rhodes Revels - First African American to fill a Senate seat (1870)
• P.B.S. Pinchback - First African American Governor.
• Charletta Spears Bass - Editor and Civil Rights Activist.
• Daisey Bates - Leader of the Little Rock desegregation movement.
• Oscar DePriest - First African American elected to the House or Representatives (1928)