african american history?

Question

this is involving african american history.i will prove that some of the cover ups and stereotypes are wrong:question number one:who discovered america?

just to let u know its not christiphor columbus

so who discovered it?you pout a lot of names in there so i just want to make sure

Answer 1

Over the years, there have been many claims by both scholars and amateur historians and anthropologists that America was "discovered" by the Chinese, the Irish, the Vikings, the Ancient Egyptians, even the Polynesians...along with several books either supporting or refuting these claims.

There really is no one individual person that a person can look at and say absolutely he "discovered" America because it would be subject to debate. Still, some people continue to choose to stick to the traditional mainstream belief that Cristobal Colon (aka Christopher Columbus) was the first to "discover America." While he did a lot of things, one thing's for certain: He did NOT discover the part of America that is now the continental US, Alaska or Hawaii.

It's questionable whether the term "discovered" is even appropriate since the land was already inhabited by the Native Americans when he arrived. So in a sense, it could be argued that it was the Native Americans who "discovered" America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-oceanic_contact

I can recommend a very interesting book from 1977 that discusses the various pre-American contact theories but definitely asserts that it was the Africans who discovered America. It's entitled: They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America by Ivan Van Sertima, a professor of history, linguistics and anthropology at Rutgers University. Although some mainstream scholars blow off his work as "revisionist" and "Afrocentric", nevertheless, there is still very compelling evidence put forth in his book that there was a strong African presence in the Americas before the arrival of the Columbus expeditionaries of 1492.

For example, The Olmec civilization of Central America, based along the Gulf Coast of south-central Mexico, existed roughly from 1200 to 400 BC. Some Olmec sculptures appear to represent faces with ******* features. Seventeen monumental basalt stone heads, each weighing ten to forty tons, have been unearthed in Olmec sites along the Mexican Gulf Coast. José Melgar, who discovered the first colossal head at Hueyapan (now Tres Zapotes) in 1862, subsequently published two papers that attributed this head to a "***** race"

Some of the other Conquistadors recorded that there were races of "Black Indians" sighted in places like Panama. Even Christopher Columbus was told of these dark skinned warriors.

In the book, it talks of Abubakari II of Mali who abdicated his throne in order to explore "the limits of the ocean." He did not return to Mali, but there are some who say in the 14 Century he settled in the area of present day Oaxaca, Mexico.

As for proving some of the cover-ups and stereotypes are wrong:

I'm not completely clear how you or anyone else can prove that stereotypes or archetypes in themselves are wrong or right. There is no rightness or wrongness about people's subjective perceptions. The trouble comes in when a person uses the stereotype or archetype to prejudge or discriminate against others...or allows such perceptions to limit yourself instead of expanding one's horizons. How many times have you heard someone black accused of "acting white" just because they don't fit some stereotype? I'm black...and yes, I feel that some of the so-called stereotypes fit, but many others do not. I don't let those stereotypes define me...nor should anyone else let stereotypes define them. Even if you could "prove" this, some people would still refuse to change their views, but rather hold onto their prejudices/biases even more fiercely than before.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who get formally "educated" but still some who will never truly learn.

Answer 2

African American is a broad term used by people of African descent who can no longer identify their country of origin due to slavery. I don't believe it was ever meant to include those Africans who have maintained cultural ties with their homeland. A Jamaican who moves here is a Jamaican American, whether the individual is black or white. There are black Cubans. Why call them African American when they are Cuban American? On the census or any other government form they ask if you have African ancestry and that's the appropriate time and place to say "yes " or "no." Any other time the person is a Cuban or a Jamaican or a Trinidadian and I would think they have little reason to give up their national identity in order to be absorbed into some "African" melting pot. I'm a descendent of American slavery so I don't mind being "African American" if that's what people want to call me but honestly, if white people don't mind being white then I don't mind being black.

Answer 3

This is like beating a dead horse. Colombus himself knew he didn't discover the "New" World. There were already people there to greet him. Most people seem to take it out of context--he is given credit for the "discovery" because the world (except the people already living there) previously didn't know the American continents existed. The Vikings are considered to be the first Europeans to see the New World, but the Vikings didn't tell anybody about it. Colombus' "discovery" almost immediately led to European exploration and colonization. The native populations suffered a greate deal. I get it--and unfortunately cannot change it. Native Americans may have done the same thing if they had had equal knowledge of shipbuilding and navigation. The Native Americans were technologically behind because they didn't have domesticatable species of animals like horses and cattle to aid them in agriculture and warfare. The strong tend to target the weak. It's always been that way and yes, it does suck.

Answer 4

christopher columbus. wat do u mean by sterotypes bcuz im black, too.