the black california culture today. well to me there seems to be a drop in so much violence in our own country. the reason is due to war. African American culture or Black culture, in the United States, includes the various cultural traditions of African American communities. It is both part of, and distinct from American culture. The U.S. Census Bureau defines African Americans as "people having origins in any of the black race groups of Africa."[1] African American culture is indigenous to the descendants in the U.S. of survivors of the Middle Passage. It is rooted in Africa and is an amalgam of chiefly sub-Saharan African and Sahelean cultures.
Although slavery greatly restricted the ability of Africans in America to practice their cultural traditions, many practices, values and beliefs survived and over time have incorporated elements of European American culture. The result is a dynamic, creative culture that has had a profound and ongoing impact on mainstream American culture and on world popular culture as well. After Emancipation, these uniquely African American traditions continued to grow. They developed into distinctive traditions in music, art, literature, religion, food, holidays, amongst others. While for many years it was a common belief that African Americans had lost all cultural ties with Africa, every aspect of African American culture is, at its roots, African.
African American culture often developed separately from mainstream American culture because of the persistence of racial segregation in America. Consequently African American culture has become a significant part of American culture and yet, at the same time, remains a distinct culture apart from it. Many aspects of American culture derive influence from African American culture. Additionally, African American culture draws many of these same elements from other American ethnic groups and from African cultures.[2]
