African American Core Values: A Guide for Everyone pot

What Others are Saying about African American Core Values: A Guide for Everyone "In what has obviously been a labor of love, Richard Rosenfield compiles a useful compendium of folk wisdom which, while coming out of the African American community, is of profound relevance to all Americans. Reaching across the generations and spanning the range from academic to popular discourses, Rosenfield reproduces here one nugget of insight after the other. All of our young people need to read and reflect upon this invaluable book." GLENN C. LOURY, Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences in the Department of Economics at Brown University, and author of Race, Incarceration, and American Values "It was a great idea to edit such a book, and a major contribution." JAMES P. COMER, Founder and Chairman of the School Development Program at the Yale University School of Medicine's Child Study Center, and author of What I Learned In School: Reflections on Race, Child Development, and School Reform African American Core Values: A Guide for Everyone serves as a poignant collection of hard-fought common sense values that every American no matter their color can benefit from. The values of self-reliance, hard work, education, and the willingness to endure to overcome obstacles were once common in the black community. It is books such as this one that can help bring these values back." REVEREND JESSE LEE PETERSON, Founder and President of Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny, and author of From Rage to Responsibility: Black Conservative Jesse Lee Peterson and America Today "I was struck by the academic possibilities of this compilation. Educators, counselors and scholars would find it very useful. Having these ideas collected in one place and accessible would be very convenient for those who are speaking to, or working with, young people." JOHNNETTA B. COLE, Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, President Emerita of Spelman and Bennett Colleges, Chair of the JBC Institute, and author of Gender Talk: The Struggle For Women's Equality in African American Communities A great piece of work. Every student, of every color, should read this. It should be part of the social studies curriculum." ANDREW D. WASHTON, author of What Happens Next? Stories to Finish for Intermediate Writers, Teachers College Press, Columbia University African American Core Values A Guide for Everyone Compiled by Richard M. Rosenfield Published by Richard M. Rosenfield at Smashwords AFRICAN AMERICAN CORE VALUES: A GUIDE FOR EVERYONE Copyright 2012 by Richard M. Rosenfield Smashwords Edition Thank you for downloading this ebook. It remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied, or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoy it, please encourage your friends to acquire their own copy of the ebook or print edition. Thank you for your support. All author royalties from this edition will be donated to a nonprofit organization. To the memory of my parents, Samuel and Sylvia, and to Yael and Sam Table of Contents Acknowledgments Note on the Ebook Edition Preface Introduction Part I: Background Chapter 1: Oppression Chapter 2: Opportunity Chapter 3: Self-Reliance Part II: Core Values Chapter 4: Marriage Chapter 5: Education Chapter 6: Work Part III: Obstacles Chapter 7: Crime Chapter 8: Conformity Chapter 9: Passivity Biographical Notes About the Author Notes Acknowledgments I appreciate all the library workers who made it possible for me to find books, especially in the system of the New York Public Library. Many friends have supported my efforts by giving me articles and books, criticizing sections of the manuscript, and simply by asking how it was going. I thank all of you, especially Ansell, Bernie, John, Jules, Maximo, Andrea and Paul. Years before publication I was lucky to receive feedback from Anne C. Beal, Johnnetta B. Cole, Abigail Thernstrom, and Faye Wattleton. Although these authors did not know me, they graciously responded to my request for their opinions. Their encouragement meant more to me than they could have known. Most helpful of all was the patience, feedback, encouragement, and love I received from Yael and Sam. Note on the Ebook Edition I submitted the final text of the print edition of African American Core Values to the publisher before recognizing that our national economy was seriously troubled. Considering the current hard economic times, sections in that edition, about African American economic progress, may impress some readers as overly positive. To me, the message of the first edition remains valid: the core values that enabled African Americans to advance, under conditions much worse than those seen today, continue to foster well-being and progress, for everyone. The wisdom in African American literature is timeless. Consequently, this edition has only a few minor changes. This ebook does not contain the Name Index or citations for the quotes. Please see the print edition for that information. Preface Working as a school psychologist for thirty years, from rural North Carolina to New York City, I saw many achieving African American students who clearly would succeed in the workplace. But I was more concerned with those who were not performing well and were vulnerable to remaining poor throughout their lives. News reports suggested that most African Americans were poor. The media implied that the solution was for government officials to start programs and stop the discrimination in our country. This viewpoint left ordinary people such as my students and most adults with no direction, nothing to do. Jewell Jackson McCabe Here we are in the twenty-first century, with no generational plan for the cultural equity and creation of wealth that we are committed to. Nathan McCall, on middle-class black people who want to help: Like me, they feel frustrated and so overwhelmed by the complex web of problems facing African Americans that they don’t know where to begin. I searched for answers in books by African Americans. They wrote that they were making much more economic progress than the media indicated. They identified a set of three core values that contributed to their success: marriage, education, and work. These writers convinced me that if more young people believed in and lived by those values, more would avoid poverty and achieve well-being, and the movement to economic equality would broaden and accelerate. But in many homes, those values were not fully recognized or passed on. Most of the parents I worked with were single mothers, grandparents, older sisters, foster parents, aunts, and uncles. Many were spending all their time and energy just keeping a roof over everyone’s head and keeping their kids fed, clothed, in school, and out of trouble. They tried their best to instill wholesome values, but it’s a difficult job. They often were not as effective as they wanted to be. African American Core Values is a resource for black youth and the people who raise, teach, and influence them. It is a compilation of focused self-help quotations from approximately two hundred years of African American writing and speaking. It guides young people, affirms their efforts, and warns of potential obstacles. It also takes them through a major part of American history in the authentic, poignant voices of those who experienced and shaped that history. People other than African Americans can also benefit from these quotations. Young people of all races experience many of the same challenges. The insights in black literature can help all teens and young adults avoid problems in life and take advantage of opportunities. Adults of all races can benefit as well. A theme that runs through the literature is that African Americans feel misunderstood, misperceived. Shelby Steele wrote of "white blindness." Ralph Ellison’s protagonist thought, "I am invisible….they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me." Miles Davis reacted to misperceptions by suggesting that white people "read a book and learn something." I read and learned from former slaves to contemporary multimillionaires, from radicals to corporate presidents, from athletes and rap artists to Ivy League professors, from the revered elders to twelve-year-old Myesha. They explained what they lived through as black people and what they value. Their testimony helped me understand, and it can help anyone who is open to learning. I suggest that readers use these quotations as a first source, and then go to the writers and books that interest them. Reading the original texts is the best way to understand and be inspired by black literature. Students can enhance their reading experience by searching for favorite quotations, writing or speaking about what their favorites mean to them, and deciding how they can act on those values. Some of the most impressive quotations come from women, but the majority are by men. Throughout the centuries, relatively few black women have had the chance to write or be published, and, when they did, they often wrote novels. 1 Marian Wright Edelman, JD Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth represent the thousands of anonymous women whose voices were muted by slavery, segregation, and confining gender roles throughout history. In addition to hundreds of quotations from African Americans, a small number from white and non-Americans are included. I use the terms African American and black because it is my perception that today most Americans of African descent use and prefer those words. Going against custom, I place speakers’ names before their statements. I feel that reading the quotation while knowing who expressed it sometimes makes its significance more impressive. For instance, encouragement to vote from someone who fought and suffered to gain voting rights has a special impact. Because the primary goal is economic, I present examples of African Americans who are successful and wealthy. But no one on these pages says that money is the best thing in life or that it brings happiness. Instead, men and women speak of the pleasures of living with one’s spouse and children, of learning and reading, of the sense of accomplishment that work gives them, and of the fulfillment they obtain from exercising individual freedom. W. E. B. Du Bois once asked, "Would America have been America without her Negro people?" The quotations in this book make it clear that the creativity and productivity of black Americans have enriched this nation. For me, an America without African Americans would be a colder, poorer, duller place. I hope that African Americans and people of other races find this compilation to be useful. Introduction African Americans have been using the core values of marriage, education, and work to climb the economic ladder and to enable their children to climb even higher. As more people embrace these values, more are likely to succeed. Juan Williams The good news is that there is a formula for getting out of poverty today. The magical steps begin with finishing high school, but finishing college is much better. Step number two is taking a job and holding it. Step number three is marrying after finishing school and while you have a job. And the final step to give yourself the best chance to avoid poverty is to have children only after you are twenty-one and married. This formula applies to black people and white people alike. The poverty rate for any black man or woman who follows that formula is 6.4 percent. Dr. Maya Angelou, on the importance of both parents raising their children: This is critical, because more often than not, people who come from homes where two parents are present will be supported by the family, will receive more education, will earn their degrees, will more than likely go on to become a part of the middle and upper-middle class. And more than likely, those who come from the single-parent homes will not make it as far. Glenn C. Loury, PhD There is also good reason to think that the attitudes and values communicated to youngsters via the cultural milieu of their particular communities of origin— attitudes about work, family, and education—serve to promote group differences in economic attainment in adulthood. Appreciating the progress African Americans have made requires knowing what they have overcome, and when. From 1619 until 1865, when the Civil War ended, most of the Africans who were brought here and their descendants lived in slavery. They supported others but did not have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills for taking care of themselves in terms of managing finances or independently obtaining housing, food, and clothing. After emancipation, black Americans typically were sharecroppers, living and working on isolated southern farms, in desperate poverty, without civil rights, and often without adequate nutrition, medical care, or schools. From the early 1900s until around 1970, the Great Migration brought millions of African Americans to the modern, urban, industrialized North. These immigrants were separated from the support of family, friends, and their familiar way of living—a traumatic change. They had to cope with northern-style discrimination, including segregation, unequal rights, and limited opportunities at school and work. Roger Wilkins, JD, 1994 Blacks arrived on the North American continent in 1619. For almost 250 of the ensuing 375 years we had slavery or something very close to it. And for a century after that we had Constitutionally sanctioned racial subordination. We have had something other than slavery or legal racial subordination for only twenty-nine years. Debra J. Dickerson, JD By the migration’s end, America was a changed place: its northern cities teemed with hopeful blacks who were no longer serfs but were still far from equal. Black America was changed as well; a century after the end of official slavery, five minutes past sharecropping, they were only half southern and less than a quarter rural. Finally, they were also something like free. Thomas Sowell, PhD The race as a whole has moved from a position of utter destitution—in money, knowledge, and rights—to a place alongside other groups emerging in the great struggles of life. None have had to come from so far back to join their fellow Americans. Lorraine Hansberry’s "Mama" from A Raisin in the Sun: When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is. Measuring shows that from seemingly endless oppression, that gave most black Americans little chance to avoid being poor, 75.7 percent had risen above the poverty line by 2006. 2 Married couples gained the most, and many had become prosperous. By 2003, 23.6 percent of African American married couples had an annual income between $50,000 and $74,999, and an additional 29.9 percent had an annual income of $75,000 or more. 3 By 2006, 92.9 percent of married-couple African American families were above the poverty line. 4 Marriage enriches these couples by enabling them to bring in more than one paycheck while decreasing expenses such as housing costs. At least as valuable, it is a way for a man and woman to go through life with an intimate friend and partner. But most important, from a developmental and educational viewpoint, it gives their children all the resources of two parents working together to raise them. Education also contributes to the progress. By 2006, 80 percent of African Americans eighteen and older had graduated high school or gone further. 5 This is close to the graduation rate of the overall American population, 84.6 percent. 6 All aspects of the education gap have not been eliminated, but African Americans are moving in the right direction. For today’s young people, schooling will pay off like never before. The Census Bureau recently estimated that African American full-time workers with high school diplomas will earn $1,000,000 throughout their work lives. Those with college degrees will earn $1,700,000, and those with advanced degrees $2,500,000. 7 The progress and the opportunity for further gains are unprecedented. Just a few decades ago, most African Americans were restricted to low-skilled jobs, such as laborers and maids. Major corporations rarely hired black workers; when they did, it was only to interact with black consumers or to be "window dressing"—giving the false impression of a diversified workforce. Segregation kept black athletes out of major league sports. Now, billionaire Robert L. Johnson is the founder of Black Entertainment Television and the film company Our Stories. He is the majority owner of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats, and also owns a hedge fund, a private equity firm, a hundred upscale hotels, gambling ventures, and banks; and he is a philanthropist. Oprah Winfrey rose from childhood poverty and abuse to become the Emmy Award–winning host of the highest-rated television talk show ever—and a billionaire. Ms. Winfrey is an Academy Award–nominated actor, a magazine publisher, a book critic, and one of the most influential and generous people in the world. Until E. Stanley O’Neal retired as Merrill Lynch chairman and CEO in 2007, he oversaw the investment of $1,600,000,000,000—yes, trillion—of people’s money. 8 O’Neal’s grandfather had been a slave. Kenneth Chenault is president and CEO of the world’s most prestigious credit card company, American Express. Ann M. Fudge is chairman and CEO of international Young & Rubicam Brands and its largest division, Y&R Advertising. Richard Parsons was recently president and CEO of Time Warner, the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate. Franklin Delano Raines recently served as chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae, the third-largest corporation in America. Ruth J. Simmons, PhD, daughter of a janitor, is president of Ivy League Brown University. Shonda Rhimes, screenwriter, director, and producer, is the creator and executive producer of the Emmy and Golden Globe Award–winning television series Grey’s Anatomy. In addition to being a medical doctor, Mae Jemison is a chemical engineer and former astronaut. Benjamin S. Carson, MD, is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His practice includes traumatic brain injuries, brain and spinal cord tumors, achondroplasia, neurological and congenital disorders, craniosynostosis, epilepsy, and trigeminal neuralgia. His research has generated over ninety neurosurgical publications. U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr. has served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel has served as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. Colin Powell has held the nation’s highest-ranking military post, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was secretary of state. Condoleezza Rice, PhD, is the current secretary of state. Black athletes have broken racial barriers and excelled at most sports, including Tiger Woods in golf and Venus and Serena Williams in tennis. And Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America. These are exceptional achievers, so the values of marriage, education, and work do not fully account for their success. But as a group, they are very well-educated and hardworking. Public sources indicate that all but Ms. Winfrey had married parents (although Dr. Carson’s father left the family when his son was eight years old, Congressman Rangel’s father left when his son was six, and President Obama’s father left when his son was two). Many single parents raise their children well, but, as Dr. Angelou and others have seen, children raised by both parents are more likely to succeed in school and the workplace. African Americans have been succeeding. Susan L. Taylor Included among us is the largest group of educated, affluent people of African ancestry anywhere in the world. We were born for this hour. We are the most blessed generations of Black people anywhere in the world. We have everything we need to take charge of our lives and to move our people forward. Marriage, education, and work are self-help values. They require confidence and faith in oneself, not in politicians or anyone else. Jim Brown All that matters is to see more and more black people mobilized and working toward constructive self-help goals. If in my lifetime I can see that this idea really has taken hold, then I will have the satisfaction of knowing that true freedom—as black men and as black Americans —will finally be within our grasp. Johnnetta B. Cole, PhD I also know that when African Americans really want to do something, we are quite capable of figuring out the how. No doubt, as more of us embrace the concept of self-help, we will come up with all kinds of variations on the theme. Of course, following through on the tried-and-true methods and developing new ones will, to some extent, hinge on being inspired with right and righteous motivations. Bill Cosby, EdD and Alvin F. Poussaint, MD When African Americans are committed to something, they make it happen. A self-help strategy based on values may not seem potent because values are just ideas in someone’s mind. But Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. knew that ideas could strongly influence behavior. He was fond of Victor Hugo’s insight: "There is no greater power on earth than an idea whose time has come." Cornel West, PhD Ideas can be used in such a way that it promotes the enhancement and advancement of poor people in general, and Black people in particular. Lerone Bennett Jr. The most urgent problem of the hour is ideological clarity. In fact, strategic thinking of a depth and intensity unparalleled in our history has become a matter of life and death. What are we doing Why are we doing it? Will what we are doing take us where we want to go? And where do we want to go? Until we reach a tentative conclusion on this point, nothing real can be done. Oprah Winfrey Our beliefs can move us forward in life—or they can hold us back. Instilling constructive values in young people will require more than a book because some of those who need guidance will not seek it. Family members, friends, teachers, mentors, writers, musicians, and artists can be more active in bringing wholesome messages to young people. Glenn C. Loury, PhD, on advocating self-help: There are truths which need to be spoken, and repeated, and reiterated—even when unpopular—until one’s fellows begin to listen, and consider, and finally accept. Knowing the backgrounds of these writers and speakers makes their words more meaningful and vibrant. The Biographical Notes contain information on every person who has three or more quotations included in this book. Of course, fuller biographical information is available on the Internet and in books. Three legendary historic figures who are quoted are Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. As a teenaged slave, Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) was so rebellious that his "owner" hired a "slave breaker" to crush his spirit. Young Frederick fought and defeated the man. Although schooling was forbidden and learning to read was punishable by death, Douglass became a reader. He believed that reading was the key to his escape. As a free man, Douglass hid fugitive slaves in his home and made powerful speeches that helped bring an end to the institution of slavery. His 1852 Fourth of July speech should please anyone who enjoys hearing truth spoken to power. 9 Frederick Douglass edited a newspaper, The North Star, which pointed the way to freedom. His words remain today, still pointing in that direction. [...]... nearly every major conflict since the Revolutionary War For example, the African American 761st Tank Battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for Extraordinary Heroism for its role in defeating the Nazis Battalion members were awarded two hundred ninety-six Purple Hearts, eleven Silver Stars, and seventy Bronze Stars, and Staff Sergeant Ruben Rivers was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor... domain to dismantle African American and other residential areas to make room for public projects Seneca Village, which existed in New York City from 1825 to 1857, was removed for the construction of a section of Central Park This was a biracial community, although predominantly black, including two churches and a school African American men who lost their land also lost their qualification for precious... entertainment, and music, is that we bring the culture to America James Weldon Johnson, 1933 The only things artistic in America that have sprung from American soil, permeated American life, and been universally acknowledged as distinctively American, had been the creations of the American Negro John McWhorter, PhD The facts here are simple: the popular music that all Americans cherish, sing, and dance to today... had some deeply scarring psychological effects, and we’ve got to deal with those J L Chestnut Jr., JD I told an emotional crowd in a black church in Opelika in east Alabama that in black America it is common to hear what can’t be done Too many of us are obsessed with the impossible Four hundred years of slavery and segregation have had an awesome impact on the black mind In India, a baby bull elephant... Reverend King: Mama and I wept quietly together *** African Americans have been stereotyped and segregated Margaret Walker, PhD In movie after movie black people, individually and collectively, were demeaned and dehumanized, portrayed as naked savages, animals, stupid clowns or buffoons, and imbecilic servants, criminals, and children As a child, reading the history books in the South, I was humiliated by... many things are undeniably better Leanita McClain Black progress has surpassed our greatest expectations; we never even saw much hope for it and the achievement has taken us by surprise Arthur Ashe Jr., 1993 In most ways, we have never had as much power as we have commanded in the last twenty years Orlando Patterson, PhD The sociological truths are that America, while still flawed in its race relations... black and white workers have diminished dramatically; and something approximating parity in economic status has been achieved for young, intact black families President Barack Obama Today not only is the city filled with black doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals, but blacks also occupy some of the highest management positions in corporate Chicago Blacks own restaurant chains,... in parts of Africa and the Middle East—Chad, Mauritania, and the United Arab Emirates— slavery continues to this day! Ned Cobb, aka Nate Shaw Yes, all God’s dangers aint a white man *** In contrast with their racist behavior, whites have been allies and friends of black Americans This includes the white people who risked working with the Underground Railroad, John Brown and the men who fought and died... dance there, and does not drink in the same bars white soldiers drink in; and who watches German prisoners of war being treated by Americans with more human dignity than he has ever received at their hands And who, at the same time, as a human being, is far freer in a strange land than he has ever been at home Home! The very word begins to have a despairing and diabolical ring You must consider what... bring forth a single human soul who cannot be matched and over-matched in every line of human endeavor by Asia and Africa Before Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., PhD (1929–1968) became a civil rights leader, it was not safe for Southern black people to drink from a "white" fountain, attempt to register to vote, or join the NAACP Reverend Ralph Abernathy said that before King, it was "peculiar for the . quotations from African Americans, a small number from white and non-Americans are included. I use the terms African American and black because it is my perception that today most Americans. Reform African American Core Values: A Guide for Everyone serves as a poignant collection of hard-fought common sense values that every American no matter their color can benefit from. The values. What Others are Saying about African American Core Values: A Guide for Everyone "In what has obviously been a labor of love, Richard Rosenfield compiles a useful compendium