Personal Culture Heritage

After speaking with my mom and doing a bit of my own research, I’ve learned that culture is one’s belief’s, knowledge and traits in one’s society as well as their values and heritage is the way things have been done in the past with the people in my society, as in the everyday practices that we’ve learned over the years from our ancestors.

In my first image choice, I selected a painting of an African American congregation attending church. I feel like this is a part of my heritage because for millions of years, it has been a  known tradition for black families to attend Church as Christians. I don’t particularly claim a religion but I do know that people of my family, including my ancestors, all went to church to feel closer to God and I still follow this today, although I feel like I have my own relationship with Him. I feel like this a valued tradition that is a part of my heritage because at one point we weren’t able to do this. This image is a perfect example of how African American churches came together every Sunday, dressed in their best with they’re hands raised and their voices shouting.

In my second image choice, I selected a piece that shows how African Americans worked on the cotton fields during slavery. I feel like this reflects my personal cultural heritage because I am of course African American and I am also proud of how far we have come as a race from where we were. I feel like this piece is just the cover or the known part in history of what African Americans had to experience, it doesn’t show the racism and all of the other difficulties we had to face simply because we were black. This is a valued part in my culture because shows why African Americans are as strong as they are today.

In my third image choice, I selected a painting of all of the greatest hip hop artists in history. This piece and all of the subjects in it play a huge part in my culture and African American history. This is a part of my heritage culture because a lot (not all) of African American listen to hip-hop and rap music and the subjects in this piece is where it all started from, from NWA to Tupac and Biggie, Queen Latifa and Slick Rick as well as many more. A lot of music from African American artists and other artists as well have all used the subjects in this piece to inspire their work. The artist style, they way they dress and rap or sing are still used in this generation today.

In my last image choice, I would consider the best for last. In this piece, it’s a transformation of the two greatest men in African American history to make a difference. Marin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama are two of the most respected figures in the African American community and culture. Martin Luther King Jr. has always been known to be a peace maker between races and wanting everyone to come together as one, without the hate and anger that was passed down to all races from their ancestors. Barack Obama is known to be the first African American as a United States President, which was one of our culture’s greatest achievements. I feel like this piece is very valuable in my personal cultural heritage because they both believe in equality, peace, and that one day a difference would be made in this world because of the two men in this work.