The Evolution Of African American Identity

Identity has been a major concern of African and African American authors from the beginning. In fact African American identity underwent drastic transformations between the eighteenth century and twentieth century. As Amistad, "Federalist No. 54", The New Negro and The Souls of Black Folks shows, African American identity has shifted from an early tribal identity, to a dehumanized identity based in slavery, and finally to a 'new' type of Negro identity based in art and African origins. These transformations of identity have been a tremendous struggle that were produced by their exploitation by white America.

From the onset of the slave trade, the first Africans brought to the United States were forced from their native land, into a place where life and customs were unfamiliar. Throughout this early period, many African Americans clung to their tribal and cultural roots from Africa. From these African roots, early slaves drew an identity that strongly resembled the tribal mind-set that characterized Africa. The movie Amistad captures the essence of slaves holding onto their tribal identity. There is a scene in which the attorney, Mr. Balwin, enters the prison where the African captives are being held and sparks huge debate amongst the African prisoners. This scene perfectly illustrates the early tribal slave mentality. The debate is set off when Mr. Balwin intrudes on the different territories within the prison cell. These territories are set forth by each of the individual "clans" within the group of African prisoners. Despite their bleak situation, the slaves in the prison still felt the need to protect their small piece of the claimed area from an intruder, whether white or African. This scene exemplifies the way the Africans held on to separate tribal identities from Africa, and had no sense of unity or national identity. The way African's clung to their tribal identity is one of the largest factors that lead to their exploitation. With the "every man for himself' mentality and segregation amongst the culture, Africans were not only fighting against their white oppressors but also each other. Slave traders took advantage of this rift and began to exploit the Africans pitting tribe against tribe, having Africans taking Africans as slaves in the new world. This fed the insatiable western demand for more cheap slave labor.

The tribal identity that many African Americans brought with them was easily exploited because the isolation it formed; it left small separated groups of Africans that could easily be manipulated by large organized groups of industrious westerns. In Amistad, John Quincy Adams, played by Anthony Hopkens, gives a well-expressed speech during the trial for the African captives saying,

"Cinque, Stand up please. This man is black, we can all see that. But, can we also see what is equally true, that this man is the only true hero in this courtroom. If this man were white were British he wouldn't be standing here fighting for his life, if this man were white and his enslavers were British he wouldn't be able to stand so heavy the weight of the medals we would bestow upon him. Songs would be written about him Books would be filled with his story".

In this speech Mr. Quincy explores the fact that if Cinque had been from a British country, where national identity had a place, he would have been praised rather than beaten for his actions on the Amistad. Because of Cinque's isolated African identity he is exploited and put in jail for protecting his personal self interest. The tribal mentality that characterized the identity of Africans during the beginning of the slave trade, left many Africans alone, fighting against a unified whole that wanted only to exploit them for reasons they did not understand.

As slavery progressed, the tribal and cultural roots that slaves once identified with, began to fade. African Americans began to lose touch with the customs and freedoms they had once identified with in Africa. The harsh reality of slavery stripped the Africans of any identity of their own, and allowed their identity to be defined for them. Slave owners eager to maintain the profit driven business of slavery, took this loss of identity as an opportunity to tighten the grip they had on the African Americans. By forcing the identity of being property rather than human on the slaves, slave owners could further exploit the African Americans. The debate for slaves being identified as property is eloquently explored in the Federalist No. 54 paper from the New York packet. On the basis of taxation and representation, the paper contemplates if and when a slave should be considered a person versus property. The author believes that slaves are human until they become enslaved; at that point the enslavement takes away that human element. The Federalist No. 5, points out that the identity of slaves is a peculiar one; no matter how many slave owners desired to have slave viewed as property, one fact could not be overlooked: slave were still human beings.

As slavery continued to evolve and slaves gained their freedom, the need for a new authentic African American identity needed to be adopted. The Harlem renaissance characterizes the time in which African American decedents of those who had seen first hand the injustices of slavery, began to move out of the north seeking a better life and an identity of their own. In the works of The New Negro and The Souls of Black Folks, the authors