Self Reflection, Self Worth by Michelle Harris

     To be completely honest, when I was first told that I had to take this class in order to graduate, I was very upset.  For one, I am a senior and I just felt out of place.  Also, I thought that I knew everything about the school that I needed to know.  Now I see how wrong I was.  After being in this class, I not only reflect on how I look at myself, but how I look at myself as a young African American woman.  This class has allowed me to actually realize how far we have come as a people.  I am so much more grateful for my ancestors, because they have paved such a remarkable pathway of opportunity for us in this day and age.  I am also more appreciative of my privilege to attend Howard University.  I didn't know as much about the history of this school before this class, but now that I know what I know now, I use this knowledge as a source of inspiration to excel and take advantage of the many opportunities my ancestors worked so hard for us as African Americans to have.  I have also learned that the world may try to break you down, but your spirit cannot be broken.  The African Burial Ground is living proof of that.  Those slaves died fighting for a cause, and although alot did not make it, their spirits carried them farther than life on earth ever could. This class has given me an opportunity to feel more closer to my African origins, and I am proud of who I am and where I come from.  I think that it is sad however, that alot of young people especially in my generation are more concerned with the ignorance that goes on today more than they are with themselves.  We are beautiful people.  We are humble, unique, and different and we should embrace that, rather than allow society to mold us into insecure beings who are ashamed of who we are.  We are worth so much more than we give ourselves credit for.  So all in all, I am thankful for the experience of this class and the knowledge of our deep rooted history.

"Colorism" by Michelle Harris

     The next group that stood out to me was the second group that went the second week of presentations.  Their research topic was on Colorism.  Honestly, this was my favorite group because the topic was so interesting.  It also brought on an even more interesting discussion afterwards and gave us alot to think about.
     They first started off by defining Colorism for us, which is the prejudice against or preference of skin tone in a race.  In other words, Racism within a race.  They explained how most black people have been brought up to believe that the lighter, the better.  They had a video to support their presentation, and it was very interesting to see what preferences were for both black men and women.  Most black men preferred lighter toned black women with long hair and a lot of black women preferred darker toned men.  What made it more interesting to me was that it was the darker toned of each gender that preferred the lighter toned and vice versa.  After the showing of the video, the discussion afterwards went in more depth of the topic by stating that maybe if we were brought up to praise darker skin there would be a higher preference for it.  This provoked a lot of opinions and thoughts throughout the room.
    I would have to agree with most of what this group said.  As black people and from years beyond our time, we have been brought up to be ashamed of our skin.  We were brain washed to believe that the lighter our skin, in other words the closer to "white" we are the better and the more accepted we would be in society.  I honestly believe that it is sad that we discriminate against each other especially given the fact that we have been and sometimes still are discriminated against today.  The last thing we need to do is turn against one another.  Personally I am proud of my skin and I think that black is beautiful.  This brings me to my next point which is I disagree with the whole lighter/darker preference.  I have no particular preference when it comes to a black man's skin.  I am more concerned with the person.  I think it is very sad that society has influenced us as African Americans to be ashamed of who we are and how we look.  They have tried to break our self-esteem enough as it is, so for us to do it to each other is quite devastating and extremely disappointing.  We have overcome so much, and to put down one another is a slap in the face of our ancestors.  We should be more accepting of each other and come together, rather than judge one another based off of what we have been judged for since the beginning of time: Color.

Lack of Necessities and its Impact on African Slaves by Michelle Harris

     During the last few weeks of our Freshman Seminar class, we were divided into groups of five and told to come up with a research question and a solution.  We all were scheduled to present on a certain day, and write individual blogs about how we felt about at least 2 of the groups' presentations.  The first group that stood out to me was the second group that presented on the first day of presentations.  I cannot remember the name of their group, however their topic was on how lack of necessities ad unfit living conditions had a negative impact on African slaves' health and manifests itself in current health issues.
     They came up with 3 perspectives: Clothing perspective, Psychological perspective, and Living Conditions, which all related to the group's majors.  For the clothing perspective, the group gave examples of how some slaves were not given clothing at birth and even so their clothing was not thick enough to provide warmth which resulted in babies getting sick.  They went into greater depth with the psychological perspective, explaining Maslow's theory, which is that the mental condition effected slaves' physical condition.  They went on to use the movie "Beloved" when the mother killed her oldest daughter to protect her.  In my opinion, this was a good movie to use as support of an unstable mental condition.  The last perspective they elaborated on was the living conditions that slaves were forced to live under.  Slaves suffered from sickness due to a lack of utilities and exposure to other people in the house.  There was also a lack of nutrition need to support their heavy workloads.
     Overall, in my opinion, I feel that this group was very informative.  Their research question was well researched and their power points were very easy to follow.  I also liked how they incorporated their majors into the aspects of their research question. (Fashion for clothing aspect, psychology for psychological aspect, and nutrition for living conditions.)  The only thing I struggled with while listening to this group was that they talked rather low.  However, they had such detailed power points that it made up for it.  This group did a great job in my opinion and everything was well put together.

Interview with Dr. Frazier by Michelle Harris

     We were instructed to interview a faculty member for our research question:  How does gang violence affect inner city schools in Washington, DC?  The first person we chose to interview was Dr. Frazier, a Political Science professor.  He seemed both humorous and also very helpful in answering our questions.  He presented a lot of good solutions and points about the reality of gang violence and how it affects kids which is that sometimes it is impossible to stop it.  Most kids are usually pressured or forced to join a gang or else they will get jumped either way.  So under those circumstances, kids will never fully be protected against gang violence.  Also, most kids are surrounded by gang members and have no real positive mentors or influences that encourage schooling, and unfortunately because of this, they do not take school very serious or get to learn the real benefits of what a good education can bring them.

     Dr. Frazier also mentioned how it is the mayor's responsibility to care about the community, and set a city wide agenda to lower the effects of gang violence.  I personally agree with this solution because if the mayor is not taking care of the community and shows no effort of concern, the community will not respect him nor will they support his cause.  Instead, they will rebel and are more prone to act violently feeling like they need to look out for themselves.  Especially young teenagers and kids.

Dr. Frazier also offered some positive solutions such as having youth groups and mentors or even giving kids field trips outside of school.  This is a good way to expose kids to something positive.  Sometimes people need to be taken outside of what they are used to and shown something different in order to realize that there is a better way.

     All in all, I completely agree with everything that Dr. Frazier said.  Kids need positive examples, and if they are surrounded by negativity, unfortunately they become a product of their environment.  There may never be a real solution to gang violence and how it affects kids, however, with some of the positive solutions that Dr. Frazier discussed, at least kids will know that there are alternatives and better choices for their life.  Hopefully they will be influenced to become leaders and not followers.
  

Color-ism by Jordan Henry

I really like the group who did their research project on the term “color-ism”.  The group stated the color-ism is thought as racism within a race.  They said in the African American community, the issue seems to stem around “light skin” and “dark skin.” The group said that society has builded on this idea that beauty is associated with how long a person’s hair is or how light their complexion is.  They claimed how the black community has really bought into this idea throughout.  The majority of black men tend to be attracted to light skinned woman and black woman seem to be attracted to men who have a light complexion.  They proved this theory, by going around the university and interviewing different students on film.  They presented the videos to class and most of the students tended to favor “light skin.”

                Before this group’s presentation, I was aware of the racism within the black race.  I was already exposed to the stigma in the black community over complexion, but I was unaware that the word color-ism was the term used to describe it.  This was the first time I’ve heard of color-ism.  Personally I feel like black people are beautiful regardless of skin complexion.   This definitely became more apparent once I started attending Howard University.   I’ve seen all types of black people whether they are tall, short, light, and dark, bald, thick or skinny.  I think it is truly sad that the black community punishes itself with color-ism.  I feel like it is the cause of some self hated that continues today in the black community.  Black people need to begin to carry themselves with pride and really show society why black is beautiful.

What is "Good Hair"? by Jordan Henry

Another group that I enjoyed was the one that talked about the terms “good hair” or “bad hair.”  I find these topics to be very interesting because they really relate to some of the issues concerning in the black communities. The group spoke about how a lot of black woman try to fit into society’s definition of beauty, which is lighter skin and long hair.  They claimed that this is due to a type of self hatred that some black woman suffers from.  They said that by black woman express their desire to alter their appearance by doing things such as wearing weaves, or perming their hair, or by bleaching their skin.  They proved these theories in a number of ways.  They mentioned that when little girls are asked to choose between barbies with thicker hair or straighter hair, they often choose the Barbie with the straight hair.  The group pointed how this issue is a concern of low self esteem among the black community.  However, the group did take the time to point out famous woman who chose to go against the stereotype like Erykah Badu and Jill Scott.

                I not only enjoyed this presentation, but I was also interested by the argument and discussions it caused in class.  Some students agreed with the theory that the group presented and some were totally against it because they felt not all woman who perm or put in their hair are trying to alter their reflection.  They believed that it was just particular preference on how to wear their hair.  At some points I did agree with the group because I do believe there is a ridiculous stigma of beauty among the black community but at the same time I do not necessarily that every black woman is ashamed of their appearance.  This topic always seems to be an interesting discussion among woman of color because it is all based off opinion.  I like how the group was open to comments or questions and I also liked how they pointed out beautiful black woman who choose to wear their hair natural. Overall it was a really good and thought provoking presentation.

Interview with Dr. Livingston by Jordan Henry

The Freshman Seminar had an outline of work that we were required to complete before the end of the semester. In the course for this semester we required to come to class and listen to lectures and fill out forms about we read every Wednesday each week.  We were also expected to get into groups of five students and create a group name and blog site.  Every week we were expected to post a blog about the lecture we heard earlier in class.  Our groups were required to complete a research project as well and we had to interview two teachers.  One of the teachers that we chose to interview was Dr. Livingston. 

                Dr. Livingston is the head of the sociology department and we felt that he was a good professor to interview because we found his class to be quite interesting.  Our research topic was “How does gang violence affect inner city schools in Washington, DC?” Dr. Livingston responded that gangs force a lot of pressure on kids in more urban or poverty stricken neighborhoods.  He said that kids today either observe what they see the success that other gang member make and they attempt to imitate that or sometimes they can be threatened to join gangs.  Sometimes kids just feel like there is no other option out there for them, so they unfortunately get involved with different gangs in the neighborhood.  As a result, kids lose track of school or they sometimes simply drop out to live the gang lifestyle.  He could not give us too many specific details about the DC area specifically, but he did offer some ideas of how the issue could be solved.  He feels that kids need to be encouraged more to get involve with different activities.  Kids should also receive more motivation from role models like the mayor and many others.  I feel like Dr. Livingston had an   excellent take on gang violence and how it affects schools.  He brought up some excellent points and I completely agree with his suggestion to resolve the issue.