Be the Change You Wish to See in the World.

African American culture is absolutely beautiful to me. In today’s lecture Dr. Pollard discussed prominent black leaders from the past. He first talked about the leaders in the fight against racism such as MLKJ, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. Also black power leaders Elaine Brown, David Hillard, and Assata Shakur. These individuals helped shaped my life today. Without their trials and tribulations I would not be able to do what I am doing.

                From this point he moved on to infamous black poets such as Muhammad Ali, Nikki Giovanni, and Maya Angelou. Out of all the poets he mentioned Maya Angelou is by far my favorite. My mother LOVES her and has her poem ‘Phenomenal Woman’ committed to memory. Maya Angelou’s poems speak to blacks about life, beauty, and other inspirational topics. Another poet I love who was not mentioned in the PowerPoint was Maya De Vale and the other poets on Def Jam Poetry. Their poems speak to the generation today.

                The last group of people Dr. Pollard touched upon were the musicians. Music, rhythm, and dance are a HUGE part of African American culture. Whenever one is at a party with a lot of black people and that slow jam comes on you will hear singing, see dancing, and people sliding to the electric slide. Dr. Pollard started from music back in the day such as Aretha, Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, Bob Marley, The Supremes, and The Temptations. From the oldies he brought up artists from my favorite time period for music: the 90’s. Artist such as TLC, Biggie, Tupac, Salt N Pepa (80’s), Lauren Hill, Common, Alicia Keys, Maxwell, Aaliyah, and Brandy consume a major part of my iPod. After mentioning these artists we discussed the age old question: What is Hip-Hop?

                Overall through the whole presentation Dr. Pollard was showing us the prominent African Americans in our culture who expressed themselves and their frustrations. The people he named changed the world (in small and large proportions). This was my favorite week in Freshman Seminar.

Natalie Nicole Hampton

Nursing Major/ Spanish Minor