Black Men

To think that only 2% of psychologists are African American's, isn't surprising, but still disturbing. Knowing that African Americans have a different psyche than white American's shows how hard it is for white Psychologists to relate to African American patients. To know that a person is unable to relate to you really discourages you from being personal and sharing information with that person. Seeing that black men already have a hard time sharing information with black women, I feel like they don't even consider sharing information with people who don't look anything like them. Not only will African American men feel uncomfortable, but the judgement of the white psychologist will be off. Studies and research are usually done from a Eurocentric view, so it's seems impossible to be able to help someone who not European with Eurocentric solutions. Cultures are different, experiences are different and life styles are different. All of this has an affect on the way you think about yourself and the world.

Black Heterosexual and Black same-sex couples both have to deal with stereotypes in today's society. Society has specific characteristics for heterosexual men and women and homosexual men and women, and when someone steps outside of "character", society is shocked and unwilling to accept the differences and natural instincts of others. We constantly have to label everything in our world, no matter what it is.

Stopping the Relationship Cycle

The problems and challenges, that are going on in African American relationships, all relate to each other like a domino effect. Once something doesn't go right, it causes everything else to tumble as well, and leads to many issues. Solutions that I think can positively effect the black community consist of EDUCATING our young black women and men.

-Teach them our TRUE history

-Teach them what they really are worth and their value.

-Teach them how important their African American brothers and sisters are to their lives.

Blacks are feeding into the negative stereotypes, becoming what they hear. Some African American men believe all they can be are athletes because that is all society has taught them. If they only focus on sports then they are uneducated and unable to get a job. This causes the woman to have to step up in the household, making her the dominant person.

Issues that need to be addressed in counseling African Americans consist of the communication within their relationships, the stereotypes of African Americans, and the loss that women deal within these relationships. I felt like these issues would take more than just a realization of what the problem was, because they are so much deeper than what the surface shows. Unfortunately, we can't change history, but we can alter our future.

2 Anti-beliefs that relate to history:

"I'm not good enough to be loved"- This is something that African American woman still face with today because during slavery, they were raped, beat and treated any kind of way. Dehumanizing them making them lose sight of their true value and worth

"I'll lose anyone who gets close to me" - During slavery, families were torn apart, men watch their wives being raped, and women watched their husbands being beat. This statement means, to me, that anyone who loves me more than the average, cares for me more than I can imagine will be taking away.

An African American Man can be described as self-determined, family oriented, prideful, and spiritually humane. Though some men may have forgot or may have simply got off track to what a real man is, I believe they still exist.

African American Relationships

Check out this great MSN video - Redefining black relationships

The African- American Women and the Male Female Relationship Dilemma: A Counseling Perspective

Afr Relationships, what we constantly talk about in class. This article summarizes all of the concerns we have regarding black male and black female relationships. The article talks about the history of African American Men, how they were torn from their families during slavery limiting them to be the leaders in their family, and African American Women, how they were forced to become the dominant figure in their families.

The article then explains the contemporary issues black relationships face, such as black men not being able to uphold their "male like" duties due to society's barriers, and how black women usually have to settle because of this. The article later talks about the loss women face in these relationships whether they are physically or emotionally.

Communication was summed up in two paragraphs in this article, though I felt like it is one of the most important topic. A lot of black relationships are unstable or fail to succeed because of lack of communication. This led to the stereotypes in the black community. This article explains that our black men are feeding off of the thought that black women or "undesirable" and etc. While black women see that black men only want sex from us.

The article ends in explaining how there should be more research on black relationships, black males and black females, and I agree.

5 Questions

1. Living in a class apart: The separate world of America's Black elite”—how are the issues discussed in the article still impacting African Americans today?

I think a main issue in the black community today that refers to this article, is skin complexion. Who knew that this would be an issue within the black community, since it has been and issue against the black community for over 400 years, and I believe even before then in certain areas the different tones of African skin was a symbol of division. In today's society, they stereotypes aren't as bad, but they are still an issue. If you have a lighter skin complexion doesn't mean you are automatically stuck up and if your skin complexion just happen to be darker doesn't mean you are less prettier than the next. These idiotic stereotypes, show how the "house slave" and "field slave" mentality may have had an affect on the psyche of black people. Now our struggle for black unity is expressed through comments like #teamlightskin and #teamdarkskin. In the article it is expressed through the "brown paper bag test". All of these expressions, to me, explains how our black community then and now are unconsciously crying for help.

2. In the article by Offner, P. (2002). What’s love got to do with it?: Disparity between black men and women, the author presents several explanations for why Black women are advancing so far beyond Black men. What would you add to these explanations?

While families encourage higher learner for young women, I think they encourage sports for young men. Seeing that you are more likely to be successful when you have higher learner then that means black women are more likely to be successful leading them to be farther beyond black men. It's rare to find young men who make it to the pros, so that leaves a large group of young black men at a place that is lower than the status of young black women.

3. From the editorial by Raspberry on “Successful women who are childless”, (A) what percent of African American women between 28-55 years old and earning over $55,000 a year are married? 29 Percent. (B) Further, according to Cornel West, how has the ratio of black men to black women college students at Harvard changed between 1970 and today? Went from close to even to 9-1. Compare this to John Hope Franklin article.

Franklin and Raspberry talked about the same issues in there articles. They both talked about how the number of father-absent house holds and families increased over the years.

4. From the article by Eckholm, E. (2006), “Studies sound alarm on plight of black males”, (A) How has the plight deepened for black men in the last 2 decades? (B) Describe the two factors cited by Holzer and colleagues for keeping black employment rates down.

We have more poorly black educated men because of high school drop outs. This puts them at a higher disadvantage in the community. To keep the employement rates down you simply have to keep them out of school and keep them incarcerated.

5. From the article by Edwards, A. (2002), “Bring me home a black girl”, What does the term "annihilation through integration" mean? How does that relate to the Black marriageability index today? After reading the McLarin and Evans articles, discuss the implications for the marriageability index among African Americans. Does either article speak to perhaps an increase in marriageability index among and between African American couples?

Another interesting Photo

AFR Time Line

The African American history and accomplishments naturally blows me away. I get amazed every time I review the history of my ancestors and all they overcame. It makes me feel proud. I didn't realize how each detail of our history could have an effect on black families, good and bad.
I tried to stick to a couple of events that impacted the black family, but it was so hard to deliberate what was more important because EVERY detail is important in our history.

*Early Days and Slavery

-1619- A Dutch ship brings 20 African indentured servants to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. This effected the migration and separation of families. Fathers were torn apart from their families and I believe that had a negative effect on the male psyche and well being.

-1781- Free blacks in New York City found the African Free School, where future leaders Henry Highland Garnett and Alexander Crummell are educated. This impacted the black family by education aspect. Starting the education of young children and building and sculpting leaders. Education has an effect of black family because what you learn will determine how you raise your families.

*Building Democracy

-1867- Five all-black colleges are founded: Howard University, Morgan State College, Talladega College, St. Augustine's College, and Johnson C. Smith College. There will be more than 100 predominantly black colleges by the middle of the next century. This effects the black families through education. The oppresion of black colleges, gives a professional standpoint to the African American culture. We over came obstacles of not being able to red in public and now we are to the point where have our own source of higher education. Higher education means better jobs and opportunities for our families.

-1911- The National Urban League is founded to help the many African Americans who are migrating to the cities find jobs and housing. This helped with migration as well as job opportunities for African American families. People were able to move to different locations, providing a better life for their families.
*Civil Rights This is the time, to me (based off the time line), where people are challenging their talents and gifts.

-1963- The MLK March was an important event because of how it taught younger children about self determination (involving them in the process), and then it taught them unity. This moment brought the community closer together, and I believe it broguht the families closer together as well. A tragic event that happened during this time was the killing of the 4 girls. This event was traumatizing, but I believe that it also brought families closer together, creating unity.

-1967- Edward W. Brooke became the first African American U.S Senator since reconstruction. This to me also shows collective self esteem. Accomplishments like this gives the black community something to be proud of. They can use these people as an example to set high standards for their family.
*Modern Times

-1972- Equal Employment Opportunity Act was passed. Giving African Americans more jobs so that they can have access to a better living. This employment has an effect on their migration, education, and housing.

-1983- This year was full of success stories. Vanessa Williams becoming the first black Miss America. Points in out in the American culture that Black people are beautiful too. Astronaut Guion "Guy" S. Bluford, Jr. becomes the first African American in space. These things gave African Americans a sense of self worth. People were able to value being African American because they are able to "name drop (call out a lot of names who are important to society)". This has a different effect on the male psyche.


Two principles that I felt were well through out this timeline are self-determination and faith. Self-determination was what people needed to push themselves to do better and make a difference, and faith was what they needed to believe it was possible. These are things that I think the African American culture still holds in society today. In the video we saw today I think expressed how these principles (as well as the rest of them) are very common in our natural way of thinking as African Americans. This is what it takes to be resilient.

-Keara