d Review Literature The history of African American goes way back to the times of American colonial and early national times, where Black slaves and freemen alike were often referred to as Africans (American Heritage, 1996). The name African was used to represent political groups and churches example being the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The phrase Black was used through out the 1960s and represented the Black Power era. In the late 1970’s the Black race became Afro-Americans and the name Afro-American represented, the Afro hairstyle and the African dress-style. In the 1980’s, the Black race was officially changed to African American, thanks to Jesse Jackson and other Civil Right activist. The African American race have climb many obstacles to get to where they are today. Despite all the obstacles African Americans had to climb, they always had faith and believed in the spirit of God. Here is a slave woman in 1816, who asks that God bless her master and "keep me from wishing him bad - though he whips me and beats me sore, tell me of my sins, and make me pray more to thee - make me more glad for what thou hast done for me...." ( Cieri, 1996). Spirituality, or the belief that there exists a force greater than oneself and that the spiritual is more important than the material (Randolph, 1993). The following poem written by Ramona D. Lindsey (2000) confirms the struggle and survival of the African American race:Colored, Negro, Black, African-American – we are a peoplewith many different names. It seems as the years go by we recreate and rename ourselves. We are a people who mystify the world as we redefine ourselves. In our transformation there is always one constant – our songs of praise.In the early years, our slave ancestors sung Swing Low Sweet Chariot, as they drug their heavy cotton sacks behind them. If you stand quietly by the banks of the old stream deep in the country, you just m...
