The Dismemberment of a People

Throughout the entire lecture Dr. Beatty spoke about the dismemberment of African people as they were dispersed into different parts of the world by force. The middle passage caused a huge dismemberment because the middle passage was so long and traumatizing. After they were dispersed into the Americas they were expected to to take on the European culture. One of the main questions he asked was, "Do you think the African people experienced cultural emptiness." When he said cultural emptiness he meant, did the African people feel like they lost all of their culture and history once they came to the Americas? Dr. Beatty showed that their culture wasn't completely lost through the way that we as African-Americans speak now. When we speak, we tend not to use linking verbs. He explained that this was how the Ancient Egyptians spoke also. This shows that certain traditions were passed down from Africa to the Americas. Throughout the lecture he made many points that were familiar to me but he also made points that weren't. I did not know that the structure of our speech was passed down from African languages.