In this weeks freshman seminar class, we discussed how Egypt is not just the first great civilization but how it relates to our African culture. I never took the time out to connect to my heritage and know about the truth of my culture. We went through many examples that explain where we have originated from, the ways we have learned, and how Egyptian culture has powered us to the generation that we are now.
From the presentation by Dr. Carr, I learned that the origins of our African culture equals humanity, intellectual work, and cultural unity. If you were to trace back to our roots, it would explain that our culture was meant to learn and grow as a people. It wouldn’t show any trace of one person succeeding while others struggled to survive one day at a time.
Learning and wisdom was the goal that has been traced back to our Egyptian ancestors. Culturally it explains that leaning is collective, experimental, incremental, and is measured by the rites of passage. This serves as the groundwork for our schoolwork and how it has cultivated our leaning skills.
I realize, that you must first understand where you have originated from in order to move forward with history. It’s extremely important to reserve the ancient history of our heritage. Not taking it for granted as many our generations today are doing. This has inspired me to not only seek knowledge and understanding for myself but to also spread the works to the upcoming generations.
Dr. Carr really moved me last week with how powerful and passionatly he spoke about our African language and Egyptian Hieroglyphics. He used his 50 minutes with so much force about our motherland and who we are as people. He gave us egyptian phrases and broke down the meaning of Seshat and Seth. I enjoyed his speech and he inspired me to take one of his classes soon.
ReplyDeleteI learned about the symbol Djehuty that stands for knowledge and wisdom and it really made me think of how powerful and inspirational a simple symbol that you see around you all the time could be. You never realize how much of a huge impact the egyptain culture has on who we are as African Americans and makes me interested in where my ancestors were from and learn knowledge about myself as an African American female. I was very intrigued by the fact he did not stress slavery or speak on the usual topics you hear realated to Africans but he showed how inspirational and how important the rich culture is to society and who I am as a person. I thank Dr. Carr for opening and shedding light upon me and directing me toward a new studies with his force and passion.
During the African Burial Ground trip at first I was not interested to be apart of it. I was still a little delirious from pulling an all nighter and traveling four hours to new york. I was unaware of what i could possibly be learning in the cold until Dr. Carr and the guide began to explain what the symbols mean and the significance of the burial ground. I thought about all those bodies that once were laid out to rest and forgotten about. I wondered if one could have been an ancestor of mine. I thought about the lives they lived and how the city planned to build on top of these men women and children. I took more pride in Howard University for them having an impact upon the burial ground. I changed my feelings drastically as i stood under the imitation of the ship bunched together with my peers as we sccoted to position ourself comfortably to hear what the guide had to say. She said she wanted us all in there to understand how slaves were tight inside of the slave ship. I felt sick to be in such confined space that i could only imagine how much pain they were in. I give the African Burial ground more credit then i did going into it at first.
ReplyDeleteFreshman Seminar was a difficult experience but i survived it with a positive attitude. Yes, it was difficult to sit through lectures and blog but at the end it gave me structure and knowledge that i once lacked. It allowed me to understand how deep Howard is and not just the gossip and facts spread around. I gained true education on how much of a legacy Howard holds. If i had to rate freshman seminar from a 1 to 10 i would not give it a 10 because it has its ups and downs to them but it also does not deserve a 1. It has value to those who yearn to know whp they are followed after and where they came from and not just a boat from Africa. Freshman Seminar took us to Egypt dated us back to being kings and queens and helped me recognize the importance of knowing myself before i can make room for anything else. I learned to be humble, to treat knowledge like dna, and cherish the many people who these buildings i walk into everyday are named after. Freshman Seminar is an 8 and it has allowed me to feel as though i can go on and truly say i know who am how about you.
ReplyDeleteGroup projects enlightened me with the topics that i would not even have thought about. But two projects that really caught my eye were child prostitution and HIV/AIDS in DC. Yes i heard about both of these topics before but i felt they touched on two sensitive topics. Child prostitution is very big especially in certain neighborhoods. I feel for these young girls but i also understand why they place themselves in certain situations. During the child prostitution presentation i wanted to find places that allow volunteers to come help and talk to these young girls. I plan to one day open my own rehabilitation center for these girls because there is only one at home. I feel as though one in a community is not enough there are so many girls out there and from the statistics they placed i was right. They opened my eyes to some signs to look out for and talked about how it was not just these girls having sex with men that they are traded and using drugs. Their topic also ties in with HIV because prostitution can cause STDS to spread. During the presentation they each used their majors well to establish their topic and the question they were trying to answer. I recall statistics given by the mathematics major on how many people have hiv in dc alone and cringing at the fact of it being so high. The fashion major explained how many believe the way women dress are some of the reasons why females end up being raped by men. That topic made one young lady in the classroom upset as she questioned the accuracy of the statement and gave the room a little extra tension. A political science major took his portion to another level by talking about the way the government handles the promotion of of safe sex and abstienence programs. Their project was a topic that is always coming up but always a sensitive situation for many to talk about everyone has their own input about it and i feel as though their presentations were interesting.
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