the history of stepping
 

i wanted to know if there was a history associated with stepping? i've been reading alot of the threads and i remember one particular on when one of the girls from a bglo said "that she hated when non bglo's step that she thought it was direspectful" also i just saw the movie beloved for the firs time and there was this part where baby shug told the men to dance and they looked like q's so i was wondering if this was all tied in.

Idallis, check out out:
http://3n1promo.com/temple/step.html

There is a pretty in depth history about stepping there that would be good for you to read to get some background. The whole site also has other general information about BGLO's.

ZetaAce


[This message has been edited by ZetaAce (edited June 22, 2000).]

thanks zeta ace, for the info, it wa very interesting.

Idallis:

The history of steppin has come from a long line of our ancestors.

Slaves began the early stages of steppin. They are the founders of our stepshows today.

And that is why it is sooooo important to black greek letters organizations.

Just a little history note.

Pinkice9

Before slavery...we were kings, queens, princes, princesses, royalty. If anyone is in the Washington D.C. area, there is a great exhibit at the Smithsonian on percussive instrumentation...which stepping is an extension. The dialogue discusses the "call and response of the drum...the "beat" so to speak.



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Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated...Every Finer Woman's Dream!

>>>>@ Finer Woman....
My brother would sooo love to conversate with you. We went to a play last month with some of my friends and his frat brothers, the name of the play was something like the "History of the African-American people", and they started the play with Harriet Tubman and went on....Needless to say he, and several of his frats were LIVID>>>> After the play, we went out to eat, and he explained to me why he was so upset. (He is a Psyc major and I am trying to follow in his footsteps), but anyway, he said that since there were children and other people in the audience who may not be well-read about our history, it is very mis-leading to BEGIN the play in slavery. We talked and talked and he was just so upset b/c he said that children these days think that all of their ancestors looked like Aunt Jemima, and this is extremely sad. He said, and I agree, that if they were going to name the play "the History of the African-American people" they should have started from the begining when we were taken from our royal status' and forced into slavery.
Anyway, I didn't mean for my post to be this long, but your begining sentence reminded me of that conversation and I had to comment....Phenomenal Day!!!

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'Cause I'm a woman,
Phenomenally
Phenomenal Woman
That's me

Maya Angelou

Onesavvydiva,
That's an excellent point. We all need to realize, and teach our children, that history did not start with the Vikings, the colony at Jamestown nor with the Mayflower. It's no wonder we're still having issues with inter-race relations the majority of us were not taught and the majority of our kids are not taught the whole story. We're taught American history and we're taught European history. But what about Native American, African-American history, Indian American History, the list goes on. It's a shame that most have to wait until we get to college to maybe take a course and learn the history of the prople we live and work with every day (that's if we want to pick up that elective).

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Kelli
12-DN-94
SSU c/o 1997
something we all should see: http://www.seestudio.com/psa.html

Sister girl,
We need to embrace our Royal ties! Celebrate! We are AFRICANS in America! I understand your brother's frustration...our history did not begin in America. However, our public school system will have our children believe that Christopher Columbus discovered America, yet not teach our children about the mathmeticians of Egypt...AFRICANS and the about Dr. Daniel Hale Williams who performed the First Open Heart Surgery in 1893.

A cool site about the Afrocentric experience to check out is http://www.swagga.com/swagga.htm



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Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated...Every Finer Woman's Dream!

I'm going to have to play the devil's advocate here. How can you say, before blacks were brought to america you were royalty? I'm sure there were some kings and queens and all that forced to come to america, but I would bet that most were commonfolk, people that were out working and were ambushed. Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know much about black history prior to being brought to America. I just think saying that is like saying everyone in England is royalty.

Also, I do think what they teach children about American history is horrible. Columbus didn't discover America, the Civil War wasn't about slavery, and the Emancipation Proclamation did NOT free any slaves! The only ones it freed were the ones still in the CSA, and you can't make a law governing another country. I didn't learn any of this stuff the right way until high school.

Steve

Steve- She is not saying that every African brought to America was a king or queen. What she is saying is that there are plenty of people of African Descent who were kings and queens.

I never learned anything about the people of Africa until after I left high school. From the way we are taught in school you would think that all of the slaves brought here were 'savages'. They weren't. They had their own traditions, languages, and systems in place.

I'm glad you recognize that our high school educations are seriously flawed. You were lucky enough to learn stuff the right way after you left high school. A lot of people don't get that opportunity!

ZetaAce

[This message has been edited by ZetaAce (edited June 28, 2000).]

I know she wasn't saying everyone was a king or queen, but I'm just saying not all black people are descendents of kings or queens.

Even though I'm sure they weren't all savages, I'm sure it appeared that way. Think about it, if you were used to a culture where everyone covered nearly every inch of their body, lived in houses with doors and windows, and you could understand most everyone, and then you went to Africa... You would have thought they were savages too. They didn't understand them, and didn't want to. They just realized they could overpower these people and enslave them. Since they couldn't understand them, they didn't even think of them as people. It's horrible, but it's true. High School was mostly a joke. I have learned so much more about everything since I went to college.

Anyway, enough of my incessant rambling.

Later
Steve

Corbin,
Who's to say who are savages. Your explanation could have been reversed, and the people in Africa probably seen these so called "civil" people as you put it, in their body-covered clothes and so-called houses with windows (which was not too common) as savages, as well. Let's look at this from both sides.

Yes, my explanation could easily have been reversed. I never said who was savage. I think going into someones town or place of work and taking them thousands of miles away to be forced to do ANYTHING that the "owner" wanted is pretty damn savage! I was just commenting on the perception of the people who did this.

On a side note, I guess I just grew up in a somewhat idealistic household, and I don't see the racism I'm reading so much about. Growing up in my town, there was a half black kid in my class. That was it! Nobody seemed to either know or care that he was part black though. I think when I was in high school a few more black people, and a few mexicans moved into town. Since my graduation, a few chinese have moved into town too. Granted I haven't really lived in that town for the last two years, when I go back, it seems as though the town has been very accepting of them, considering the sheltered life many of us have led.

One thing I do find odd, is in my fraternity, we have the reputation for being a bunch of rednecks, which there were in the not too distant past, and there are still a handfull left. These guys sometimes say the most horrible racist things sometimes, but they are also great friends with 2 japanese, 2 jewish, and one indian brother. I don't get it really. And when alumni come back for homecoming and other events, they treat the nonwhite brothers as they do all of the white brothers.

Anyway, this is my last post on any issue of race. I can't handle the ignorance on both sides of the issue, and MandingoNUPE was right, we aren't going to change anything by talking about this on here.

Later


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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Zeta Chapter
Ros-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

In my field, recreational therapy, we teach students to use "People First" terminology. This means, no matter what the adjective is, the person is the focus. Hence, instead of saying "a half black kid", we should say a child that is multi-racial/bi-racial/whatever. I seriously doubt that there was half a child in your class, and although I'm using this in quite the literal sense, I'm trying to express how condescending people can "sound" when speaking/typing/talking/whatever.

Ok, this is my last post. I didn't even think about it. The kid was multi racial, white mother, black father. I think the reason people didn't think about it may have been because his parents were divorced and they only ever saw his mom.

I guess that's what happens when you're brought up in a small town with very little diversity, my bad http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Zeta Chapter
Ros-Hulman Inst. of Tech.