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Antonio Peterson
Intro
Afrocentrism is a belief that puts Africa in the heart of society rather than Europe. It gives
Anthropologist a different way of thinking and a new way of studying. Afrocentrism focuses on
the history of African-Americans and the African perspective . The Afrocentric movement was
started by Arthur Lee Smith Jr. now known as Molefi Kete Asante in the 1980s. The movement
received a lot of criticism and a lot of support from different areas of America and other places
that know about Afrocentrism.
Afro vs. Euro
In 1987 Asante wrote a book titled The Afrocentric Idea. This book drew the most
criticism. In Newsweek, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. complained What Asante has been
saying, essentially, is that Africa is the source of all good and Europe is the source of all evil.
Afrocentric critics have disagreed plenty of times that Afrocentrism doesn't have the ability to
change, and being African-American means you're part European due to colonization and
westernization. Asantes response to some of these critics is Africans need a place to stand in
order to challenge oppressive white structures and systems of knowledge. Afrocentrism is not
just about putting Africa in the heart of society, its about ending racism and segregation.
Based on the author of this article, Colin Mackerras Eurocentrism refers to a discursive
Tendency to interpret the histories and cultures of non-European societies from a European (or
western) perspective. Eurocentrism is European exceptionalism, it focuses on the progression
and expansion of European Countries. There are many Eurocentric thinkers, like Aristotle who
referred to Africa and Asia as monolithic and influenced by their hot climate. Ama Mazama, the
author of The Afrocentric Paradigm believes Africans are dislocated and, having lost sight of

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themselves in the midst of social decay, find it exceedingly difficult to orient themselves in a
positive and constructive manner. All non-European places are considered islamic or pagan
and believe in strange religions that are inferior to Christianity or lack the truth
Key People
Arthur Lee Smith Jr. or better known as Molefi Kete Asante was born, August 14, 1942.
In Valdosta Georgia, with his parent Arthur Lee Smith. He was the fourth of sixteen children and
his father worked in a peanut warehouse. His mother, Lillie (Wilkson) Smith worked as a
housewife. Even though neither of his parents finished Elementary school, they were both very
intelligent people and were a great inspiration for their son. My father was perhaps the most
brilliant person Ive ever met.
His parents were very determined to get their son an education, so they sent him off to
Nashville christian Institute. At the time it was one of the few black church boarding schools.
Over the summers Asante came back to Georgia and worked in tobacco and cotton fields during
the summer in order to pay for school tuition. His aunt, Georgia Smith encouraged him to go to
school and further his knowledge. He changed his name in 1973 after talking to a librarian in
Ghana who had one of his books and thought it was written by an Englishman. When that
happened he realized the importance of having a name that affirmed his African heritage.
While speaking on Afrocentrism, Asante said There is nothing more correct for African
Americans than to search for and follow our own historical traditions. That's one of the main
reasons Asante started and got into Afrocentrism, along with the racism and other things that
were going on at the time. His first real encounter with racism was on his first job as a shoe-shine
boy. Asante was twelve years old when a white customer spat on his head causing him to leave in

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anger. Later on, he was taught about racism and the magnitude of it from an older student, Fred
Gray. Fred gray later became a civil right lawyer and represented Martin Luther King Jr.

The Evolution
People believe Negritude or Afrocentrism began in the 1930s in Paris. With two African
scholars by the names of Aime Cesaire born in the year of 1913 in Martinique and Leopold Sedar
Senghor born in 1906 and hes from Senegal, but in America it's a whole different story. In 1980
Asante wrote a book on Afrocentrism called Social Change and that's what started the
movement. He explains that he founded the movement to examine why it was that we as a
people are so disoriented. There have been many different ideas and perspectives of
Afrocentrism, so theres no for sure way to know who the first person to speak on
Negritude was, but once it was brought up in America, it spread like crazy in black
neighborhoods and homes. Afrocentrism was pushed to be put into school History books and to
be taught in African-American studies. Asante believes that once African-American studies
scholars center themselves mentally and intellectually in the African cultural and historical
experience, will genuine African studies come into existence. There have been protest and
peaceful movements for Afrocentrism in the 70s and 80s. Also to get the word out to more
people, Asante has written multiple books on Afrocentrism.
My Opinion
In my opinion, I agree with Afrocentrism and some of the ideas that have came from it. I
feel like, if people were more open to these types of things and stopped being so ignorant, that a
lot of todays problems will be solved. All people should coexist and live as a group instead of
being split in half by race, Its just a color. I think once people realize that, then there would be
peace in America. No more riots and protest, no more lynchings and mobs. There are so many

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problems today that could be solved quickly and effectively if people could just stop and take
the time to realize that we can all get along. It's not the people that are the problem, but it's the
people running everything around us. The commercials and tv shows, the news and subliminal
messages. The amount of ignorance jammed into those things hurt people. There was a campaign
commercial for George Bush in 1998 that used a black man named William R. willie Horton;
in that ad they used him to scare the people into voting. They used someone who they know the
people would be afraid of. Most African American people, especially males like myself are
profiled on a daily basis. Everywhere i go in a corner store, i'm being followed; if i'm in a place
like Wal-Mart at least one employee stops me and asks We heard on the radio of some kid
causing trouble, that isn't you is it? and it's all because of the way the world sees me. Im not a
killer or a rapist, I don't have a criminal record and i do my best to stay out of trouble.
Sometimes i mess up but Ill never become institutionalized, and i'll eventually prove hundreds
of people wrong. Ive been profiled and discriminated against for as long as i can remember, all
because of media. My mom worries every time i leave the house because she doesn't know if i'll
be randomly pulled over or if i get into a situation with someone of another race i might not
come home; and it seems like all they have to say is they felt threatened. So my opinion on
Afrocentrism and the things that are going on today is, more people should be educated on these
types of things. Latinos, Hispanics, Africans, and all other races. When you see a BLACK
LIVES MATTER poster it isn't just for black lives it represent everybody's life, because
everybody matters and you can't change a world full of different races, styles and ways of living
with only one race.