I am Legend

From the time I was aware of my existence, I have known I was black. As a child, I was delighted to be a part of a rich tradition of athletes, entertainers, inventors, and scholars. Only one problem, I never considered one question, what does it mean to be black?

A brief but important hisory lesson

Enslaved Africans were stripped of their cultural ties, forbidden to speak their native language and forced to convert to Christianity. Africans were treated tantamount to animals. White slave owners raped the property they claimed to care so little about. The children of these slave owners remained enslaved. These children remained in bondage for their lifetimes, where they would be worked to death, or sold, or raped again. In a society structured with race based enslavement, there was no place for a child of both slave and free status.The solution came through legislation. Children whom were born to slave mothers remained slaves, those born to free women remained free. A convenient solution, male owners did not need to be responsible for their actions while continuing to grow their workforce through raping their perceived property. All the while miscegenation continues in reality, but legally the biracial children were African slaves. This is the creation of the mixed race.

African-Americans have been bi-racial, tri-racial, and poly-racial for centuries. However, we were not able to recognize our heritage due to our legal status in antiquity. Now, I'm 25 years old and have recognized that my blacknessis a legend, a blend of fact and fiction. I am an african-american but also so much more. Who or what am I fully? That knowledge along with my people was stolen.