Afro-American Linkages with Africa in Transnational Perspective.

Afro-American relations with Africa have had significant effects on the identity of Black people in the United States since the Revolutionary period. This paper presents an historical analysis of the linkages between Africa and Afro-Americans in an attempt to clarify the changing self-image of Blacks in the United States. When Africa was partitioned in 1885 and colonized by European powers, numerous missionary endeavors were made by Afro-Americans to redeem and civilize their African brethren through the American culture. Soon afterwards Afro-Americans began to articulate African political grievances in an attempt to deliver Africa from the abuses of European colonialism. Effects of cultural linkages were visible in the 1950s and 1960s as African religious and arts groups were established in some areas of the United States. The idea of establishing a dual American/African citizenship for Afro-Americans living in the United States was considered during the 1960s. In recent years, the African struggle for decolonization has prompted a sense of increased political empathy and feelings of pride in African heritage on the part of Afro-Americans. On ideological, political, and organizational levels, Afro-Americans are becoming more aware of their own identity within American society partly as a result of developments on the African continent. (AV)