Abstract
The relationship of Afro-Americans with Africa has never been an easy and straightforward one. It comprises a broad spectrum of attitudes which are by no means always consistent with one another. At the one end of the spectrum we find a complete lack of interest in Africa and a strong emphasis on the ‘Americanness’ of Afro-Americans; at the other extreme there exists a radical identification with Africa, through actual re-migration or at least adherence to a movement propagating ideas of a return to the ‘homeland.’ However, there is but a small minority of Afro-Americans whose relationship with Africa is so clear-cut that they fit into one of those two extremes. As the writings of Black American authors demonstrate, the majority of Afro-Americans take an ambivalent attitude towards the continent, and their attitudes vacillate not merely according to changing historical circumstance, but also according to individual experience within one and the same period.1
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Notes
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© 1977 Marion Berghahn
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Berghahn, M. (1977). Historical and Social-psychological Background. In: Images of Africa in Black American Literature. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-03461-1_1
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