A Contemporary Overview of African and African American Relations

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A contemporary Overview:The Conflict among African Immigrants and Black AmericansGieanna Taylor Senior Thesis March 17th, 2009

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Heritage

“What is Africa to me:Copper sun or scarlet sea, Jungle star or jungle track, Strong bronzed men, or regal blackWomen from whose loins I sprangWhen the birds of Eden sang? One three centuries removed From the scenes his fathers loved, Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,What is Africa to me?"

By Countee Cullen

For many American born blacks, African is the ancestral motherland, theplace of their origin. Spiritually and culturally, identification with the continent of Africa is what the majority of black Americans can always sought to establish.Culturally, an ever growing number of black Americans are embracing the materialand non material cultures of Africa . "A shared complexion does not equal a sharedculture, nor does it automatically lead to friendships," says Kofi Glover, a native of Ghana and a political science professor at the University of South Florida. "Whether we like it or not, Africans and African-Americans have two different and very distinctcultures"(Adeleke, 2004). Africans began coming in contact with other Africans in Africa by way of war,trade, community living and migration. There interactions were far more limited in Africa than in the Middle Passage. During the 14th century Africans came in closeand intimate contact with other groups of Africans. This contact during such atraumatic transportation to the Americas aided in the development of a bond thatshould not have been broken. "Africans and black Americans have always had adelicate and intricate relationship that has been influenced by history and

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perceptions" (Adeleke, 2004). However, in the modern society Africans and black Americans have become divided. This essay will seek to undercover the birth of theconflict between African immigrants and black Americans. It will also provide asolution to the conflict and a way to maintain the newly developed bond amongst thetwo groups. At the end of the 14th century Europeans started to take people from Africaagainst their will. Initially they were mainly used as servants for the rich. TheEuropeans justified the taking of slaves by arguing that they were providing anopportunity for Africans to become Christians. By the 17th century the removal of slaves from Africa became a holy cause that had the full support of the ChristianChurch. When Spanish and Portuguese sea-captains began to explore the Americasthey took their African servants with them. Some of these Africans proved to beexcellent explorers (Adeleke, 2004). The most important of these was Estevanico, who led the first European expedition to New Mexico and Arizona. The people livingin the Americas resisted the attempt by the Europeans to take over their land. One of he most important struggles took place in Cuba in 1512. The Cubans, led by Chief Hatuey, were eventually defeated by the superior weapons of the Spanish.It is estimated that over a million people lived in Cuba before the arrival of theEuropeans. Twenty-five years later there were only 2,000 left. Large numbers had been killed, while others died of starvation, disease, committed suicide or had diedfrom the consequences of being forced to work long hours in the gold mines. Afterthe arrival of the Europeans there was a sharp decline in the local population of mostof the islands in the Caribbean Sea (Adeleke, 2004). This created a problem for the

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