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African American History
The Unfolding Preservation of Ancestral Ties
By Philip U. Effiong
Background
Beyond the celebration of African American survival and achievement, Black History Month revisits one of the more profound issues that has been at the forefront of African American self-definition and determination — the identification (or re-identification with Africa). Over the years, ties with the continent have steadily evolved into a dynamic and practical socioeconomic resource for global cooperation, the result of a calculated shift from sentimental posturing to a more systematic, interactive, and productive quest for tangible results.
Atrocities of the American slave experience may have forced intercultural interactions and clashes, but they failed to achieve total cultural genocide; in other words, the accumulation of values, customs, and religious practices from various African ethnic groups did not fade away completely. Rather, they assumed new proportions, providing America with added attitudes towards philosophy, art, and lifestyle.
Keeping Africa "Alive"
Whereas African retentions in America emerge spontaneously through expressive channels like language and Black church traditions, in other instances they are the result of deliberate efforts aimed at preserving links to this background. From the 18th century when black religious and educational institutions used the prefix "African" in their names, Africa has remained an integral part of African American existence, psyche, and thought, providing a sense of social integrity and preserving an interest in ancestral issues.
An African consciousness was also kept alive by individual and group efforts in the 19th century, which led to the promulgation of diverse Pan-Africanist and Nationalist ideals. One of the fundamental results of this Nationalist fervor was the emergence, in the early half of the 20th century, of Marcus Garvey who advocated the return of African descendants to Africa. To execute his plan (which ultimately failed), he formed the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in 1911.
Early interests in the African heritage were not restricted to the sociopolitical scene but would also manifest in other arenas. The emergence of Black professional entertainers in the 1800s was influenced, in part, by the constant gathering of slaves in Congo Square, a large dusty space in New Orleans, where they sang, danced, and played African drums on Sundays and public holidays. The first African American troupe, the African Company, performed at the African Grove, a tea garden in lower Manhattan where Blacks congregated to entertain themselves and put on occasional plays. Some early 20th century Black musicals, like In Dahomey (1902) and Abyssinia [Ethiopia] (1906), revealed a fascination with African themes and are referred to as "back-to-Africa" musicals.
During the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, Black folk drama became a rich reservoir of African aesthetic resources and Alain Locke — writer, philosopher, and educator — played a key role in promoting this genre. Paul Carter Harrison, another pro-African dramatic scholar, edited a collection of plays titled Kuntu Drama: Plays of the African Continuum in 1974. He held the view that African American drama would attain its full creative potential by fortifying African sensibilities and idioms through ritual, music, song, dance, and folklore.
In 1966, a World Festival of Negro Arts was held in Dakar, Senegal, embracing participants from Africa and her Diaspora. A similar event was hosted by Nigeria in 1977 when Blacks from all over the world gathered in Lagos, the nation's capital at the time, to celebrate the World Black Festival of the Arts and Culture (FESTAC).
The publication of Alex Haley's novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family in 1976, which was adapted into two television miniseries, Roots and Roots II, played a decisive role in reinforcing awareness of the African origins of slaves. In 1998, Molefi Kete Asante's book, Afrocentricity popularized the term "Afrocentrism," which advocates the revitalization and celebration of African histories, cultures, religions, and philosophies.
Modern Trends
Today, African Americans continue to "rediscover" Africa through the adoption of African names, African hairstyles, and African fashions. Religion and spirituality also constitute a major medium through which African retentions in the New World have manifested. Indigenous African religious practices, though steadily fading in the U.S., have been preserved in North and South Carolina, and to a larger extent in Caribbean Islands like Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba. The designations are different but point to related African traditional belief systems: Obeah, Santeria, Regla de Ocha, Umbada, Lukumi, Candomble, La Regla Lucum, Orisha, or Vodoun. In Christianity, there are similarities in African and African American Pentecostal and Baptist Church practices involving elements like preacher-congregation interaction; music, song, and dance styles; and rhythmic preaching techniques. But perhaps the most deliberate effort by an African American to connect to Africa through religion is realized in the Kwanzaa (Quansa) religio-philosophical concept started by Maulana Karenga, a Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach in 1966. Kwanzaa is celebrated in seven days (December 26 through January 01) and targets seven fundamental principles that are expressed in Swahili. They are: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith).
More museums dealing with African histories and cultures are springing up in major cities like Washington, D.C., Boston, New York, Baltimore, and Chicago. Annual Afro-Festivals are currently held throughout the United States, while African and African American studies programs are increasingly being proposed and offered in a number of educational institutions. Generally, Blacks now elect to be called "African American," discarding the derisive implications of "negro" and other even more derisive terms. Even "Afro-American" has continued to shrink in usage since it fails to provide an appropriate ancestral frame of reference. In all, Africa is becoming more substantive and less mythical to African Americans and Americans of all extractions.
The fervor for rediscovering an African identity has been carried even further with recent Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) testing by African Americans in a bid to ascertain their specific areas of origin in Africa. The testing is receiving wide attention, especially as they have been carried out by well known names like Actor and Comedian Whoopi Goldberg (Caryn Elaine Johnson) and Oprah Winfrey. For the first time, links to Africa have the potential to transcend a generalized "African" identity and hone in on an identity linked to specific African regions, nations, communities, and ethnicities. It is a reconnection that eschews idealism and sentimentalism.
Implications of Renewed African/African American Ties
Recognizing and reinforcing renewed linkages between Africans and African Americans does not only augur well for all sectors affected by economic growth and empowerment — education, health, infrastructure, industry, power — but ultimately stirs a desire for the furtherance of such cooperation within the larger Africa Diaspora. Rather than be perceived as an isolated transaction, improved African/African American economic partnerships should be seen for what it truly is—a channel through which international commercial activity is augmented, which means that the international community is positioned to benefit from this experience. Clearly, African and African Americans do not exist or engage in entrepreneurial or development activities in isolation. Theirs is not a separate international market, but a fundamental addition to the market that already exists. Essentially, therefore, their partnerships can only attract professional and skilled involvement from a variety of regions and nationalities, and the beneficiaries would not be restricted to any ethnicity, race, or nationality. Enhanced commercial cooperation between African Americans and Africans thus has the potential to enrich current global market trends and increase available networks for carrying out trade and business. It offers a compelling possibility for strengthening bilateral relations between Africans and African Americans, Africa and the U.S., as well as between Africa, the U.S., and the rest of the world.