Africa in African American Psyche – A Movement from Reality to Text by Imoh Abang Emenyi & Imo Okon

ABSTRACT
This work explores the meaning and representations of Africa in the literary creations of people of African descent in the United States from the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 20th century. It examines their consciousness of Africa from slavery to the age of muiti-culturalism in order to establish connections between descendants of African slaves and their ancestral heritage. It also probes the dualities in the African American psyche as well as their search for a functional identity within the American. experience. The paper affirms that people of African ancestry, whether continental Africans or Africans in the Diaspora, have vital-cultural affinities which should be identified and preserved for future generations.