African Roots/American Cultures : Africa in the Creation of the Americas

This volume highlights the significance of the African presence in the development of the Americas. It offers perspectives, data and interpretations that challenge prevailing understandings of the Americas, and articles from scholars and cultural leaders from African diaspora communities.

Africans and their descendants constituted the majority of the population of the Americas for most of the first three hundred years. Yet their fundamental roles in the creation and definition of the new societies of the Onew world,O and their significance in the development of the Atlantic world, have not been acknowledged. This multidisciplinary volume highlights the African presence throughout the Americas, and African and African Diasporan contributions to the material and cultural life of all of the Americas, and of all Americans. It includes articles from leading scholars, and from cultural leaders from both well-known and little-known African Diasporan communities. Privileging African Diasporan voices, it offers new perspectives, data, and interpretations that challenge prevailing understandings of the Americas. Its fundamental premise is that the story of the Americas can only be accurately told by including the story of the foundational roles played by Africans and their descendants in the Americas.