Holloway's "What has Africa given America"

The poem explores identity confusion. The poem's speaker, Cullen makes a point of downplaying the importance of an Africa that is several generations distant. The poem conveys the grief of being taken against one's will from one's ancestors and suggests that the descendants' blood will always carry on their ancestors' traditions. The poem implies that despite geographical distance, centuries of persecution, and religious conversion, African Americans cannot help but value their ancestry.

This chapter speaks on what parts of America were taken from African culture.

• Continuous Africa: The ongoing spread of African culture in North America.

• Cultural retention

• Pouring librations to pay homage to our deceased ancestors. 

• Having names for your elders like Uncle or Aunt is an example of the Manifestation of African culture.

• “Slavery destroyed all aspects of African culture in America”. -

• A Myth of the Negro Past written by Melville Herskovits (1941) He disagreed and said we had African retention