Quote by Henry Louis Gates
The African American's relationship to Africa has long been ambivalent, at least since the early nineteenth century, when 3,000 black men crowded into Bishop Richard Allen's African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia to protest noisily a plan to recolonize free blacks in Africa.
Summary
This quote suggests that the African American's connection to Africa has been complex and uncertain for many years. It highlights an event in the early nineteenth century when a large number of black men gathered in Philadelphia to protest against a proposal of resettling free African Americans in Africa. This ambivalence towards Africa can be seen as a reflection of the complex history of slavery, colonization, and cultural dislocation African Americans have experienced. The quote implies that there is a tension between identifying with Africa, as a land of ancestral heritage, and the desire to establish roots and fight for rights within America.
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