Conclusion: Reflections

The overall intent of this book is to give the reader a volume covering six centuries of Africa’s relationship with the Americas. For reasons already explained, the focus on the United States is to fully account for the exemplarity of this former British colony and how the strivings of African Americans from slavery to freedom and empowerment shaped the trans-Atlantic relationship. The concluding lessons for America and Africa are many, but only a brief report is necessary at this point. This account of United States-Africa relations through the prism of Africa and the African American odyssey reveals that the trans-Atlantic