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Datoya Brown

Professor Allison Van Nyhuis

English Composition-110 Sec.16

8 December 2009

IMAGES OF AFRICA

African-American Writer‟s Perspectives on Black Culture and Eurocentric

One of the most significant occurrences in America during the 20th century was the

growth of African-American writers to the forefront of literature. Documenting their views on

American culture and its devastating and glorious history, African-American writers'

contributions revealed their great effort for equality and paved the way into a brighter outlook for

their country. What precisely distinguishes the picture of “Black” culture? African-American

culture is a blend of what was brought to this land by the African slaves and the segregation of

blacks throughout American history. Aspects of black culture inform American life in a

multitude of ways.

From the different perceptions of the three writers of the Images of Africa selections;

Aimé Césaire, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Gwendolyn Brooks black culture is depicted in their

works by means of overall messages. As stated in the introduction to this section Chinua Achebe

defines in his counter to Joseph Conrad‟s Heart of Darkness that „”many colonized blacks and

those of the Diaspora living in Europe and America absorbed this [Africa as a savage continent

in need of civilizing and Christianizing] Eurocentric‟ point of view, and as they degenerated

Africa, they denied their heritage and themselves”. (Davis, Harrison, Johnson, and Crawford

1694) This phenomenon is best summed up as W.E.B. Du Bois‟s coined term of “double-

consciousness”; state in which the African is in conflict with the American. In-depth comparison

of the three writer‟s approaches to illuminating the importance of knowing your roots and
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identifying unhesitant is sure to come in this progressing essay however before submitting an

analytical critical comparison between the three poets it is necessary to discuss dominant

influences that persuaded and guided the writers during a time of lost African identity among

blacks in America.

One ever feels his two-ness, −an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two

unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength

alone keeps it from being torn asunder. –W.E.B. Du Bois (1696)

This quote is from an individual who affirmed his African heritage early on in life and

encouraged the efforts of others to pursue the same objective. Du Bois referred to the race of

African-Americans as the “advance guard of the Negro people” (1696), establishing that this sub

cultural group had the development of schooling and experience in contemporary America that

could potentially aid in the progression of the Pan-Africanism movement. Another significant

occurrence during the writings of a couple of the author‟s in the Images of Africa section is the

Négritude movement. This movement boldly manipulates the poems of Senghor and Césaire.

Brook‟s differs from the other two in regards to her acknowledgement of African heritage upon

her actual visit to the continent. By giving pertinent information of the background nature of the

three poets, their attitude of black culture can now be examined in their texts of their most

popular works.

Léopold Sédar Senghor has two major poems in the Images of Africa section of the

anthology, which are titled Black Woman and Prayer to the Masks. In Black Woman Senghor

uses a repertoire of aspects of a black woman to attest to her beauty −“Naked woman, black

woman/ dressed in your color that is life, I your form that is beauty!”In contrast however, before
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this was written “the use of the term „black‟ to describe dark-skinned African peoples came with

negative connotations” (Hine, Darlene Clark, and McLeod, Jacqueline, 88) so Senghor literally

pushes the envelope of expression when inspiring this piece. Senghor‟s poetry expresses the

importance and role of African culture in the world development. Through his work, he

celebrates the ethnic self and develops his own philosophy of négritude. He explores the

dynamic relationship between Africa and Europe and exposes their cultural dependency upon

one another. In Prayer to the Masks, Senghor sheds light on a multicultural perspective; with an

opening statement of “Masks! O Masks! / Black mask, red mask, you white-and-black masks//

Masks of the four cardinal points where the spirit blows/ I greet you in silence!” (Senghor Lines

1-4).

Aimé Césaire –alongside Senghor–was an influential man in the founding of the

Négritude movement. This had an extensive toll on his style of writing as an individual

questioning black culture. In order to understand the heightened logic of historical criticism

suggested by Césaire‟s work, there is a need to remember the predicament of black intellectuals

of his generation, a predicament that formed its basis in the degradation they had internalized as

an insistent factor of their black self-awareness. Notebook of a Return to the Native Land

explores Césaire‟s unreformed aggression towards Eurocentric domination and concepts of re-

establishing an African identity; “…the voice proclaims that for centuries Europe has force-fed

us with lies and bloated us with pestilence…” (Césaire 1715-1716). One primary difference

between the two aforementioned writers is that Césaire observes the ongoing cultural difficulties

of a descendant of slaves who has found his roots in the land he lives in. Césaire does not look to

Africa in reference to “a return to the native land”, while Senghor is more attached to both Africa

as the origins of his heritage. However, the fact remains that the poetry of both Césaire and
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Senghor invokes others of Africa and of the African Diaspora to embrace their blackness, and it

bestows inspiration to all who take part in reading there masterpieces.

The last poets holds opposing views in her technique at discussing black culture in

modern day American society. In her work To the Diaspora, Gwendolyn Brooks‟ focus is that of

exploiting the lives of everyday African-Americans and their great effort to reveal their hidden

self-identity. Being born in the Midwestern state of Kansas, Brooks was not open to the elements

of her African roots until her journey to the Africa in 1971; there she gained conscious awareness

of her heritage. In her poems she gets her point across in a voice resonant with a new sense that

each member of her audience is "essentially and essential African” (Callahan 59). From the first

stanza in To the Diaspora Books states her overall affect of becoming one with her audience

because they participate in the surprising, late discovery, and because of that, her language is

moderate, loving, and triumphant in conveying a rhetorical message that keeps her audience

intrigued as to their own black identity. Janis Faye correlates with Gwendolyn Brooks within the

text of To the Diaspora; she says that “The self has many identities, including racial, ethnic,

national...” (Faye 145). Brooks‟ calling upon her audience to locate their internal connection

with Afrika; can only be initiated by their willingness at their own pace by using their self as a

source.

Knowing “blackness” and acknowledging self-identity rehabilitate Africa-Americans and

all blacks from European beliefs. Generations of African American writers, such as Léopold

Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire, and Gwendolyn Brooks continue the intellectual texts that inspire

different approaches to issues of race, and ethnicity throughout the America. The three writes

perspectives show an amplified black classification with Africa and the world, and the

persuasion of the United States on a global extent

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Works Cited

Callahan, John F. Essentially an Essential African: “Gwendolyn Brooks and the Awakening to

nnnnnAudience." North Dakota Quarterly 55.4 (Fall, 1987): pg. 59Print.

Davis, Paul, Gary Harrison, David M. Johnson, and John F. Crawford. The Bedford Anthology of

nnnnnWorld Literature: The Modern World, 1650-The Present. Compact. vol 2. New York, NY:

nnnnnBedford/ St. Martin, 2009. 1694-1721. Print.

Hine, Darlene Clark, and Jacqueline McLeod. Crossing Boundaries: Comparative History of

bbnnnBlack People in Diaspora. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1991. 87-88,

bbbbb91,105-106,109. Print.

Faye, Janis. Cultural Portrayals of African Americans; Creating an Ethnic/Racial Identity. West

bbbbbPort, Connecticut/ London: Bergin & Garvey, 1997. Print.