“The negro is an American. We know nothing of Africa.”

from Who Speaks for the Negro? by Robert Penn Warren pg.216

From Countee Cullen:

What is Africa to me:

Copper sun or scarlet sea,

Jungle star or jungle track,

Strong bronzed men, or regal black

Women from whose loins I sprang

When the birds of Eden sang?

One three centuries removed

From the scenes his fathers loved,

Spicy grove, cinnamon tree,

What is Africa to me?