Africans and their descendants constituted the majority of the population of the modern Americas for the first three hundred years of their five centuries of existence. Yet their fundamental roles in the creation and definition of the new societies of the "new world," and their significance in the development of the Atlantic world, have not been acknowledged. This multidisciplinary volume highlights the African presence throughout the Americas, and African and African Diasporan contributions to the material and cultural life of all of the Americas, and of all Americans. It includes articles from leading scholars, and from cultural leaders from both well-known and little-known African Diasporan communities. Privileging, although not limiting itself to, African Diasporan voices, it offers new perspectives, data, and interpretations that challenge prevailing understandings of the Americas. Its fundamental premise is that the story of the Americas can only be accurately told by including the foundational roles played by Africans and their descendants in the Americas.
Sheila S Walker, PhD is a cultural anthropologist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. A professor of Anthropology, she also directed the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the African Diaspora and the World Program at Spelman College. She is the CEO of Afrodiaspora Global LLC that shares with the public information about the Global African Diaspora based on her field research and participation in intellectual and cultural events in most of Africa and its worldwide Diaspora.