The UN designated the听International Decade for People of African Descent,听from 2015 to 2024, to promote the recognition, justice, and development of African听descendants听worldwide. Through various programs, events, and awareness campaigns, the Decade seeks to create a platform for dialogue, understanding, and positive change in the lives of听people in听the听diaspora.听Africa Renewal听will publish 鈥業n Search of Long-Lost Identities鈥� 鈥� a four-part series highlighting the journeys African Americans are taking to reconnect with Africa听鈥撎齮he continent their ancestors called home.
In 1977, a record-breaking mini-series carved its place in the milestone of US history. Based on Alex Haley鈥檚 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel,听Roots: The Saga of an American Family,听the small-screen adaptation exposed the atrocities of the听transatlantic slave trade听and its impact on generations thereafter.
Suddenly overnight 鈥� eight nights, to be exact 鈥� the Emmy Award-winning Roots transformed the racial slur听鈥淕o back to Africa鈥� into听a call to action, an opportunity for African Americans to reclaim their stolen heritage.
Back to Africa
Nearly 40 years after the release of听Roots, Diallo Sumbry went to Ghana to seek spiritual discipline. 鈥淚nitially, I came to study manifestation and traditional African science,鈥� the Washington, DC-based entrepreneur said.
Everywhere you go, people are talking about the diaspora.
On a trip in 2016, Mr. Sumbry received a prophecy, that 鈥渋f I moved to Ghana and decided to do business here, things would go well for me. I would fulfil my life鈥檚 mission, and Ghana would be my spiritual home.鈥�
A dozen trips later, he found himself fulfilling that prophecy by reconnecting people in the African diaspora to the African continent.
As co-architect of Ghana鈥檚 鈥�,鈥澨齅r. Sumbry helped to facilitate an international campaign for the 400-year commemoration of the first documented arrival of enslaved Africans in America in 1619.
[The听2019听Year of Return was an initiative of the government of Ghana and the听Adinkra Group,听which sought to encourage African diasporans to settle and invest in the continent].
Visiting Africa can offer African Americans a high level of freedom. 鈥� You can be who you are.
With more than听1.1 million international visitors, according to the Ghana Tourism Authority, the return may go down as the largest transatlantic African-American homecoming in history.听
鈥淭he 鈥榊ear of Return鈥� changed African tourism,鈥� Mr. Sumbry said.
In 2020, the 鈥淵ear of Return鈥� campaign evolved into 鈥淏eyond the Return,鈥� the tourism authority鈥檚 10-year initiative. 鈥淓verywhere you go, people are talking about the diaspora,鈥� Mr. Sumbry observed. 鈥淚t sparked something, and we probably won鈥檛 see the full breadth of its impact for years to come.鈥�
Respite from racism
Every person of African descent should visit the continent at least once in their life, according to Mr. Sumbry, who arranges trips through his firm,听the Adinkra Group, where he serves as president and chief executive officer.
鈥淭he experience can offer African Americans a high level of freedom,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here is no racism here as we see it in America. You are more rooted here. You can feel your spirit and your ancestors. You can be who you are.鈥�
His efforts may place the Sumbry name on the list of historical figures who championed 鈥楤ack-to-Africa鈥� movements. He would be in excellent company.
In 1815, Massachusetts shipping magnate听Paul Cuffe听doubted whether he would achieve racial equality in his lifetime. The philanthropist convinced 38 other African Americans to settle in Sierra Leone, and he financed their resettlement there.
According to the White House Historical Association, Mr. Cuffe is believed to have led the first successful Back-to-Africa movement in the United States; his efforts served as inspiration for the听American Colonization Society,听founded in 1816 to establish Liberia and resettle African Americans there.
A century later, Jamaican-born听Marcus Garvey听moved to New York City and encouraged African Americans to board ships of his Black Star Line for the voyage back across the Atlantic.
Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah took inspiration from the Harvard-educated Pan-African scholar W.E.B. Dubois, who co-founded听in 1909 what would become听America鈥檚 longest-running civil rights organisation, the听National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
According to the听Constitutional Rights Foundation, Mr. Dubois renounced his US citizenship and became a citizen of Ghana, where he spent his final days. He rests in peace at a museum named in his honour in Accra.
In the early 1960s, poet Maya Angelou and her son also听lived in Ghana among nearly 200 African Americans expatriates whom she referred to as the 鈥淩evolutionist Returnees.鈥�
鈥淲e were Black Americans living in West Africa, where 鈥� for the first time in our lives 鈥� the colour of our skin was accepted as correct and normal,鈥� Ms. Angelou wrote in her autobiography,听All God鈥檚 Children Need Traveling Shoes.
To this day, Ms. Angelou鈥檚 sentiments resonate with African-American mothers who have decided to repatriate to the motherland.
Peace of home
In corporate America, Ashley Cleveland was working her dream tech job with an executive title and a lucrative salary while management treated her as if she were in an administrative听assistant听role.听
鈥淏lack women get brought into corporations, and they are celebrated at first,鈥� the Boston native said. 鈥淭hen they go through all these micro-aggressions, and finally they are let go.鈥�
After three layoffs in five years, she checked into a psychotherapy treatment centre, only to find it filled with other senior-level Black women with similar stories. She took a year to reset her life: she traded visiting psychiatrists and using prescription medication for taking hikes and walking on the beaches of Tanzania in East Africa.
Initially, she doubted whether she should move abroad when her first child was born. Recently, the mother of two relocated to Johannesburg.
We were Black Americans living in West Africa, where 鈥� the colour of our skin was accepted as correct and normal.
When she is not working as head of growth for听BrandUp Global, she echoes Ms. Angelou in telling other African-American families why they must relocate to the continent. 鈥淚 explain the benefits that it provides Black children to live in societies where their skin colour is not an issue.鈥�
Ms. Cleveland, whose children are learning Zulu and Kiswahili in primary school, said they are more well-rounded and intellectually challenged abroad. 鈥淭hey have a better childhood. We no longer worry about sending them to school and wondering if they鈥檙e going to make it back safely.鈥�
I have a sense of peace here [in South Africa.] Here, I鈥檓 a better mother.
When asked whether she had any plans to return home, she answered: 鈥淲here? America? I have a sense of peace here that I shouldn鈥檛 have to give up. We don鈥檛 worry about getting pulled over by the police. I鈥檓 not operating with that anxiety as a parent anymore. Here, I鈥檓 a better mother.鈥�
For Ms. Cleveland, Africa is home.
Ms. Beard is a writer and educator based in New York. The article was first published on听18 January 2024
