The Practice of Freedom

To promote complete separation from American culture and return to Africa.

To celebrate European colonialism's positive impact on African development.

To explore identity, heritage, and cultural roots for African Americans.

To advocate for the immediate political unification of all African nations.

It largely ignored these issues, focusing instead on contemporary American life.

It served as a direct response to the trauma of European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.

It celebrated these events as necessary steps toward modernization.

It primarily focused on the economic benefits that these events brought to America.

A quest to completely assimilate into white American culture, rejecting all African influences.

A quest to establish a new political party focused solely on American issues.

A quest to answer: 'What does it mean to be both African and American?'

A quest to promote European cultural values within the African American community.

Zora Neale Hurston

Langston Hughes

Richard Wright

Ralph Ellison

All artists uniformly embraced Africa without any reservations.

Some embraced Africa as a source of pride, while others felt disconnected due to forced separation and assimilation.

All artists rejected Africa, viewing it as a symbol of oppression.

Artists only focused on the economic potential of Africa, ignoring its cultural significance.

Both works focused solely on the negative impacts of slavery in America.

Hughes celebrated ancient African civilizations, while Douglas portrayed the horrors of the slave trade.

Both works promoted the idea that African Americans should completely assimilate into white culture.

Hughes criticized African traditions, while Douglas celebrated European colonialism.

Stereotypes about the wealth and power of African nations.

Stereotypes of Africa as a technologically advanced continent.

Negative stereotypes of Africa as 'primitive' or 'uncivilized'.

Stereotypes about the lack of diversity within African cultures.

By portraying Africa as a land of poverty and despair.

By emphasizing the ancient civilizations and portraying Africa as a nurturing 'motherland'.

By promoting the idea that African Americans should forget their African heritage.

By focusing solely on the negative impacts of colonialism on African culture.

The complete rejection of African heritage in favor of American assimilation.

The themes of belonging, authenticity, and cultural memory.

The idea that African Americans had no unique cultural identity.

The belief that African culture was inferior to European culture.

All poems uniformly celebrated African heritage without any internal conflict.

Some expressed longing for a lost connection, while others celebrated resilience and beauty, and some interrogated tensions of being both African and American.

All poems expressed a sense of alienation from both Africa and America.

All poems focused solely on the negative impacts of slavery on African American identity.