Customer Reviews

American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

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American Africans in Ghana by Kevin K. Gaines is similar to a previous book that I reviewed in that it traces the African American expatriate community in Ghana. Rather than treat them as a group, however, this book focuses on individuals and their personal experiences in the country. This approach has its strengths and weaknesses and this book shows both. The main problem with focusing on just a handful of people is that it is hard to get enough documentable evidence of their feeling and reasons for their actions in Ghana. The author is forced to speculate on the subjects' motives. The mail problem is that for one who is not all that familiar with the history of Ghana before the coup, it is hard to follow what is going on in the country as a whole. That being said there are also many advantages.
By focusing on individuals, the author can delve into question that would be more of a challenge just looking through the macro picture. Questions such as what role can these expatriates play in Ghana and how do they stay in contact with what is going on back in the U.S. are asked by the author. An especially interesting part of the book for me was the description of how many such as Richard Wright had trouble adjusting to life in Africa and in the end failed to achieve the feeling of home coming that many left the states to do.
While this book does tend to drag in places it is interesting and would be a useful resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the people profiled and question like where do African Americans fit into the larger African Diaspora community. This book sheds some light on some prominent African American leaders in a part of their lives that is seldom seen.