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The four moments of the sun: Kongo art in two worlds

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This work details the religious, political and cultural heritage of the Congolese people of Central Africa and how that heritage is evident in art throughout the Americas, including the American South. Ornamentation, like personal affects and shards of broken glass, in Southern graveyards reflect Congolese religious heritage; baton-twirling, by Cuban dancers and Southern cheerleaders, and jug bands in Louisiana reflect Congolese musical heritage. Other aspects of African-American and American Southern culture reflect not only Congolese religious and artistic heritage, but Congolese religio-political thought and practice. Some rightly advise caution in considering the consistency of a culture over several centuries. This work, however, is not only composed magnificently, but argued well and substantiated convincingly.

For works on the same region, see books by Wyatt MacGaffey, Jan Vansina, John M. Janzen and John Kelly Thornton, in addition to other works by Robert Farris Thompson. For similar themes of African culture in America, with a stronger caveat against thinking a culture does not change over time, see works by Mechal Sobel, Michael Angelo Gomez and Melville Herskovits. For studies of people from different African regions brought to different American regions, see Philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census; David Eltis, et al., Routes to Slavery; and Daniel C. Littlefield, Rice and Slaves.