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Slavery vs. Colonialism? On the Role of Historic Memory in Shaping the Relations between African Americans and Contemporary African Migrants in the USA
African Americans, descendants of slaves forcibly brought from Africa to America hundreds years ago, and contemporary voluntary African migrants to the USA do not form a single “Black community”. Remarkably, this fact contradicts the postulates of many breeds of “Back nationalism” from mid-19th century on, which argue that all Black people are “brothers and sisters”, because they share common spirituality and have common cause that demands their joint action all over the world. Among the reasons for this, an important part is played by differences in the reflection of the past in their historic memory. Based on field evidence collected in six states in 2013 and 2014, the article discusses reflection in historic memory and place in mass consciousness of African Americans and contemporary African migrants of key events in Black American and African history: transatlantic slave trade, slavery and its abolition in the US, and colonialism and anticolonial struggle in Africa. It is shown that contemporary African migrants and African Americans see the key events of the past differently. Even more so, different events are seen as key by each group. Many members of both groups do not feel that they share common “Black history”. To some extent, visions of the past promote Africans and African Americans’ rapprochement as victims of long-lasting White domination. However, in the final analysis, collective historic memory of both groups works more in the direction of separating them from each other by generating and supporting contradictory or even negative images of mutual perception. In general, the relations between African Americans and recent African migrants are characterized by simultaneous mutual attraction and repulsion of two magnets. They understand that among all ethnoracial communities in the country, they (and also African Caribbeans) are the closest to each other, but myriads of differences cause mutual repulsion. And that the “magnetic poles” of the Black communities both attract and repel them, the differences in historic memory of African Americans and recent African migrants in the USA play a significant role.