I want to clarify that the following sentences {with a minor correction} refer to Richard's sentence that "...Egypt was one of the great protagonists of the slave trade, real movers and shakers in that, and to my eye the culture is not very "African".

"With regard to Egypt, check out the history of ancient Egypt and the Sudan. Nuff said, as far as I'm concerned".

"Also, if we exclude from being part of Africa all the countries in Africa which participated in the slave trade with Europe and Arab nations, we'd be excluding a large number of countries, wouldn't we?"

And Richard, with regard to your sentence in that same post that
"But there are so many African cultures from the Bushmen to the Masai warrior that I wonder about the catch-all", the reason for the "catch-all" is that African Americans don't know which specific ethnic groups our African ancestors came from.

Although the African ancestors of most African Americans came from West Africa and central Africa, we claim all of what we consider to be good about Africa-no matter what region of that vast African continent that heritage it's from -West, Central, East, South, North, you name it.

For example, few African Americans know any traditional African language. However, the Central and Eastern African language Kiswahili is the one traditional African languages that more African Americans have the most knowledge about {even though that knowledge is still slight}. Btw, my name "Azizi" is Swahili, and a number of African Americans have been given or have self-selected Swahili names...

Also, I can recall in the late 1960s and 1970s how popular the ankh sybmol and the scrab beetle were among African Americans. And in the piSince the 1990s, kente cloth and Sankofa, another ancient Akan {Ghanaian, West Africa} cultural artifact have been very popular symbols of African Americans' re-claiming our connection to and our pride in mother Africa.*

Here's an excerpt about Sankofa that I've excerpted from the website whose link I've provided:

"Sankofa-Symbol of WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, and the PEOPLE'S HERITAGE

From the aphorism: Se wo were fi na wosan kofa a, yenkyi.

Literal translation: There is nothing wrong with learning from hindsight.

The word SANKOFA is derived from the words SAN (return), KO (go), FA (look, seek and take). This symbolizes the Akan's quest for knowledge with the implication that the quest is based on critical examination, and intelligent and patient investigation.

The symbol is based on a mythical bird that flies forwards with its head turned backwards. This reflects the Akan belief that the past serves as a guide for planning the future, or the wisdom in learning from the past in building the future.

The Akan believe that there must be movement with times but as the forward march proceeds, the gems must be picked from behind and carried forward on the march"

-snip-

I've seen the proverb "Sankofa" given as "It's never too late to go back and claim it".

In this context, for African Americans, "it" has come to mean our African heritage. Throughout urban communities in the USA, there are multiple Sankofa cultural centers, dance companies, music groups etc. And kente cloth sashes are worn by pastors, university graduates, and are printed on a myriad number of products from clothing, to hats, napkins, greeting cards, and umbrellas. When African Americans see kente cloth and Sankofa, we know that that product and/or that activity is primarily directed to us {that is, to Black people}.


* It's true that this knowledge of ancient African culture and concern for modern day Africa is very surface. But in my opinion, it's a step in the right direction.