In his controversial 1998 book, Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa, journalist Keith Richburg articulated the vast array of differences that separate Africans and African Americans. From 1991 to 1994, Richburg served as bureau chief for the Washington Post, reporting on Daniel Arap Moi's tyranny in Kenya, the post–Cold War carnage in Somalia, the brutal excesses of Liberia's civil war, and the incomprehensible horrors of Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Being an eyewitness to so many tragedies left Richburg traumatized and despairing; it also left him thankful that he was an American. “There but for the grace of God go I,” he reflected, adding that he was glad his enslaved African ancestor had survived the nightmarish transatlantic voyage. “Does that sound shocking?” Richburg pointedly asked. “Does it almost sound like a justification for the terrible crime of slavery? Does it sound like this black man has forgotten his African roots?” Richburg's wrenching questions underscore the historical tensions that have frequently characterized relations between Africans and African Americans.

It is sad but true that between Africans and African Americans there are striking numbers of misconceptions regarding history, race, culture, class, and identity. There are also large numbers of factors connecting the two groups. For Africans and African Americans, an obvious point of relational intersection is the continent of Africa and its history, especially that pertaining to the transatlantic slave trade.