Africanity in Guyana: A historical perspective

A personal cognition of the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on issues of African American intra-racial color prejudice led to an examination of the pervasiveness of anti-Black racial prejudice throughout the Diaspora. I was fortunate to be able to study vestiges of the African heritage which remained extant in Guyana, South America. Through my research I discovered that the outer demonstrations of belief cloaked a social and political acumen which was informed by a deeply rooted spiritual consciousness. These religious beliefs and social and political judgments had persevered throughout the brutalities of captivity into the modern era. Through the maintenance of their ancient practices Afro-Guyanese traditionalists were empowered to impart to their children and grandchildren images of a homeland wherein ancestors were revered and certain customs were held sacred. Of course, under the influence of white Christians, there were many people who sought to either ignore or explain away manifestations of African beliefs as either outrageously old-fashioned, or even shamefully heretical. The maintenance of African culture in Guyana, was for the most part, unlike the experience of many African Americans in the United States who, by the 1960's had only just begun to delve into the interstices of African history and culture and customes. Until recently most African Americans had been reared with a sense of shame concerning Africa and anything African. Through the dramatization of the culture in recent years by activists, artists, teachers, musicians, writers and poets African Americans have begun a process of re-examination and rectification of formerly held negative beliefs about the African homeland. This process should hopefully lead to the development of a self-esteem which will effectively bridge the tortuous years of society's racial degradation and personal self-malignment.