'Africa In Countee Cullen's Heritage'

In the 1920’s a social movement was sparked by the black communities in America. This movement formally known as the Harlem Renaissance, was an era where African-American intellectuals showcased artifacts artistically, socially and culturally in order to embrace the struggle of being black in America and around the world. Countee Cullen is listed as a prominent voice during the Harlem Renaissance. In his poem titled Heritage, he provides a scope on what Africa might mean to African Americans. In “Heritage” Cullen’s depictions of Africa relay the Western views about Africa. Unlike white Westerners who typically were horrified by notions of Africa, the so called backwardness of Africa intrigues Cullen. He finds a sense of belonging as a black man in ‘Africa’ because of its dissimilarities with the Western world.

Countee Cullen’s views of Africa in the Heritage were heavily influenced by Western narratives written about Africa. In an attempt to successfully illustrate his ‘Africa’ to readers, Cullen uses words such as “jungle” and “forest”. These primal terms indicate a remote and uncivilized Africa which is synonymous to popular Western beliefs about Africa in the twentieth century. His reference to the Garden of Eden also implies that the bible impacted his understanding of …show more content…
The first visual interpretation he makes about Africa is “strong bronzed men, or regal black / women whose loins I sprang”. He is selective in his descriptions about Africa because he believes that it is where the epic centre of his heritage began as an African American. Western history reveals that the entrance of black people into America was slave trade. Cullen wrote this poem over a century after slavery was abolished in America, however, black people were still being oppressed and segregated. The idea of Africa is important to Cullen because this is where he feels a direct sense of belonging. He views Africa as his

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