Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents:-African studies and the state of the art / Mario Azevedo -- Africa and the genesis of humankind / R. Hunt Davis, Jr. -- Legitimate trade, diplomacy, and the slave trade / M. Alpha Bah -- European exploration and conquest of Africa / Mario Azevedo -- Africa's road to independence (1945-1960) / Julius E. Nyang ̓oro -- The pan-African movement / Michael Williams -- The contemporary African world / Luis B. Serapiao -- Contemporary diaspora and the future / Alphine W. Jefferson -- Continental Africans and Africans in America : the progression of a relationship / F. Ugboaja Ohaegbulam -- Music in Africa and the Caribbean / Roderic Knight and Kenneth Bilby -- The art of Africa and the Diaspora / Sharon Pruitt -- Literature in Africa and the Caribbean / Tanure Ojaide -- The African family ; Religion in Africa / Mario Azevedo -- The role and status of women in Africa and the Caribbean / Hazel McFerson and A. Lynn Bolles -- Lifting as we rise : Black women in America / Marsha J. Darling.