This book examines the black experience in Africa and America which helped transform Africans into African Americans. An effort is made to review the African heritage of African Americans throughout the book and explain how this heritage, along with their experiences in America, helped to shape and transform them into a new ethnic group. It is also shown that while this new group emerged, America itself was being formed/transformed through their efforts and contributions. In spite of the ordeals of slavery and of living in a hostile society which denied them full humanity, an attempt is made to show that they experienced many triumphs. Despite hard-won gains of the Civil Rights Movement, challenges still lie ahead for African Americans.