--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Africans in the United States must…" description: "\"Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/john-henrik-clarke-2865_africans_africans-in-the-united-states-must-remem_1044459.png" --- # Africans in the United States must remember that the slave… ![“Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships…” quote by John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/john-henrik-clarke-2865_africans_africans-in-the-united-states-must-remem_1044459.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/john-henrik-clarke-2865_africans_africans-in-the-united-states-must-remem_1044459.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/319/john-henrik-clarke-2865_africans_africans-in-the-united-states-must-remem_1044459.png) > “Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off.” [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The African American identity was formed by the transatlantic slave trade, not by Caribbean origins, shaping cultural heritage and community ties. **In simple terms:** African identity stems from slave trade, not Caribbean roots. Key Takeaway Recognize and honor African origins. Themes identity history heritage Mood reflective serious Type historical educational When to use this quote - education curricula - community events - family storytelling Key Concepts diaspora colonialism cultural formation Questions to Reflect On - How does this view affect modern identity politics? - What are the implications for cultural preservation? A Different Perspective Oversimplifies diverse African experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Africans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/africans/) [Caribbean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caribbean/) [Hemisphere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hemisphere/) [Jamaicans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jamaicans/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Slave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slave/) [Slave ships](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/slave-ships/) [United states](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/united-states/) ## Related quotes > [It's time for Black people to stop playing the separating game of geography, of where the slave ship put us down. We must concentrate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/it-s-time-for-black-people-to-stop-playing-the-separating-game-of/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [His foreparents came to America in immigrant ships. My foreparents came to America in slave ships. But whatever the original ships, we are both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-jackson/his-foreparents-came-to-america-in-immigrant-ships-my-foreparents/) [Jesse Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-jackson/) > [Sacrifice and neon lights, Slaveships don't wait, Love many, trust few, And don't be late...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-morello/sacrifice-and-neon-lights-slaveships-don-t-wait-love-many-trust-few/) [Tom Morello](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-morello/) > [“Slave ships landed more than 1.5 million African captives on British Caribbean islands (primarily Jamaica and Barbados) by the late 1700s and had brought…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-e-baptist/slave-ships-landed-more-than-1-5-million-african-captives-on-british/) [Edward E. Baptist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-e-baptist/) > [Whether our ancestors came here on the Mayflower, on slave ships, whether they came to Ellis Island or LAX in Los Angeles, whether they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-j-clinton/whether-our-ancestors-came-here-on-the-mayflower-on-slave-ships/) [William J. Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-j-clinton/) > [I be off the slave ships, building pyramids, writing my own hieroglyphs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kendrick-lamar/i-be-off-the-slave-ships-building-pyramids-writing-my-own-hieroglyphs/) [Kendrick Lamar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kendrick-lamar/) > [Nobody had ever instructed him that a slave-ship, with a procession of expectant sharks in its wake, is a missionary institution, by which closely-packed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-beecher-stowe/nobody-had-ever-instructed-him-that-a-slave-ship-with-a-procession-of/) [Harriet Beecher Stowe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-beecher-stowe/) > [In his fierce, bold determination to see the lives of modern-day slaves up close, Benjamin Skinner reminds me of the British abolitionist of two…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-hochschild/in-his-fierce-bold-determination-to-see-the-lives-of-modern-day/) [Adam Hochschild](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-hochschild/) > [The Supreme Court said nothing about silliness, but I suspect it may play more of a role than one might suppose. People are, if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-b-white/the-supreme-court-said-nothing-about-silliness-but-i-suspect-it-may/) [E. B. White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-b-white/) > [“PROGENY OF THE MIDDLE PASSAGE The leaky little tubs which the sea devours are the granddaughters of those slave ships. Today’s slaves, though no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-galeano/progeny-of-the-middle-passage-the-leaky-little-tubs-which-the-sea/) [Eduardo Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-galeano/) > [The success of the abolitionist movement lay in its making real for people in Britain and America the slave ship's pervasive and utterly instrumental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-rediker/the-success-of-the-abolitionist-movement-lay-in-its-making-real-for/) Marcus Rediker > [The Islamic community today is faced with a new version of an old struggle. My late mother used to say it doesn't matter whether…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carol-moseley-braun/the-islamic-community-today-is-faced-with-a-new-version-of-an-old/) [Carol Moseley Braun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carol-moseley-braun/) > [America has been the best country on earth for black folks. 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Man had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/what-we-might-have-been-dealing-with-here-with-the-building-of-the/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [Slavery ended and left its false images of black people intact](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/slavery-ended-and-left-its-false-images-of-black-people-intact/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [History is a compass that you locate yourself on the map of human geography, politically, culturally, financially.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/history-is-a-compass-that-you-locate-yourself-on-the-map-of-human/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [You walk out in the street, we don't know if we're going to get across. It's a test.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/you-walk-out-in-the-street-we-don-t-know-if-we-re-going-to-get-across/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [Nothing the European mind ever devised was meant to do anything but to facilitate the European's control over the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/nothing-the-european-mind-ever-devised-was-meant-to-do-anything-but/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) > [Break all the TVs, burn all the Bibles.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-henrik-clarke/break-all-the-tvs-burn-all-the-bibles/) [John Henrik Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) [Explore all 147 John Henrik Clarke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-henrik-clarke/) ## More Africans quotes > [“Acknowledging that my skin was, in fact, Cocoa as it is, would have destroyed their narrative about who I really was. 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