ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the broad features of the African independence movement before turning to the 'revolutionist returnees', as the diasporans called themselves, their social life and political practice in Nkrumah's Ghana. The Second World War was an important turning point leading to the maturation of this new Pan-Africanism. In 1945 an extraordinary event marked the renaissance of Pan-Africanism and pushed it forward into a new direction. The core principles of Nkrumah's continental Pan-Africanism were already detectable in those early objectives of the Secretariat. Ghana's independence had multiple repercussions in the diaspora, and the United States in particular. To some extent, it invigorated the Pan-African drive among politically conscious African Americans. A new preoccupation with Black authenticity, which was linked to the recognition of Africa as the cultural homeland of African Americans took root and found its expression in the realms of popular culture, where African inspired clothing, hairstyle, and home-decoration became the visible icons of Black identity.
