The history of the USA contains immigration of many races. It already started tens of thousands of years ago, when prehistoric Asian hunter-gatherers crossed the dry land that would later become the Bering Sea, and eventually spread out over the whole continent of North and South America. Their offspring would later become known as Native Americans. Then the Europeans came, occupying the whole continent in no time at all.
Almost immediately very sad part of New World history started: the time of slavery. Nowadays it’s hard to understand the reasoning of this era, but we are still confronted with it, in many ways. The presence of the African population in the US is very prominent nowadays: the country has come a long way, even to the extend that at the moment I write this, a Black American is running for president! Yes, African-American history in America has changed (tremendously|for the good}, which sort of restores ones faith in humanity.
Nevertheless there are still many remnants of the period of slavery and discrimination. Nowadays several of those have become collectable parts of Afro-American history. Under the name Black Americana those items are often collected. Sometimes by African-Americans who wish to preserve part of their personal history in the form of African-American memorabilia, but also by others who perceive them als important memorabilia of a time that was strongly different from our own, and that must not be forgotten.
Among these Black Americana or memorabilia are every day objects like kitchenalia, but also originals or replicas of objects from the slave period itself. Many books about this period are offered, and indeed should be studied. Black Americana is a subject that reminds us all of how life should never be, and by keeping this reminder in view we contribute to better consciousness of African-American history.
