BORN: MONROVIA, LIBERIA
Where I was born, and the history behind it, has a significant role to play in who I am today. I was born and raised in Liberia, West Africa, in ELWA, a beach community within Monrovia.
Liberia’s history is not just an ordinary history. When slavery was abolished in America, the over-population of slaves were sent to Liberia. So I was a former slave in America. I was first born in Africa, came to America and then returned to Africa, into the space that is now called Liberia.
A major thing happened to the slaves returning to Africa. They tried to re-identify themselves with Africa, but the indigenous Africans, who have been on the soil for a long time, looked at the returning slaves and said, “You are not really African; you are an American, or at least you are influenced by America. So America has a lot to do with who you are, because you are no longer us.” And this happens in America, also. When Africans come to America, they look at black Americans and say, “You are not one of us; you are something different.”
This is my story.
Am I an African? Am I influenced by America? Has America dominated my thought process, my look, my outlook on life? This is that clash that takes place within me about my identity. I consider myself an African. And now I find myself living back in America. I’ve been back since 1993. But I go back and forth between the continents, between America and Africa.
When I’m in the US, I’m just an African girl. When I’m in Africa, I’m an American. But I feel at home in the universe. Wherever I am, I’m at home. I was born in Africa. My roots are in Africa. But I am at home in a global universe.
—MacDella Cooper
Where I was born, and the history behind it, has a significant role to play in who I am today. I was born and raised in Liberia, West Africa, in ELWA, a beach community within Monrovia.
Liberia’s history is not just an ordinary history. When slavery was abolished in America, the over-population of slaves were sent to Liberia. So I was a former slave in America. I was first born in Africa, came to America and then returned to Africa, into the space that is now called Liberia.
A major thing happened to the slaves returning to Africa. They tried to re-identify themselves with Africa, but the indigenous Africans, who have been on the soil for a long time, looked at the returning slaves and said, “You are not really African; you are an American, or at least you are influenced by America. So America has a lot to do with who you are, because you are no longer us.” And this happens in America, also. When Africans come to America, they look at black Americans and say, “You are not one of us; you are something different.”
This is my story.
Am I an African? Am I influenced by America? Has America dominated my thought process, my look, my outlook on life? This is that clash that takes place within me about my identity. I consider myself an African. And now I find myself living back in America. I’ve been back since 1993. But I go back and forth between the continents, between America and Africa.
When I’m in the US, I’m just an African girl. When I’m in Africa, I’m an American. But I feel at home in the universe. Wherever I am, I’m at home. I was born in Africa. My roots are in Africa. But I am at home in a global universe.
—MacDella Cooper