This. Many Black Americans dont appreciate being associated with african cultures. This will likely ruffle alot of feathers here.
They have voluntarily been calling themselves Afro Americans, African Americans and pan Africans for a long time, so I am pretty sure that your statement is false. On top of that African Americans are well aware of their connection to Africa, because of the Gullah Geechee, brer rabbit and stuff like the Blues. African Americans have always known of some connection that they have had to Mali, even when White people used the term "Timbuktu" in a derogatory manner. African Americans have also known about their connection to Sierra Leone and Liberia since the American revolution. So your statement is simply not true.
I think the true issue is that people, especially Nigerians and Caribbean people, assume a lot about African Americans don't know where they are from. Which is crazy considering that African Americans have kept more African traditions alive then most people in the Caribbean. The truth is that African American ancestry is from all over West, Central and Southeast Africa. So the influences are many. It is not just from one specific group or another, which is what Igbo people are always trying to claim. African Americans are not just from Igbo people. They are also from Fulani, Hausa, Yoruba, Gao, Akan, Mande, Kongo, Angolan, etc.
