This book connects the history of slavery, the transatlantic slave trade, contemporary migrations, and their legacies, and speaks to the broader issues of the African diaspora in relation to previous and ongoing struggles of black people for rebirth, progress, justice, and racial uplift. It focuses on the African diaspora in the Americas, notably the United States. While some of the concepts and frameworks are surely applicable to other contexts, the book does not make the claim of constructing a blanket history for all diasporic experiences.

The book has four components: First, the power and identity structures created by the Atlantic slave trade; second, the diaspora as a function of this slave trade; third, the diaspora created by a large number of contemporary voluntary migrants; and fourth, the identities that members of the African diaspora have created for themselves from these modern day migrations. In the following thirteen chapters, the historical themes of racism, slavery, domination, resistance, and resilience are framed as the context for understanding diaspora history, linking the past with the present in ways that contribute to discussion of contemporary issues such as the eradication of poverty and the preservation of traditional practices and values.