About Apollo Africa
The original Heinemann African Writers Series was launched in 1962 with the publication of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Cyprian Ekwensi’s Burning Grass and Kenneth Kaunda’s Zambia Shall Be Free, with Achebe himself acting as an editorial advisor. Over the next 40 years, the series continued to publish the best writing from across the African continent.
One of the founding aims of the Heinemann series was to make books by African writers available to as wide a readership as possible. Apollo Africa – a collaboration between Black Star Books and Head of Zeus – is proud to continue this work, ensuring novels, essays, poetry and plays from the original series are once again made available to readers all over the world.
AMERICA, THEIR AMERICA
J. P. Clark
Black Star Books and Head of Zeus would like to thank the following organisations:The Miles Morland Foundation, The Ford Foundation, and Africa No Filter.This publication was made possible through their support.
First published by André Deutsch in 1964
Published in the Heinemann African Writers Series in 1968 by Heinemann Educational Publishers
This edition published in 2024 by Black Star Books and Head of Zeus, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Copyright © J. P. Clark, 1964
The moral right of J. P. Clark to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This reprint is published by arrangement with Pearson Education Limited.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (PB): 9781035900756
ISBN (E): 9781803288895
Head of Zeus Ltd
First Floor East
5–8 Hardwick Street
London EC1R 4RG
For RUTH and SAM, CAT and ISRAEL,
NAOMI, GLORIA, NORMA and DICK WATKINS
as well as JAMES WARD, SAM ALLEN, RUTH JETT
and others who gave me backing even when the going
seemed bad for me in the United States, and who I
know will not ride this hobby-horse of mine down
a course or to posts I had at no time in mind.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Initiations
Chapter 2: Days with the Dailies
Chapter 3: The Blacks
Chapter 4: Among Actors
Chapter 5: The American Dream
Chapter 6: The Affluent and Free
Chapter 7: Wandering Scholars
Chapter 8: Atop Capital Hill
Chapter 9: Ejection!
About the Author
An Invitation from the Publisher
Foreword
JP, as the author of America, Their America is affectionately called by his close friends, is one of Nigeria’s most versatile writers. The present book, America, Their America, undoubtedly establishes him as an able journalist, a keen social observer and critic.
I suspect the primary consideration for being asked to write an introduction to this edition is because, unlike JP who spent just about a year in the United States, I lived there for a little over a dozen years. Unlike JP, I was for some time a ‘regular’ student, and for a short period, a wage earner in the United States. In the circumstances, I was unable to avail myself of the broad sweeping experience which a well financed programme made possible for him. For example, he travelled more widely in the United States in so short a time than I did in more than a dozen years. There is no doubt that this gave him considerable advantage to observe the varieties of life in their America. To some extent prolonged stay had dulled my sensitivities to much that was going on around me. But America, Their America eloquently confirms much of my apprehension about many well-intentioned American programmes of student exchange. The revelations about the way in which the Central intelligence Agency has exploited American philanthropic organisations in the interest of United States world-wide imperialism have confirmed my diffidence about student exchange programmes.
JP went to the States on a well financed, carefully planned exchange program intended to introduce him as well as other ‘underdeveloped intellectuals’ to what Americans believe to be the fortress of twentieth century democracy. Like all such programs designed for short-term visitors to the United States, the stage was well laid out, and the actors and actresses fully rehearsed. However, in spite of, or because of, all the efforts meant to make the ‘guest feel at home’, the whole show was spoilt by two factors: a bad stage manager and the inscrutable, unpredictable spectator. JP’s account in this book of his experiences in the United States is note-worthy for his honesty and frankness.
