Paulette A. Ramsay
This article examines a number of poems in which Shirley Campbell challenges the myth of historical objectivity by suggesting that the history of African diasporic peoples and societies has been obliterated in Europe's agenda to relegate them to positions of subservience and deny even their very existence. The poetic voice declares that imperial history has been used to justify slavery and the othering of the non-European world. The analyses will reveal too, how the persona destroys the myth that the history of Blacks does not exist by showing how this history was hidden, even though it existed before other histories were written. The persona's ultimate objective is that Blacks should confront and understand their history as a means of understanding their existence as human beings.