This is a fascinating topic. As a Latino scholar who has been studying African American literature and its influence in Venezuelan literature, I find these dissertations on African culture and history of great value.
During the Harlem Renaissance there was an African American bibliophile, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg of Puerto Rican, African, and German descend who devoted his life to compiling the history and literature by and about africans as a way of fostering pride among blacks in America.
It is still an issue among scholars to validate the importance of both history and oral tradition as a way to break the stereotypical assumptions about racial and cultural superiority.
I celebrate your writing about such important matter