Two years after Black Panther euphoria, has anything changed in the relationship between Africans and African-Americans?

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo
4 min readFeb 11, 2020

Marvel’s blockbuster movie, Black Panther, was more than a motion picture to Africans and African-Americans. For some in the movie industry, the motion picture that grossed $1.23 billion worldwide smashed the long-standing belief in Hollywood that a movie with a predominantly black cast and black director would not garner international attention and patronage. To others outside the industry, its storyline articulated a positive image of Africa and a vision of great things that could happen if black people across the world worked together to harness the talents they possess. “You might say that this African nation is fantasy,” says Chadwick Boseman who played T’Challa in the movie. “But to have the opportunity to pull from real ideas, real places and real African concepts, and put it inside of this idea of Wakanda — that’s a great opportunity to develop a sense of what that identity is, especially when you’re disconnected from it.”

Black Panther came out at a point where Nollywood and Afrobeat have made great in-road in bringing the flavor of mainland Africa to the African Diaspora. Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid and others are not just seen as international artistes who sell out stadiums and headline global music festivals like Coachella, they are more and more collaborating with African-American artistes to the benefit of each side. Politically, the Black Panther movie came out when more African countries were…

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Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo is the author of "This American Life Sef." He is also the host of Dr. Damages Show, 90MinutesAfrica & HaveYourSay247. He teaches at the SVA.