The author knew that most of her students viewed Africa as a homogeneous place and, moreover, a place that they wanted no connection to. She wanted to be sure that she presented Africa in a way that empowered students and made them proud of their ancestry, as opposed to leaving them feeling the shame and humiliation that she once felt. She wanted to show them the beauty and diverse realities of Africa in order to shift their perceptions, but she also wanted to give an honest representation of some of the struggles. In this article, the author, an African American middle school teacher, describes how she changed her African American students' understanding of Africa and their own history.