Chapter 2 describes the events of the Conference of Negro-African Writers and Artists in Paris on September 19th, 1956. Baldwin carefully details the arguments of each speaker and the reactions of the audiences. Some of these arguments compel Baldwin to examine his own perceptions in a new way. Others, like Richard Wright’s assertion that European colonizers brought Enlightenment to Africa and that this was for the good of all humankind, give Baldwin pause.

The conference opens with eight Black men discussing Black culture within the context of European subjugation. Alioune Diop, a Senegalese writer, argues that it is nearly impossible for Black people to reclaim a culture that is steeped in a European history of extreme discrimination and violence. Assimilation demands that Black people succumb to European culture and thinking while still holding them at arm’s length.

Baldwin exposes palpable tension at the conference. The presence of American delegates causes many to censor their language and points, and the wide variety of participants means a range of conflicting political ideologies. Baldwin is also aware of the distinction between conference attendees from Africa and those from the United States. The latter group feels as though they can never fully separate themselves from their European heritage, even though their European culture began as a product of enslavement by white colonizers.