His Return

Clint, a first-generation American, feels a calling to postpone law school to travel to Nigeria where his parents were born. His parents, who had distanced themselves from Nigeria, had striven to make him American. Against their wishes, he went to live with his grandparents at Arochukwu, a small town situated on one of the tributaries of the Cross River, and to participate in its traditions. There, through stories, he started experiencing the life of his great-grandfather Achi, who had been brought to the area as a slave in the late eighteenth century. Achi had lived at a time when the Aros influence among other ethnic groups was waning, following a 19011902 British invasion to destroy the deity from which the Aros derived their power and to open the area to Christian missionaries. This is a story of a young African Americans struggle to reclaim his identity.