fatherland
It is interesting to note that Dunlap (along with other Negro World poets) often refers to Africa as "fatherland" rather than "motherland." One might consider how gender plays a role in how Africa is imagined. Why invoke the patriarchal rather than the matriarchal? It might have something to do with wanting to assert a patrilineal line, since the Western conceptualization of the family is patriarchal, and since it is traditionally the father whose name, status, and wealth are passed down. If black people in the diaspora are hoping to claim or inherit something of Africa, then, it might be useful to imagine Africa as a father. But since inheritance traditionally falls to the son and not the daughter, Dunlap's use of the patrilineal is an interesting choice, considering her own existence as a woman.
Furthermore, "fatherland" might be operating as an assertion of "masculine" characteristics narrowly-defined, such as strength and bravery--two values that are heavily emphasized in the "Poetry for the People" section and elsewhere in the Negro World.
