I read this memoir by a guy who did a group bicycle tour around Cameroon and one of the guys in his group (all Americans) was black.

When the locals learned the black guy was American they were really confused. They didn’t know that there were black people in America. They asked him what his tribe was and when he said he didn’t have one it blew their minds. They asked how there were black people in America and he explained about the Atlantic slave trade and they had never heard of it. In the end they would refer to him using the same (mildly pejorative) word they used for whites.

These were country people they met in the sticks, not educated people, but I don’t think it’s that uncommon. I live in southeast Asia and have met people who’ve never heard of World War 2.

This is the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1290572

Habitually lying is corrosive to the soul.

What’s the rule for Americans?