Why do African Americans (Black Folk)?

First I must say I'm not African American (the way you put it) I'm French-Caribbean (but the history has similarities though) and all I could say about it is that it is a way this etnic group has found to reert their own culture within the US cultural soup... Same way most people where I live tend ( in the last decade anyway) to give American names to try and get away from the French culture left to us by the colonial system... It's a way like any other of creating something that's yours when all you owned has been lost in space and time I guess....