how has african american cooking influenced cooking in the united states?!

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Very much so! Soul Food and Southern food especially... Some of our best food has it's roots in Africa! Okra is a native of Africa, and a lot of dishes that are served with Rice or are Creole have roots in Africa and the Caribbean. Cornbread was practically invented during slavery. It used to be called 'hoe cakes' they would pour the batter almost like a pancake on the flat side of a hoe and cook it over a fire... I also know that during Slavery most folks would be given a couple of pounds of salt port and corn meal a week per person, and they would usually have their own vegetable garden. Collard Greens used to be bottom of the barrel back then, but they were able to take anything and make it delicious... And now today it is almost a delicacy in the South!

A lot of the foods that where brought here where not indigenous42 to the US. Slaves showed there slave owners how to Plant, Grow and Harvest a lot of these foods. I think it's safe to say, a lot of foods that we love would not
have existed without Slavery. Also Soul food which we eat commonly, had less than a glorious beginning. Soul food was originally the scraps left over from the meals eaten in the big house.

Check out this Chef from Louisiana he was just talking about that very subject last week.

http://www.pbs.org/tasteofla/

We have brought some species, well, im black and I think that's it.