As a Jamaican I grew up being taught Caribbean history which talks about Amerindians, Christopher Columbus and largely slavery. To an extent even American and European history.
However, nothing about Africa. Does anyone has any suggestions of what to read about West African history pre slavery?
It's where our ancestors are from but it has been kept a mystery.
There's a plethora of texts on the Askhistorians Book List, not all of which will be relevant to your questions. You might want to start with some more general histories like African History Before 1885 edited by Falola or Ehret's The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800.
Those should give you a good overview and grounding to identify further lines of research. Often it can be more helpful to focus on a particular culture than on a broad region. For instance, Monroe's The Precolonial State in West Africa: Building Power in Dahomey or Smith's Kingdoms of the Yoruba.
Speaking as someone whose own interests' often run up against a lack of written materials, don't be afraid to embrace archaeology. Pottery horizons, faunal assemblages, and furnace excavations are not the sexiest topics, but they do literally ground a society. Connah's African Civilizations: An Archaeological Perspective is a good book to dip your toe into archaeological waters.
Finally, given your own background, you might be interested in the works of John Thornton, which explicitly focus on the interaction of Africans, Europeans, and Americans in what he terms the "Atlantic World." So check out his Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1800 or his follow-up, A Cultural History of the Atlantic World, 1250-1820.