Abstract

In a society with no over-arching value system, identity becomes problematic and ends up equated with consumerism and lifestyle. Seemingly, black Americans have not had to face this problem of identity, for the heritage of racism has always informed blacks of who they are and where they fit. And yet as early as 1903, W.E.B. Du Bois spoke of a double consciousness in black Americans, about being American and black. During the early 20th century, the theory of cultural pluralism was formulated to counter the general efforts of “Americanization” strategies to homogenize different peoples and to protest the racial hatred of the time (witnessed in race riots).