At the core of the epistemology of black identity in the 20th century United States is the assertion that freedom is a human right, not a privilege to be earned. By the late 19th century, an ideology of racial uplift had emerged that revolved around four concepts--compassion, service, education, and a commitment to social and economic justice for…

Examines the change in status of African Americans in the American collective identity before and after the civil rights movement in the 1960s in terms of exclusion and inclusion. From the 1970s and onward, a gradual process of inclusion in terms of symbolic indicators (textbooks, history books, stamps, holidays) can be observed. (MMU)