The African Americans

Search for Truth and Knowledge

By Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Jr.

Part Three: Purpose

The purpose of this study is to present the African American Experience in America from the perspective of Black Culture, in order to see the patterns of development and responses, the continuities and contradictions, as well as institutional and group dynamics. It will look at how ethnic communities were established to help handle challenges and crises facing the nation and its peoples.

The study will attempt to clarify and correct the conflict between the ideals and realities of the American nation, whose political processes were compromised by the economic commitment to maintain slavery. A primary purpose of this search for truth is to correct the negative presentations or omissions about the role of African Americans in the struggles to develop the United States. In the 1960's the Kerner Commission Report on Civil Disorders, reached the conclusion that America was moving towards two societies, one White and one Black, separate and unequal. What are the roots of this development? It is a recent phenomenon? The causes of these conditions can be traced to the early contradictions upon which the American nation was founded. What were these contradictions and how have they impacted upon us over the past two hundred years?