ABSTRACT
Since the promulgation of its constitution in 1787 and its Bill of Rights in 1791, the United States has sought to define itself as a free nation, selfconsciously distinct from the old powers of Europe. Compared with countries like Britain, there is a huge proliferation of American writing devoted to articulating the origins and goals of the nation, classically defined in terms of libertarianism. Even at the school level, study of the national constitution and of the freedoms enshrined within it, together with other texts like Abraham Lincoln’s ‘Gettysburg Address’ (1863), is almost universal. For African Americans, however, it is not controversial to say that history remains a problem. There is an obvious difficulty in reconciling the national narrative of liberty, equality and justice with the conditions of internal colonisation and apartheid that have constituted much of their historical experience.
