INTRODUCTION

This definition is meant to dispel some common misconceptions that arise in discussions about culture. Too often, culture and skin color, or, race/ethnicity are treated as synonymous terms. That is, many people believe skin color (or race) specifies one’s culture. While North Americans of African ancestry and South Americans of African ancestry may have the same skin color, they do not necessarily share the same cultures. However, here lies one aspect of the confusion. While skin color is not the same as culture, nevertheless, it is an aspect of culture because it carries

with it a historical legacy that has social and political consequences for groups and individuals that delimit the ways in which they can negotiate their worlds. The black skin of people in the United States carries with it a historical legacy of slavery and White racial hatred encoded in laws, institutions, school curricula, and social discourse that continues to have an impact on the economic, political status and the psychosocial well-being of African Americans. African Americans continue to have fewer opportunities than other groups for high quality educational experiences, high paying jobs, and access to political systems that may operate to improve their social and economic conditions. These cultural circumstances constrain the ways in which African Americans envision themselves as participants in our democratic society.