ABSTRACT
The contemporary Black intellectual faces a grim predicament. Caught between an insolent American society and insouciant Black community, the Afro-American who takes seriously the life of the mind inhabits an isolated and insulated world. This condition has little to do with the motives and intentions of Black intellectuals; rather it is an objective situation created by circumstances
not of their own choosing. In this meditative essay, I will explore this dilemma of the Black intellectual and suggest various ways of understanding and transforming it.
