ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on that aspect of social consciousness which relates to the redefinition by the subordinate race of the characteristics of its own group, the characteristics of the dominant race, and their interrelations. This process of deliberate redefinition is expressed symbolically in the theme 'black is beautiful' and black politicians and writers in the USA have developed a quite specific theory of the strategy and role of redefinition. Huey Newton, one of the leaders of the Black Panthers in the USA, comments that unenlightened black people defined the white man by calling him 'the Man', which he says carried the implication that the black man did not even define himself as man. The justification for a black theology is the special suffering of the black man. The important contribution in movements of 'black consciousness' is the emphasis on the consciousness of the subordinates, in place of the customary preoccupation, particularly in liberal thought, with consciousness of the dominant group.
