Taking a postcolonial step, this book investigates the extent to which issues of Otherness affect African American evaluation of the white-dominated American society between 1865 and 1964. It is meant to be a metacritical study that explores the African American critical tradition so as to highlight how race, racism, and racialism have filtered down to its roots and contributed to making problematic the responsibility of the black critic in establishing a tradition that speaks for the black community.