To understand blacks today, one has to look at all that happened to them in this
country over the past 300 years.

It is critical to a development of a sense of self for African Americans to understand that they are fundamentally Western in terms of their culture and values (Howard, 1992). For almost 400 years, African Americans have lived in a Western society and have been shaped by its numerous cultures and values. Self-knowledge for African American entails having a working knowledge of Western civilization. African Americans who reject their Western heritage and influence, reject important parts of their own cultural heritage (Banks, 1993). African Americans have helped shape Western values and have been major torch bearers in the struggle to close the gap between Western ideals and practices (Howard, 1990). African Americans have related to the West, not merely as victims or as the oppressed but have been major contributors to making this nation the world’s most important nation. An acknowledgement of a Western identity by African American does not entail a reputation of self, but to repudiate, dismiss, or traduce their Western heritage would be to cut African Americans off from a part of what they are, to the detriment of the possibility of a coherent sense of self (Howard, 1990).
pace.edu