Hello AskHistorians!
A warning up front: this is a homework question. I'm looking for some direction, help in finding information.
I'm writing a paper that explains the historical context of the short story "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker, and I'm having trouble finding some strong sources to back up the apparent message of the story. The story is essentially dealing with the notion that many African-Americans were seeking to replace their history/heritage (of slavery and oppression) by going further back and rediscovering, identifying, and aligning themselves with traditional African cultural ideas and traditions. The idea I get from this is that many felt as though it was a fresh start, with a clean slate, and as a result they didn't want to be held back by what is clearly a terrible and oppressive past. As a result of this, there's a sense of forgetting where they came from, and attempting to cast out the reality of their family's heritage and past, which should not be forgotten or cast aside, no matter how painful.
Now, I'm not necessarily looking for something that outright says this was happening. I am looking for interesting observations, comparisons, and studies about the way that African-American mindsets, sense of self, and cultural values may have changed in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement.
There is a wonderful, short book by the black historian Henry Gates titled Colored People : A Memoir (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), that speaks to the changing attitudes of African-Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. Gates spent his childhood in North Carolina, coming of age during the lunch counter sit-ins taking place in his local city. He clearly documents the attitudes of black Americans as violence erupted across the country during the various civil rights demonstrations.