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It is hard to think of a better person to learn about Black American culture from than Albert Murray. His obscurity is an example of how Blacks ,are interested in promoting a purely political black identity revolving around being an enraged victim, and whites, who ignore the centrality of Black culture to America culture, are disinterested in accurately and honestly looking at the complexity and nuance Black American culture. The following articles should help wet your appetite for some of his books.

Albert Murray: the Black Intellectuals’ Maverick Patriarch by Sanford Pinsker

http://www.vqronline.org/articles/1996/autumn/pinsker-albert-murray/

(Murray’s) The Omni-Americans (1970), argued that the language of social science inadequately—and insufficiently—captures the richness of the black American experience. Indeed, by concentrating on versions of black pathology and the fits of shame, self-hatred, and rage that these engender, opinion-makers such as Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Kenneth Clark sell black culture short. For the truth is that this vibrant, multi-faceted culture is no less complex than that of any other group.

Indeed, at the heart of Murray and Ellison’s joint enterprise was perhaps the most breathtaking act of cultural chutzpah since Columbus claimed it all for Isabella. In its bluntest form, their assertion was that the truest Americans were black Americans…

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1996/04/08/1996_04_08_070_TNY_CARDS_000373241#ixzz2H1PLXsZr