Black Nationalist Ideologies have existed throughout the history of African Americans. But the exact content and the way in which their intensity and popularity has waxed and waned can be best understood by examining the specific historical contexts in which the ideas were embedded. Such an analysis has been completely lacking in the current furor over Afrocentricity in its varied forms. Many of the ideas which are now considered Afrocentric - though they were not labeled a such at the time - also flourished at the turn of the nineteenth century during what appropriately has been described as the nadir of the Black experience in post-Civil War America. There are sufficient parallels between that time and our own to give us reason to feel that a comparison of the social circumstances and the ideas of the two periods will enhance our understanding of the current debate
