"Over the centuries Black peoples in America have nurtured distinctive attitudes, beliefs, characters, folkways, and manners. They have shared common circumstances and conditions that have distinguished them in America beyond reference to the continent of their ancestral origins or their physical appearance. Yet African Americans have never been singular in experience or outlook. They have ever been diverse peoples. Time, temperament, talents, opportunities, place, and interpersonal relations, among myriad elements of life, have invariably set Blacks apart from one another as individuals and as groups, even as pronounced racial distinction and discrimination have invariably set Blacks as a group apart from others in America. African American history is thus not singular or simple; it has many facets and layers; it spreads across time and place and personalities."--Provided by publisher.