image
Cultural identity is part of a sophisticated definition of self, as Professor Alfred Guillaume Jr. passionately describes: “I am a 50-year-old American. I am black, Roman Catholic, and Creole…. The segregated South wanted me to believe that I was inferior. The Catholic Church taught me that all of God’s people were equal. My French Creole heritage gave me a special bond to Native Americans, to Europeans, and to Africans. This is the composite portrait of who I am. I like who I am and can imagine being no other.”
(Left to right) West Rock/Getty Images; © Image Source/Alamy; © John Elk III/Alamy; Exotica.im 15/Alamy; © Paul A. Souders/Corbis; © David R. Frazier Photolibrary, Inc./Alamy