African American Criticism is similar to feminist criticism in that it looks to reveal power structures within literature. For this theory, it looks at the power structure between races. Again, similar to feminism, some people think that there isn’t an issue between races. While some people may not agree with it, white privilege is an issue between races. As a white person, there is no way for me to understand the African American experience. Aside from major life issues, some of the most difficult issues are the minute, daily bits of stereotyping and racism that African Americans experience. However, I can take the chance to work through my own prejudices that I may not realize I have. This comes from reading and studying literature that speaks on the African American experience or is written by black authors. Many pieces of African American literature touch on the idea of “double consciousness.” Many black authors wrote on this experience of feeling the need to act one way in some place and another way in a separate place. In almost having two different personalities, there then becomes this loss of identity and inability to define one’s self. African American Criticism tries to expose the ways the system acts in a way that is disadvantageous to African Americans.

Henry Louis Gates states that language ought to be observed, examined, and fully understood. For African American criticism, we, as literary critics are under an obligation to use tools to fully understand all aspects of language. Gates explains that African American literature is very distinct, and should be considered as such. Many pieces of black literature have very important and unique qualities that deserve to be acknowledged.