The above is the kind of thing I'd quibble with today, but wouldn't have dreamed of quibbling with at the time when Ellison wrote it. In the 60s, there absolutely was a universal (or near enough) experience of blackness. A lot has changed in the past 60 years.

But overall, I couldn't agree more with this. I love it. And I wish this kind of writing about "blackness" was still easy to find today. Especially given that by absolutely any measure you could hope for, the condition of black people has improved.

The fact that, as circumstances continue to improve, the narrative insists that we're more downtrodden than ever, is maddening. I think it's incredibly harmful to the mindset of young black people.