--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Double consciousness is knowing the…" description: "\"“Double consciousness is knowing the particularity of the white world in the face of its enforced claim to universality. Double consciousness is knowin..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/steve-biko-40941_black-people_double-consciousness-is-knowing-the-part_1032934.jpg" --- # Double consciousness is knowing the particularity of the… ![“Double consciousness is knowing the particularity of the white world in the face of its enforced claim to universality. Double consciousness is knowing the history offered up to black people—its many interpretations and echoes of white superiority and black inferiority, of white heroism and black…” quote by Steve Biko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/steve-biko-40941_black-people_double-consciousness-is-knowing-the-part_1032934.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/steve-biko-40941_black-people_double-consciousness-is-knowing-the-part_1032934.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ab2/steve-biko-40941_black-people_double-consciousness-is-knowing-the-part_1032934.jpg) > ““Double consciousness is knowing the particularity of the white world in the face of its enforced claim to universality. Double consciousness is knowing the history offered up to black people—its many interpretations and echoes of white superiority and black inferiority, of white heroism and black cowardice, and even the temporal and geographical location of history’s beginning as a step off of the African continent—is a falsehood that blacks are forced to treat as truth in so many countless ways. Double consciousness, in other words, is knowing a lie while living its contradiction.”” [Steve Biko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-biko/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Awareness of contradictory societal narratives creates internal conflict for oppressed groups. **In simple terms:** Seeing a lie while living its contradiction. Key Takeaway Critically examine imposed universal claims. Themes identity race colonialism psychology history Mood determined thoughtful Type philosophical political When to use this quote - education - activism - media analysis - personal reflection Key Concepts double consciousness social construct power dynamics Questions to Reflect On - How can one transform double consciousness into empowerment? - What strategies help reconcile conflicting identities? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on contradiction can paralyze action. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Black people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-people/) [Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consciousness/) [Double Consciousness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/double-consciousness/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) ## Related quotes > [“There is machinery in the mind that is consciousness. Knowing the machine is the dawn of a new era.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allan-wesler/there-is-machinery-in-the-mind-that-is-consciousness-knowing-the/) Allan Wesler > [“Once self-awareness crosses the boundary that creates the dualistic world, returning to its source in pure consciousness, words vanish.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/notable-scientists-and-philosophers/once-self-awareness-crosses-the-boundary-that-creates-the-dualistic/) Notable Scientists and Philosophers > [Samadhi is perfect absorption to the point where there is no sense of being absorbed, not the consciousness of knowing that you are having…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/samadhi-is-perfect-absorption-to-the-point-where-there-is-no-sense-of/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [There is no stimulus like that which comes from the consciousness of knowing that others believe in us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orison-swett-marden/there-is-no-stimulus-like-that-which-comes-from-the-consciousness-of/) [Orison Swett Marden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orison-swett-marden/) > [“He was burdened, poor Strether—it had better be confessed at the outset—with the oddity of a double consciousness. There was detachment in his zeal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-james/he-was-burdened-poor-strether-it-had-better-be-confessed-at-the/) [Henry James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-james/) > [I would encounter W. E. B. Du Bois and the term double consciousness. When I read it, I thought about sitting in my mother's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/i-would-encounter-w-e-b-du-bois-and-the-term-double-consciousness/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [A writer has a use for his experiences that most civilians simply don't; he or she discerns material in situations that others simply live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/a-writer-has-a-use-for-his-experiences-that-most-civilians-simply-don/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [The worst feature of this double consciousness is, that the two lives, of the understanding and of the soul, which we lead, reallyshow very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-worst-feature-of-this-double-consciousness-is-that-the-two-lives/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois-2/the-negro-is-a-sort-of-seventh-son-born-with-a-veil-and-gifted-with/) [W.E.B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois-2/) > [“African American racial consciousness responds to the horrors of the Middle Passage and New World slavery as well as to the unfulfilled promise of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-dain/african-american-racial-consciousness-responds-to-the-horrors-of-the/) Bruce Dain > [“From the fissure of their ever-present double consciousness sprang the idea of the double victory, articulated by James Thompson in his letter to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-lee-shetterly/from-the-fissure-of-their-ever-present-double-consciousness-sprang/) [Margot Lee Shetterly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-lee-shetterly/) > [It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-e-b-du-bois/it-is-a-peculiar-sensation-this-double-consciousness-this-sense-of/) [W. E. B. Du Bois](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-e-b-du-bois/) > [I wanted to do a show about a family that is absolutely black. 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The question often comes up 'what can you do?'. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-biko/a-game-at-which-the-liberals-have-become-masters-is-that-of/) [Steve Biko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-biko/) [Explore all 8 Steve Biko quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-biko/) ## More Black people quotes > [I wanted to write about voodoo tradition that I feel has been very important to survival of black people here: people of the African…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/i-wanted-to-write-about-voodoo-tradition-that-i-feel-has-been-very/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [“In any case, white people, who had robbed black people of their liberty and who profited by this theft every hour that they lived,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-baldwin/in-any-case-white-people-who-had-robbed-black-people-of-their-liberty/) [James Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-baldwin/) > [We have to build our own power. We have to win every single political office we can, where we have a majority of black…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fannie-lou-hamer/we-have-to-build-our-own-power-we-have-to-win-every-single-political/) [Fannie Lou Hamer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fannie-lou-hamer/) > [Hollywood is so fixated on keeping it that way because it's generating the buzz, but that representation isn't right. I definitely feel like it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boyega/hollywood-is-so-fixated-on-keeping-it-that-way-because-it-s/) [John Boyega](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boyega/) > [Black Privilege is a concrete motive that black people benefit from, such as racism but racism on whites. Black people don't know it but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/black-privilege-is-a-concrete-motive-that-black-people-benefit-from/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Acknowledging that my skin was, in fact, Cocoa as it is, would have destroyed their narrative about who I really was. Therefore they had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitta-xinindlu/acknowledging-that-my-skin-was-in-fact-cocoa-as-it-is-would-have/) [Mitta Xinindlu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitta-xinindlu/) > [Well of course there's been a great deal of progress over the last 40 years. We don't have laws that segregate black people within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-davis/well-of-course-there-s-been-a-great-deal-of-progress-over-the-last-40/) [Angela Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-davis/) > [Adam Clayton Powell's entire political career has to be looked at in the entire context of the American history and the history of, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/adam-clayton-powell-s-entire-political-career-has-to-be-looked-at-in/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [What would America be like if we loved black people as much as we loved black culture?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amandla-stenberg/what-would-america-be-like-if-we-loved-black-people-as-much-as-we/) [Amandla Stenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amandla-stenberg/) > [“Any ministry to black people which is not designed to effect their empowerment is designed to perpetuate their enslavement.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/any-ministry-to-black-people-which-is-not-designed-to-effect-their/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [All black people who are even minimally conscious, black people who have ever experienced Europe's technological power crusading in the vanguard of a civilizing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-nkosi/all-black-people-who-are-even-minimally-conscious-black-people-who/) [Lewis Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-nkosi/) > [Even during my youth, I can recall very few black people living on any kind of public assistance. People were working, doing some kind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-smith/even-during-my-youth-i-can-recall-very-few-black-people-living-on-any/) [Ed Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-smith/) > [There is no one American beauty or just one beautiful color in the pantheon, especially in regards to black people - there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/latanya-richardson/there-is-no-one-american-beauty-or-just-one-beautiful-color-in-the/) [LaTanya Richardson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/latanya-richardson/) > [Saying women aren't funny is now like saying Asians can't drive or saying black people have bad credit. It's just really, like, so obsolete.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitney-cummings/saying-women-aren-t-funny-is-now-like-saying-asians-can-t-drive-or/) [Whitney Cummings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitney-cummings/) > [It's so Canada. On some level, you laugh, but on another level, it's just depressing. We pride ourselves: We're not like the bad old…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/constance-backhouse/it-s-so-canada-on-some-level-you-laugh-but-on-another-level-it-s-just/) [Constance Backhouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/constance-backhouse/) [Browse all 1,587 Black people quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-people/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Double consciousness is knowing the particularity of the white world in the face of its enforced claim to universality. Double consciousness is knowing the history offered up to black people—its many interpretations and echoes of white superiority and black inferiority, of white heroism and black cowardice, and even the temporal and geographical location of history’s beginning as a step off of the African continent—is a falsehood that blacks are forced to treat as truth in so many countless ways. 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