There have been several recent attempts to operationalize and measure
empirically attitudinal support for Black nationalism. However, scholars
have not yet reached a consensus as to what precisely constitutes Black
nationalism and its manifestations. Our work addresses three critical
questions. First, is Black nationalism a uni-dimensional or a
multi-dimensional construct? Second, is Black nationalism another form of
xenophobia? Third, is support for Black nationalism a function of time?
Some scholars note that Black nationalism takes on the character of its
material context and that it cannot be easily subsumed into a
trans-historical ideology (Reed 2002; Robinson 2001). We indirectly test these hypotheses by
examining the relationship between two components of Black
nationalism—Black separatism and Pan-Africanism. To test these
hypotheses, we analyze data from the 1979–1980 National Survey of
Black Americans (NSBA). Overall, we establish the determinants of support
for Black separatism and Pan-Africanism while distinguishing these
ideologies' similarities and differences.