This chapter constructs a tradition of Diasporic African (American) other-consciousness starting in the twentieth century. In this chapter, I trace the thread of that phenomenon within the history of black writing as expressed in content and form and show how the welcoming of othernessotherness.see also alterity. is not only a tradition in African American oral and literate traditions but one that extends back through the Diaspora, particularly in the twentieth centuryDiaspora.see also black vs. African American.. This ethical tradition of African Diasporic thinking is reflected in the poetry, fiction, and especially philosophical non-fiction of many prominent black thinkers and literary figures. Beginning with the first American philosopher of the color line, W.E.B. Du BoisDu Bois, W.E.B. “ , I look at midcentury thinkers like Franz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, and Melvin B. Tolson and end with postmodern writers Édouard GlissantGlissant, Édouard., Toni Morrison, and bell hooks. I hope to change the stakes of the literary criticism of black writing by reading poetry from the context of this black, ethical theory.