What America Would Be Like Without Blacks In "What America Would Be LikeWithout Blacks," Ralph Ellison demonstrated how blacks influenced American speech and language, the themes of our American literature, and American ideals of personal freedom and democracy. White people have been dreaming of an America with no blacks for a very long time. Although the thought is appealing, the idea of cleansing America of blacks is preposterous. The vision of an all white America …showed first 75 words of 447 total…

…showed last 75 words of 447 total…above as superior. Ellison says there is no point in lamenting over the past. But blacks cannot hide. "They are an American people who are geared to what is, and who yet are driven by a sense of what is possible for human life to be in this society, (p.227)." No matter who tries to contest, history and present day American culture has shown that without blacks, America as we know it, would not exist.