This information packet was developed for the Black Standards Society, a fictional secret society. The packet includes a personal letter, the organization's history, mission statement, and three letters to be sent on the society's behalf addressing issues such as black neighborhoods, rap music and black leadership. The organization was founded in the 1820s to establish a code of conduct for blacks as a way to bolster the abolitionist argument. Members reason that if blacks are exemplary citizens, their acceptance by white society is guaranteed. Creating the imaginary Society was a way to respond to a survey examining how African Americans' varying definitions of blackness affect their treatment of blacks with a variety of experiences, especially then-Sen. Barack Obama. When the project was conceived, Obama was facing criticism on whether he was "black enough" to become the nation's first black president as he had no heritage connected with American slavery.
