When studying the black diaspora in the United States, the story typically begins with classic slave narratives, including those of Frederick Douglass and Mary Price, and ends with the decisions of affirmative action of the late 1990s. The story tells the story of an internal racial identity struggle through the institutions of slavery and oppression, resistance and rebellion, cultural awakening, and civil rights that evokes the question: What does it mean to be African American? Aaron McGruder's animated series The Boondocks creates a context for considering the question of what it means to be an African American today and discusses the institutions that are now shaping African American identity. McGruder criticizes the idea of ​​a monolithic black identity through the use of over-exaggerated stereotypes and a medium typically reserved for children to make satirical comments. This disintegration of the idea of ​​a homogeneous Black diaspora identity opens the door for conversations about race and identity to take place in a broader context. Aaron McGruder, the creator of The Boondocks, was born in 1964 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in Columbia, Maryland, McGruder earned a bachelor's degree in African American studies from the University of Maryland. While working in the Presentation Lab on the university campus, McGruder developed the idea for the original comic. In 1997 the comic first debuted in the campus newspaper, The Diamondback (The Boondocks - Official Site). In 1999, The Boondocks was acquired by Universal Press Syndicated making its national debut on April 19, 1999. At its peak the daily comic appeared in over 300 newspapers nationwide (The Boondocks-Official Site). In 2005, McGruder in collaboration...... middle of paper ...... told people in the Black diaspora, Black Entertainment Television and the pop media in general are not freeing Black people from the shackles of poverty and are not promoting the advancement of African American culture but rather the opposite. McGruder never seeks to answer the question of what it means to be African American now, but to create conversation. Providing a unique space to examine the implications of being a young African American now. It draws attention to what institutions are now defining black identity; be it the street life and gangster rap embraced so closely by Riley or the Black Entertainment Network and its role in promoting misogynistic ideals. It does so through the use of over-exaggerated stereotypes to first break down the idea of ​​a monolithic black identity and then evaluate what defines black identity today..