DISCUSSED IN THIS SERIES OF "NOTES AND QUERIES" ARE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF IDENTITY, PARTICULARLY THE IDENTITY OF THE NEGRO. HELPFUL IN UNDERSTANDING NEGRO IDENTITY IS THE EXPRESSION BY NEGRO AUTHORS OF THEIR NEGATIVE IDENTITY (INVISIBILITY, NAMELESSNESS, AND FACELESSNESS), INTERPRETED HERE AS A DEMAND TO BE HEARD, SEEN, RECOGNIZED, AND FACED AS INDIVIDUALS RATHER THAN AS MEN MARKED BY THEIR COLOR AND STEREOTYPES. THESE AUTHORS ARE SEEN TO BE TRYING TO LIBERATE THEIR "SURRENDERED IDENTITIES." COMPLICATIONS RELATED TO UNDERSTANDING NEGRO IDENTITY, WHICH MIGHT BE CLARIFIED BY THE CONCEPT OF NEGATIVE IDENTITY, ARE--(1) THE HIERARCHY OF CULTURALLY RELATED POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ELEMENTS IN EACH INDIVIDUAL'S PSYCHOSOCIAL IDENTITY, (2) THE FUSION OF NEGATIVE IMAGES PRESENTED BY THE MAJORITY INTO THE NEGATIVE IDENTITY OF THE OPPRESSED AND EXPLOITED, AND (3) THE VESTED INTEREST OF THE OPPRESSOR IN THE NEGATIVE IDENTITY OF THE OPPRESSED. THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ELEMENTS WITHIN THE NEGRO PERSONALITY AND THE COMMUNITY ARE NOT KNOWN COMPLETELY, AND THE QUESTION ARISES WHETHER THE NEGRO'S NEGATIVE IDENTITY CAN BE DEFINED ONLY IN TERMS OF HIS DEFENSIVE ADJUSTMENT TO THE DOMINANT WHITE MAJORITY. IT IS FELT THAT IT IS FROM THE "WIDER" ASPECTS OF IDENTITY AVAILABLE THROUGHOUT THE CULTURE THAT THE NEGRO WILL FIND HIS OWN IDENTITY. (JL)