What degree of African cultural survival can be detected and described when dealing with the material remains of African Americans at an earlier time in the country's history? It would be the height of ethnocentric arrogance to assume that people recently a part of a very different culture would, upon coming to America, immediately adopt an Anglo-American set of values, of ways of doing things, and of organizing their existence.
The fact remains that cultures don't disappear and are only sometimes completely absorbed by other ones, even in our modern day times we as a society impose certain aspects of regular American life onto everyone. It's not fair to just assume that people will fall in line with the standards our culture holds itself to. Perhaps it's because African Americans have been imposed upon by our society longer than any other culture, that when terrible things happen like a weakened economy it is they "who are again being hardest hit". We drag them down with us only for them feel our losses the worst, and we expect them to be okay because they've already been struggling for so long. ("Homeownership Drop is Bad News, but Not for the Reason You Think", last paragraph)