 Africana philosophy’s relatively recent arrival on the scene of “respectable” knowledge production points to the third framing condition for the field, its manifest historicity. The field’s unavoidable status as an artifact of evolving sociopolitical conditions puts historical dynamics at issue here in a way that other fields (outside of the history of philosophy) can usually evade. Because of this, a study of contemporary activity must begin by attending to the development of the field over time, on at least three levels. It is important to attend to the development of certain ideas and to the canonization of certain texts and figures, to consider the evolving social and institutional conditions under which Africana philosophers did their work, and to credit the degree to which reconsiderations of the history constitute a thriving area of contemporary study.