Questions the content and form of consciousness raising as a mode of purveying knowledge or bringing about change by considering its emergence in the civil rights movement. Examines such books as "Black Rage" (William Grierand Price Cobbs), "Triumph of the Therapeutic" (Philip Reiff), "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?" (Martin Luther King), and "Look Out Whitey! Black Power's Gon' Get Your Mama!" (Julius Lester). (SM)