The history of pragmatism often is seen as white-dominated discourse. However, a revision of pragmatist philosophy shows that several twentieth-century black intellectuals are major pragmatists. Both W.E.B. DuBois and Alain Locke incorporate Jamesian thinking, a modification later having a strong impact on John Dewey. Thus, instead of looking at one-sided influences, I explore the dialogical exchange and the multi-layered role of these thinkers and the changes they made for their own theories and politics. Furthermore, I argue that pragmatism is still highly relevant in current ‘race’ theories such as in Paula Moya’s postpositivist realist approach, and could serve as a constructive approach in today’s post-post-debates.