Why does Dee change her name in Walker's "Everyday Use?

After going away to college, Dee creates a new life for
herself and tries to create a new personal identity. She changes her name in an attempt
to identify with her African heritage and to leave behind the life into which she had
been born. She rejects her own heritage as a black American and her mother's
daughter.

Dee's behavior reflects the social movement of
the 1960s and 1970s in which the ideas of  "black pride" or Black Nationalism, developed
from the struggle for civil rights, were adopted by some Americans of African descent.
Malcom X, one influential leader in the African-American community, encouraged his
followers to abandon their "slave names," in favor of African names that reflected pride
in their heritage. This theme is also found in A Raisin in the Sun
through the character of Beneatha.