tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/naacp-14465/articlesNAACP – The Conversation2024-03-06T13:35:38Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2236052024-03-06T13:35:38Z2024-03-06T13:35:38ZThe Black history knowledge gap is widening – and GOP politicians are making it worse<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579345/original/file-20240302-24-o1gqu6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=474%2C94%2C2539%2C1911&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Andra Day performs 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' prior to Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/andra-day-performs-lift-every-voice-and-sing-prior-to-super-news-photo/2007003884?adppopup=true">Perry Knotts/Getty Image</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the day of the Super Bowl, Matt Gaetz, a Republican member of Congress from Florida, publicly announced that he <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/matt-gaetz-boycott-super-bowl-black-national-anthem/">would not watch</a> one of the most popular sporting events in America. </p>
<p>The reason for his boycott?</p>
<p>“They’re desecrating America’s national anthem by playing something called the ‘Black national anthem,’” <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/matt-gaetz-refuses-watch-super-bowl-over-black-national-anthem-performance-1868867">Gaetz explained</a>. </p>
<p>The song he criticized is “<a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/lift-every-voice-and-sing">Lift Every Voice and Sing</a>,” which was written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-century-ago-james-weldon-johnson-became-the-first-black-person-to-head-the-naacp-149513">James Weldon Johnson</a> and his brother <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200038845">Rosamond Johnson</a> in 1903. For more than a century, this hymn has celebrated the faith, persistence and hope of Black Americans. </p>
<p>“Lift Every Voice and Sing” was sung at the Super Bowl by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ0B7cF3DQk">Andra Day</a>, after <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLH8fzAPWYk">Reba McEntire</a> sang the national anthem. </p>
<p>Whether or not Gaetz’s racist antic was the result of ignorance about the song’s legacy, it is clear that there is a knowledge gap between Black and white students on our nation’s racial history. This gap makes it vital to teach high school and college students <em>more</em> African American history, not less, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/florida-gov-desantis-leads-the-gops-national-charge-against-public-education-that-includes-lessons-on-race-and-sexual-orientation-196369">Republicans have mandated</a> in many states, including Gaetz’s home state of Florida. </p>
<p>As someone who teaches Black history to mostly white college students, I have seen how learning this subject can create the understanding and empathy needed to bridge America’s racial and political divides. </p>
<h2>Who was James Weldon Johnson?</h2>
<p>In my Black American Narratives class, we are currently reading James Weldon Johnson’s 1933 autobiography “Along This Way.” Johnson’s life provides a rare example of the opportunities that existed for very few Black Americans after the Civil War and before white Southerners wrested away those possibilities through the creation of <a href="https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/what.htm">Jim Crow laws and social customs</a> that maintained white supremacy. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man in suit holds hold-fashioned telephone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Weldon Johnson became the first Black American to head the NAACP in 1920.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93505758/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Johnson’s parents grew up free – his father in New York and his mother in the Bahamas. Both were literate at a time when <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp">80% of Black Americans were not</a>. These advantages helped them become homeowners when many Southern Black families lacked the money to buy land.</p>
<p>Raised with this rare opportunity, Johnson thrived. </p>
<p>He graduated from Atlanta University in 1894 during an era when only about <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs93/93442.pdf">2% of 18-to-24-year-olds</a> in the U.S. received any college education. He became a high school principal in his native city of Jacksonville, Florida, the editor of a daily newspaper and the first Black Floridian to pass the state bar exam. </p>
<p>He published poetry and novels, produced musical theater and served as U.S. consul to Venezuela. He was a professor at New York University and Fisk University and the <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/james-weldon-johnson">first Black executive secretary of the NAACP</a>. While Johnson’s successes were extraordinary, they illuminate what Black Americans could achieve when provided with even the narrowest avenues for advancement. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old NAACP poster calls attention to 3,436 people lynched between 1889 and 1922." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The NAACP produced this anti-lynching poster in 1922.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.si.edu/object/poster-naacp-anti-lynching-campaign:nmaahc_2011.57.9?edan_q=naacp&oa=1&edan_fq%5B0%5D=media_usage:CC0&destination=/search/collection-images&searchResults=1&id=nmaahc_2011.57.9">National Museum of African American History and Culture</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The accomplishments of Johnson and contemporaries such as <a href="https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/fleet-walker/">Moses Fleetwood Walker</a>, <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett">Ida B. Wells</a> and <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/george-washington-carver.htm">George Washington Carver</a> help students today understand that Black Americans’ struggles were predominantly the product of <a href="https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/black-codes-and-jim-crow-laws/">barriers created by white supremacists</a> rather than their own shortcomings. </p>
<h2>The knowledge gap</h2>
<p>Normally, I play “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for the students when we reach the part of Johnson’s autobiography that covers his writing of the song, but the immediate relevance of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUH82QSG7GY">Andra Day’s version</a> justified playing it a few classes earlier this semester. </p>
<p>When I asked who knew the song, both Black students in my class said they did, but only two of the 24 white students raised their hands. That gap has remained fairly consistent during the four years I have taught Johnson’s autobiography. </p>
<p>We discussed the importance of the song, then turned to that day’s assignment.</p>
<p>In his book, Johnson discusses his experience as a summer school teacher in rural Georgia during the 1890s. He described those months as his “first tryout with social forces” and “the beginning of my knowledge of my own people as a ‘race.’” </p>
<p>We reviewed his first encounters with “White” and “Colored” signs on bathroom doors, and the laws and unspoken traditions of segregation that this young man learned during his time in the rural South. </p>
<p>Students often regard these “social forces” as ancient history, so I explained that these same traditions caused the <a href="https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/aug/28">murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955</a> after he spoke to a white woman while buying candy in a Mississippi store. They were startled to hear Till was born the same year as my father, making him about the same age as many of their grandparents. </p>
<p>Then I mentioned that even in 2012, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/index.html">Trayvon Martin</a> was killed for walking through a predominantly white neighborhood at night while wearing a hoodie. </p>
<p>Silence.</p>
<p>“How many of you know about <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trayvon-martin-death-10-years-later-c68f12130b2992d9c1ba31ec1a398cdd">Trayvon Martin</a>?”</p>
<p>The two Black students raised their hands. The white students looked at me blankly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black woman stands in front of a church and holds a poster of a Black man wearing a hoodie." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579348/original/file-20240302-16-z461cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579348/original/file-20240302-16-z461cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579348/original/file-20240302-16-z461cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579348/original/file-20240302-16-z461cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579348/original/file-20240302-16-z461cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579348/original/file-20240302-16-z461cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579348/original/file-20240302-16-z461cp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Trayvon Martin supporter displays her sign during a march in Florida on March 31, 2012 .</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/trayvon-martin-supporter-displays-her-sign-during-a-march-news-photo/142192389?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Stunned, I told them <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/07/31/631897758/a-look-back-at-trayvon-martins-death-and-the-movement-it-inspired">the story of Martin’s death</a>, but in the moment I couldn’t remember his killer’s name. </p>
<p>One of the Black students quietly said “<a href="https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/crime/who-killed-trayvon-martin-george-zimmerman-b2023977.html">Zimmerman</a>.”</p>
<p>These students were only 6 or 7 when Martin died, so not remembering the event is understandable. Not learning about it since then highlights the continuing racial divide in our children’s education. </p>
<p>When students do learn this history, it can literally improve the culture of a campus and a city. </p>
<p>Students from these classes have helped to strengthen the relationship between the Black Student Union and the Jewish student organization Hillel on our campus. They have also conducted interviews with alumni of the local high school who attended classes during the racially segregated days of Jim Crow. </p>
<p>In another example of gaining firsthand knowledge, students have attended Sunday services at a local historically Black church – a first experience for most of them. These students subsequently helped the congregation build a mobile exhibit about the church’s history. </p>
<p>Despite what <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/education/581029-nearly-half-of-republicans-polled-say-schools-shouldnt/">Republican politicians</a> have claimed, learning this history does not generate guilt or shame among students. It often inspires them how to reach across cultural divides in ways they have never attempted before. </p>
<h2>The value of Black history</h2>
<p>Most students enter my class knowing only of Rev. Martin Luther King’s “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs">I Have a Dream</a>” speech, <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/rosa-parks">Rosa Parks’ bus protests</a> or <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/it-time-reassessment-malcolm-x-180968247/">Malcolm X’s activism</a>. Some may know about Jim Crow.</p>
<p>But white students tend to know little about the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/report-black-people-are-still-killed-police-higher-rate-groups-rcna17169">recent history of racial violence</a> in the U.S. They are familiar with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html">George Floyd</a> and the protests that emerged after his murder by a white police officer, but few other recent victims of this kind of violence. </p>
<p>Ferguson, Missouri, where protests led by <a href="https://afas.wustl.edu/racism-reform-rebellion-ferguson-uprising-rise-black-lives-matter">Black Lives Matter</a> emerged after <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/5/31/17937818/michael-brown-police-shooting-darren-wilson">18-year-old Michael Brown</a> was shot and killed by a white police officer, means little to them.</p>
<p>The problem is not a general lack of historical knowledge but its disparity along racial lines. Black students do know this history, or at least more of it than their white peers. </p>
<p>Bridging this knowledge gap is made more difficult because today’s young Americans of different races do not <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/14/1111060299/school-segregation-report#:%7E:text=More%20than%20a%20third%20of,of%20a%20single%20race%2Fethnicity.">sit in the same classrooms</a> as a result of segregated schools in segregated communities – nor do they learn the same history. </p>
<p>Its my belief that schools fail all students when they omit the difficult parts of U.S. history. Teaching Black history can create understanding and spark rare discussions on challenging topics across racial lines. </p>
<p>Those of us who actually teach these subjects recognize these benefits – no matter what the politicians say.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Ringel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Unlike some GOP politicians, a college professor who teaches Black history to mostly white students was excited that the Black national anthem was being played at the Super Bowl.Paul Ringel, Professor of U.S. History, High Point University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182962023-11-21T20:31:45Z2023-11-21T20:31:45ZWho can defend voting rights? An appeals court ruling sharply limiting lawsuits looks likely to head to the Supreme Court<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560834/original/file-20231121-4144-xyqtot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The recent court decision about the Voting Rights Act could be a setback for people's right to vote.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/vehicle-displays-a-sign-reading-protect-our-freedom-to-vote-news-photo/1237831969?adppopup=true">Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A federal appeals court in <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24172336-arkansas-state-conference-naacp-2023-11-20-8th-circuit-opinion">Arkansas ruled</a> on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023, that <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/20/federal-court-deals-devastating-blow-to-voting-rights-act-00128069">only the federal government</a> – not private citizens or civil rights groups – could sue to enforce the 1965 Voting Rights Act.</em></p>
<p><em>This decision will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court – but if it stands, it could gut individual people’s and civil rights groups’ legal right to fight racial discrimination in voting.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation spoke with <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AI_UyLUAAAAJ&hl=en">Anthony Michael Kreis</a>, a scholar of constitutional law, democracy and civil rights, to better understand the significance of this court ruling.</em></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Black middle-aged man speaks at a podium with the words, 'deliver for voting rights,' in a crowd of people who are wearing jackets. One person holds a sign that says 'voter suppression is un-American.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560837/original/file-20231121-4173-ql0xtm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Martin Luther King III, eldest son of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaks about voting rights in January 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/martin-luther-king-iii-eldest-son-of-civil-rights-leader-dr-news-photo/1237787296?adppopup=true">Samuel Corum/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>What is most important for people to understand about this court decision?</h2>
<p>There are currently two ways to safeguard the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act">Voting Rights Act</a> and try to enforce it in court. One is through the federal government and the Department of Justice. The other is private groups, often civil rights organizations, that try to enforce the Voting Rights Act when there is a violation and people are not being given equal opportunity and the ability to vote.</p>
<p>I believe it is important that groups like the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/voting-rights-act">American Civil Liberties Union</a>, or ACLU, and the <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/legislative-milestones/voting-rights-act-1965">National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</a>, or NAACP, can go to court and litigate voting rights questions. Part of the reason is that the Department of Justice is a government office with limited resources and a finite capacity to assess all of the different jurisdictions where voting takes place. It also requires the enthusiastic support of Justice Department leaders – and this cannot be guaranteed from administration to administration. </p>
<p>These private groups have a broader reach in terms of being able to document what is happening locally and at the state level – and whether people’s voting rights are possibly being violated.</p>
<p>A ruling that private groups can no longer file lawsuits related to the Voting Rights Act removes key voting rights protectors from their roles – primarily of stopping discriminatory rules or legislation that either deprive people of their right to vote or dilute the full force of their vote. </p>
<h2>How often do private groups file lawsuits to enforce the Voting Rights Act?</h2>
<p>The NAACP or the ACLU regularly file these lawsuits. Sometimes there have been multiple private groups <a href="https://www.naacpldf.org/naacp-publications/ldf-blog/important-facts-about-ldfs-lawsuit-challenging-georgias-voter-suppression-bill/">filing lawsuits</a> at the same time. This happened in 2021, when a <a href="https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/03/27/what-does-georgias-new-voting-law-sb-202-do">new election law</a> in Georgia made it harder for some people to vote by limiting access to drop boxes and making it also more challenging to get an absentee ballot mailed. This law is <a href="https://www.lawyerscommittee.org/federal-court-halts-portion-of-georgias-sb202-voter-suppression-law/">still under litigation</a>. </p>
<p>The NAACP has also brought lawsuits against voting rights questions in Alabama, like whether people should have to <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/naacp-loses-11th-circuit-fight-against-alabama-voter-id-law/">present a photo ID</a> in order to vote. Generally, these lawsuits have had a great deal of success at <a href="https://naacp.org/articles/naacp-commends-supreme-court-allowing-new-alabama-congressional-map">protecting people’s right to vote</a>, especially the rights of Black people and other minorities. </p>
<p>It is because they have been so successful that some conservative people who would prefer to limit voting rights in a democracy, rather than expand them, have gone after organizations’ ability to file these lawsuits.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A big sign says 'vote here today' in front of a long line of Black people who stand ouside of a brown brick building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560838/original/file-20231121-3914-gq0a6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Americans line up to vote in 2008 outside of a Baptist church in Birmingham, Ala., one of the places that has faced new voting restrictions in the past few years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/african-americans-line-up-to-vote-outside-bethel-missionary-news-photo/83557085?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How has the Voting Rights Act been interpreted so far?</h2>
<p>Over the years, numerous courts, including the <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-5th-circuit/115482724.html">5th</a>, <a href="https://casetext.com/case/mixon-v-state-of-ohio">6th</a> and <a href="https://casetext.com/case/ala-state-conference-of-na-for-advancement-of-colored-people-v-alabama">11th</a> circuits, have taken up this issue. These courts have determined that you cannot plausibly read the Voting Rights Act in its totality and not see there is a clear, private right of action for groups like the ACLU to go to court. </p>
<p>There is a reason why this issue of private groups filing voting rights lawsuits has kind of become a new fad. In a <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/19-1257">Supreme Court case in 2021</a>, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas both raised this question of whether this should be allowed.</p>
<p>Now, the <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/eighth-circuit-ruling-limits-enforcement-of-voting-rights-act/">8th Circuit Court has taken that cue</a> and ruled that nongovernmental groups do not have the right, under the Voting Rights Act, to sue states for voting rights violations. The reasoning is that Congress never explicitly provided this right in the act’s text. </p>
<p>But the Supreme Court has informally recognized for decades that Congress recognizes the right of private groups to take action. And while Congress has amended the <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47520">Voting Rights Act through the years,</a> it has never tried to curtail private lawsuits. This confirms the long-understood premise that Congress empowers people and groups other than the federal government to bring voting rights litigation under the 1965 law.</p>
<h2>How does this ruling shift the legal landscape on this issue?</h2>
<p>Most of the appellate courts that have addressed this issue head-on have easily batted away arguments about private groups not being able to file lawsuits, because they have found them to be so implausible that they are not worth their time to analyze in a deep and serious way. </p>
<p>I think this ruling is part of a systemic attack against voting rights in the U.S. at an especially precarious time for American democracy’s health. This court ruling will likely <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/20/federal-court-deals-devastating-blow-to-voting-rights-act-00128069">go to the Supreme Court</a>, but if the Supreme Court affirms the decision, only the Department of Justice could enforce voting laws in a meaningful way. That is exceptionally dangerous and challenges the principle that all eligible voters get to have their voices heard in a democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218296/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Michael Kreis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ruling could make it impossible for groups like the ACLU to file lawsuits to protect people’s right to vote – significantly changing how the Voting Rights Act has been interpreted so far.Anthony Michael Kreis, Assistant Professor of Law, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992322023-02-07T13:30:39Z2023-02-07T13:30:39ZW.E.B. Du Bois, Black History Month and the importance of African American studies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508198/original/file-20230205-15-zit4rm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C124%2C4094%2C3225&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scholar-activist W.E.B. DuBois in 1946.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/william-e-b-dubois-sociologist-scholar-and-cofounder-of-the-news-photo/159788642">Underwood Archives/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The opening days of Black History Month 2023 have coincided with controversy about the teaching and broader meaning of African American studies. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/1153434464/college-boards-revised-ap-african-american-studies-course-draws-new-criticism">On Feb. 1, 2023</a>, the College Board released a revised curriculum for its newly developed Advanced Placement African American studies course.</p>
<p>Critics have accused the College Board of caving to political pressure stemming from conservative backlash and the decision of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/22/1150259944/florida-rejects-ap-class-african-american-studies">ban the course</a> from public high schools in Florida because of what he characterized as its radical content and inclusion of topics such as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-critical-race-theory.html">critical race theory</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/17/879041052/william-darity-jr-discusses-reparations-racial-equality-in-his-new-book">reparations</a> and the <a href="https://blacklivesmatter.com/">Black Lives Matter</a> movement. </p>
<p>On Feb. 11, 1951, an article by the 82-year-old Black scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois titled “<a href="https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b210-i014">Negro History Week</a>” appeared in the short-lived New York newspaper The Daily Compass. </p>
<p>As one of the founders of the NAACP in 1909 and the editor of its powerful magazine <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/history-crisis">The Crisis</a>, Du Bois is considered by historians and intellectuals from many academic disciplines as America’s <a href="https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/815-turning-high-fashion-into-politics-henry-louis-gates-jr-on-web-du-bois-and-the-new-negro-movement-of-1900">preeminent thinker on race</a>. His thoughts and opinions still carry weight throughout the world. </p>
<p>Du Bois’ words in that 1951 article are especially prescient today, offering a reminder about the importance of Black History Month and what is at stake in current conversations about African American studies. </p>
<p>Du Bois began his Daily Compass commentary by praising <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fugitive_Pedagogy/dnUZEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=carter+g+woodson&printsec=frontcover">Carter G. Woodson</a>, founder of the <a href="https://asalh.org/">Association for the Study of Negro Life and History</a>, who established Negro History Week in 1926. The week would eventually become Black History Month.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="An elderly black man dressed in a dark business suit poses for a portrait." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508201/original/file-20230205-23-27sr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508201/original/file-20230205-23-27sr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508201/original/file-20230205-23-27sr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508201/original/file-20230205-23-27sr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508201/original/file-20230205-23-27sr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508201/original/file-20230205-23-27sr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508201/original/file-20230205-23-27sr65.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=974&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black historian Carter G. Woodson in 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2016/02/lcm-trending-african-american-history-month/carterwoodson/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Du Bois described the annual commemoration as Woodson’s “crowning achievement.” </p>
<p>Woodson was <a href="https://www.nps.gov/cawo/learn/carter-g-woodson-biography.htm">the second African American</a> to earn a doctorate in history from Harvard University. <a href="https://guides.library.harvard.edu/hua/dubois">Du Bois was the first</a>.</p>
<p>Du Bois and Woodson did not always see eye to eye. However, as <a href="https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=7f443ffde35747ba69faca210faff07145fab78c">I explore</a> in my new book, “<a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374293154/the-wounded-world">The Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War</a>,” the two pioneering scholars always respected each other.</p>
<h2>Reckoning with history and reclaiming the past</h2>
<p>Du Bois’ connection to and appreciation of Negro History Week grew during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/w-e-b-du-bois-and-black-history-month/">During this time</a>, whether in public speeches or published articles, he never missed an opportunity to acknowledge the importance of Negro History Week. </p>
<p>In the Feb. 11, 1951, article, Du Bois reflected that his own contributions to Negro History Week “lay in my long effort as a historian and sociologist to make America and Negroes themselves aware of the significant facts of Negro history.” </p>
<p>Summarizing his work from his first book, “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Suppression_of_the_African_Slave_tra/04mJJlND1ccC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade</a>,” published in 1896, through his magnum opus “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Black_Reconstruction_in_America_1860_188/Nt5mglDCNHEC?hl=en">Black Reconstruction in America</a>,” published in 1935, Du Bois told readers of the Daily Compass piece that much of his career was spent trying “to correct the distortion of history in regard to Negro enfranchisement.”</p>
<p>By doing so, the nation would hopefully become, Du Bois wrote further, “conscious that this part of our citizenry were normal human beings who had served the nation credibly and were still being deprived of their credit by ignorant and prejudiced historians.”</p>
<p>In addition to championing Negro History Week, Du Bois applauded other Black scholars, like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/E-Franklin-Frazier">E. Franklin Frazier</a>, <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/02/11/black-history-month-charles-s-johnson-scholar-race-relations/23256961/">Charles Johnson</a> and <a href="https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library/collections/shirley-graham-du-bois">Shirley Graham</a>, who were “steadily attacking” the omissions and distortions of Black people in school textbooks. </p>
<p>Du Bois went on to chronicle the achievements of African Americans in science, religion, art, literature and the military, making clear that Black people had a history to be proud of.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of black men, women and children are marching on a street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508199/original/file-20230205-504-ix6lu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508199/original/file-20230205-504-ix6lu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508199/original/file-20230205-504-ix6lu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508199/original/file-20230205-504-ix6lu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508199/original/file-20230205-504-ix6lu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508199/original/file-20230205-504-ix6lu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508199/original/file-20230205-504-ix6lu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=585&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">W.E.B. Du Bois, third from right in the second row, joins other marchers in New York protesting against racism on July 28, 1917.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/prominent-african-americans-residents-of-the-city-paraded-news-photo/530843082?phrase=web%20du%20bois&adppopup=true">George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Du Bois, however, questioned what deeper meaning these achievements held to the issues facing Black people in the present.</p>
<p>“What now does Negro History Week stand for?” he asked in the 1951 article. “Shall American Negroes continue to learn to be ‘proud’ of themselves, or is there a higher broader aim for their research and study?”</p>
<p>“In other words,” he asserted, “as it becomes more universally known what Negroes contributed to America in the past, more must logically be said and taught concerning the future.”</p>
<p>The time had come, Du Bois believed, for African Americans to stop striving to be merely “the equal of white Americans.”</p>
<p>Black people needed to cease emulating the worst traits of America – flamboyance, individualism, greed and financial success at any cost – and support <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/web-du-bois">labor unions</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3041154">Pan-Africanism</a> and <a href="https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/web-dubois">anti-colonial struggle</a>. </p>
<p>He especially encouraged the systematic study of the imperial and economic roots of racism: “Here is a field for Negro History Week.”</p>
<h2>Black history and Black struggle</h2>
<p>Looking ahead, Du Bois declared that if Negro History Week remained “true to the ideals of Carter Woodson” and followed “the logical development of the Negro Race in America,” it would not confine itself to the study of the past nor “boasting and vainglory over what we have accomplished.” </p>
<p>“It will not mistake wealth as the measure of America, nor big-business and noise as World Domination,” Du Bois wrote in his article.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Under a large headline that reads The Shame of America, a newspaper advertisement lists a number of lynchings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/337712/original/file-20200526-106815-f764c8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 1922, the NAACP ran a series of full-page ads in The New York Times calling attention to lynchings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6786">New York Times, Nov. 23, 1922/American Social History Project</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, Du Bois believed Negro History Week would “concentrate on study of the present,” “not be afraid of radical literature” and, above all else, advocate for peace and voice “eternal opposition against war between the white and colored peoples of the earth.” </p>
<p>Were he alive today, Du Bois would certainly have much to say about current debates around the teaching of African American history and the larger significance of African American studies. <a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/11/05/specials/dubois-obit.html">Du Bois died</a> on Aug. 27, 1963, in Accra, Ghana. </p>
<p>But he left behind his clairvoyant words that remind us of the connections between African American studies and movements for Black liberation, along with how the teaching of African American history has always challenged racist and exclusionary narratives of the nation’s past. </p>
<p>Du Bois also reminds us that Black History Month is rooted in a legacy of activism and resistance, one that continues in the present.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199232/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chad Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the 20th century’s preeminent scholar-activist on race, W.E.B. Du Bois would not be surprised by modern-day attempts at whitewashing American history. He saw them in 1930s and 1940s.Chad Williams, Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1972502023-01-30T13:13:56Z2023-01-30T13:13:56ZMeet Bayard Rustin, often-forgotten civil rights activist, gay rights advocate, union organizer, pacifist and man of compassion for all in trouble<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505703/original/file-20230121-31574-irg6sz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=95%2C106%2C3647%2C5044&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"> In this Feb. 2, 1964, image, Bayard Rustin talks on a telephone from a church in Brooklyn, New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/civil-rights-activist-bayard-rustin-spokesman-for-the-news-photo/3248636?phrase=bayard%20rustin&adppopup=true">Patrick A. Burns/New York Times Co./Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As I began writing “Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer,” <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742545137/Bayard-Rustin-American-Dreamer">my biography</a> of the 20th-century radical leader and activist, one of my colleagues cautioned me not to “fall in love.” </p>
<p>This, of course, is good advice for any biographer, and I tried to follow it.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t easy, because <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bayard-Rustin">Bayard Rustin</a> was America’s signature radical voice during the 20th century, and yes, I believe those voices includes that of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whom Rustin trained and mentored. </p>
<p>His <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/08/974941349/bayard-rustin-an-architect-of-the-civil-rights-movement-you-may-have-never-heard">vision</a> of nonviolence was breathtakingly broad.</p>
<p>He was a civil rights activist, a labor unionist, a socialist, a pacifist and, later in life, a gay rights advocate. </p>
<p>Today, scholars would call Rustin an <a href="https://www.intersectionaljustice.org/what-is-intersectionality">intersectionalist</a>, a man who understood the complex effects of multiple forms of discrimination, including racism, sexism and classism. </p>
<h2>Early days and activism</h2>
<p>Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1912, Rustin was one of 12 children raised by their grandparents. It is believed that his devotion to civil rights was formed by his grandmother, whose <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/rustin-bayard">work with the NAACP</a> resulted in leaders of the Black community, such as <a href="https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/web-du-bois">W.E.B. Du Bois</a> and <a href="https://www.cookman.edu/history/our-founder.html">Mary McLeod Bethune</a>, visiting the Rustin home during his Quaker upbringing.</p>
<p>Rustin was present at the creation of a host of pivotal American liberation movements. He helped found the <a href="https://www.thecongressofracialequality.org/bayard-rustin.html">Congress of Racial Equality</a> and the <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/southern-christian-leadership-conference-sclc">Southern Christian Leadership Conference</a>, two civil rights organizations that were focused on ending the Jim Crow era of racial segregation. </p>
<p>He worked with Black trade unionist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/A-Philip-Randolph">A. Philip Randolph</a> on the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt6wr5b1">1941 March on Washington Movement</a>, which bore fruit in <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-8802">an executive order</a> by President Franklin Roosevelt banning racial discrimination in the nation’s defense industries.</p>
<p>Rustin and Randolph worked again in 1948 on a successful campaign <a href="https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/precursor-desegregating-armed-forces">to end segregation</a> in the U.S. military under President Harry Truman. </p>
<p>A pacifist, Rustin protested World War II by resisting the draft and, as a result, was imprisoned in 1944 as a conscientious objector.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two head shots of the same black man -- a side view and a head-on view -- are seen in these photographs taken in federal prison." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505701/original/file-20230121-20-h81yrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505701/original/file-20230121-20-h81yrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505701/original/file-20230121-20-h81yrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505701/original/file-20230121-20-h81yrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505701/original/file-20230121-20-h81yrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505701/original/file-20230121-20-h81yrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505701/original/file-20230121-20-h81yrj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In these Aug. 3, 1945, images, Bayard Rustin is seen in federal prison after his conviction on draft evasion charges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bayard-rustin-one-of-the-organizers-of-the-1963-march-on-news-photo/644663420?phrase=bayard%20rustin&adppopup=true">Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After his release in 1946, Rustin became a major figure for the next two decades in two prominent pacifist organizations, the <a href="https://forusa.org/the-fellowship-of-reconciliation-and-bayard-rustin-an-amends/">Fellowship of Reconciliation</a> and the <a href="https://www.warresisters.org/resources/remembering-bayard-rustin-100">War Resisters League</a>, both of which opposed the use of violence to settle disputes between individuals or nations. </p>
<p>In 1947, he and members of the Congress of Racial Equality planned the <a href="https://snccdigital.org/events/cores-journey-of-reconciliation/">Journey of Reconciliation</a>, the first organized effort to desegregate interstate bus transportation in the South. </p>
<h2>Role in Montgomery bus boycott</h2>
<p>Because of that work to integrate public transportation, Randolph suggested in 1956 that <a href="https://www.history.com/news/bayard-rustin-march-on-washington-openly-gay-mlk">Rustin meet with a young preacher</a> in Alabama who was organizing a bus boycott there.</p>
<p>That meeting with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/rustin-bayard">Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956</a> changed both men forever.</p>
<p>From then on Rustin advised King on the principles of Gandhi and nonviolent direct action that – when combined with lawsuits, voter registration drives and lobbying efforts – ultimately led to passage of both the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/civil-rights-act">Civil Rights Act of 1964</a> and the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act">Voting Rights Act of 1965</a>. </p>
<p>For Rustin, Black progress depended on politics and economics. To that end, in 1966 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5bgmFTJ1FQ">Rustin proposed</a> the “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg4r6">Freedom Budget for All Americans</a>” that promised every American employment, an income and access to health care. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of men are sitting around a large table with sheets of paper in front of them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505694/original/file-20230121-23029-ifczsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505694/original/file-20230121-23029-ifczsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505694/original/file-20230121-23029-ifczsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505694/original/file-20230121-23029-ifczsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505694/original/file-20230121-23029-ifczsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505694/original/file-20230121-23029-ifczsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505694/original/file-20230121-23029-ifczsc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Civil rights leaders, from left, Bayard Rustin, Jack Greenberg, Whitney M. Young Jr., James Farmer, Roy Wilkins, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph and Courtland Cox attend NAACP meeting on July 29, 1964.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/new-york-ny-at-a-meeting-here-in-n-a-a-c-p-headquarters-news-photo/517350918?phrase=bayard%20rustin&adppopup=true">Bettmann/GettyImages</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>His proposal became the template for progressive political activists in the 21st century.</p>
<h2>Jobs and freedom</h2>
<p>Rustin is best remembered as <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/100-amazing-facts/who-designed-the-march-on-washington/">the organizer and orchestrator</a> of arguably the seminal event in American civil rights history – <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/08/15/212338844/bayard-rustin-the-man-who-organized-the-march-on-washington">the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom</a>.</p>
<p>But it almost did not happen. </p>
<p>Rustin’s homosexuality had always been an issue, and not just to his opponents on the American right or to <a href="https://vault.fbi.gov/bayard-rustin/bayard-rustin-part-01-of-07">J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI</a>. </p>
<p>Many progressive activists who were open-minded on matters relating to civil and labor rights were much less so when it came to Rustin’s sexuality. </p>
<p>Rustin had been fired by the Fellowship of Reconciliation after <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bayard-rustin-civil-rights-icon-tarnished-arrest-homosexual-encounter-pardoned-california-180974143/">his 1953 conviction in Pasadena, California</a>, on what was then known as a “public indecency” offense, involving sex with two other men in a parked car.</p>
<p>A few years later, <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/rustin-bayard">King forced him out</a> of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, fearful of the damage the issue of Rustin’s homosexuality could do to his organization.</p>
<p>It took the direct intervention of Randolph, Rustin’s lifelong friend and champion, to get King and other major civil rights leaders to agree to his selection as the organizer and orchestrator of the March on Washington in 1963. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two Black men are standing next to a sign that says March on Washington for jobs and freedom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505702/original/file-20230121-15446-oomhc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505702/original/file-20230121-15446-oomhc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505702/original/file-20230121-15446-oomhc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505702/original/file-20230121-15446-oomhc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505702/original/file-20230121-15446-oomhc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505702/original/file-20230121-15446-oomhc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505702/original/file-20230121-15446-oomhc0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bayard Rustin, left, is seen on Aug. 7, 1963, talking with Cleveland Robinson during the March on Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/bayard-rustin-left-and-cleveland-robinson-shown-during-the-news-photo/639609323?phrase=bayard%20rustin&adppopup=true">Orlando Fernandez/Library of Congress via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rustin then had to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/bayard-rustin-march-on-washington">survive a denunciation</a> by segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond on the floor of Congress shortly before the march, during which the South Carolina lawmaker read from FBI reports on Rustin’s <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/civilrights/bayard-rustin.htm">flirtation with communism</a> – he had belonged to the Communist Party briefly as a young man – and his homosexuality and <a href="https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/king-confidante-arrested-in-pasadena-receives-posthumous-pardon">arrest in Pasadena</a>. </p>
<p>But Rustin’s ability to organize was now too valuable to lose, and this time King stood by him. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742545137/Bayard-Rustin-American-Dreamer">my research shows</a>, King knew that only Rustin, who had spent the previous two decades leading demonstrations and walking picket lines, had the knowledge and experience to move 250,000 people in and out of Washington, D.C., on a hot summer day. </p>
<p>King also knew that Rustin could manage everything in between, including the order of the speakers.</p>
<p>By insisting that King be placed last on the program, Rustin ensured that King would have the final word and maximum dramatic effect. Though Rustin didn’t know it at the time, King’s “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety">I Have a Dream</a>” remarks eventually constituted one of the greatest speeches ever delivered in American history. </p>
<h2>Rustin’s internal conflicts</h2>
<p>The constituent parts of Rustin’s radical vision were often at odds and difficult to achieve, forcing Rustin into wrenching choices, as I learned during my research. </p>
<p>During World War II, for instance, he chose pacifism over the cause of civil rights when he refused to bear arms against a racist Nazi regime.</p>
<p>During the Vietnam War, he chose socialism over pacifism when he muted his criticism of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s policies in the hope of enacting his <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/02/a-freedom-budget-for-all-americans-annotated/557024/">Freedom Budget for All Americans</a>.</p>
<p>And in 1968, as a white-led teachers union and Black activists struggled for control of New York City’s public education system during the bitter <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/opinion/teachers-strike-liberals-ocean-hill-brownsville.html">Ocean Hill-Brownsville crisis</a>, Rustin chose labor rights over civil rights and class over race as he lent his support to the union.</p>
<p>These choices <a href="https://jacobin.com/2018/05/the-tragedy-of-bayard-rustin">cost Rustin allies and friendships</a>, as former colleagues who afforded themselves the luxury of one-issue purity denounced him as an apostate, a hypocrite, a turncoat or worse.</p>
<p>But Rustin was none of those. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A Black man wearing sunglasses is sitting next to another Black man who is taking notes on a pad of paper." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505707/original/file-20230121-8930-3w8ef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505707/original/file-20230121-8930-3w8ef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505707/original/file-20230121-8930-3w8ef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505707/original/file-20230121-8930-3w8ef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505707/original/file-20230121-8930-3w8ef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505707/original/file-20230121-8930-3w8ef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505707/original/file-20230121-8930-3w8ef2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bayard Rustin, at right, sits next to acclaimed writer James Baldwin on the speakers’ platform in Montgomery, Ala., during the 1965 civil rights march from Selma.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/speakers-platform-1965-selma-to-montgomery-alabama-civil-news-photo/459534210?phrase=bayard%20rustin%20randolph&adppopup=true">Stephen F. Somerstein/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He dedicated his life to helping, as he put it, “people in trouble,” whomever and wherever they might be. </p>
<p>Accordingly, he put himself on the line for democracy advocates all over the world. They included African Americans, Latinos, working men and women, union members, the poor, war critics, anti-nuclear protesters, gays and lesbians, students, leftists, Soviet Jews, and Haitian, Hmong and Afghan refugees.</p>
<p>If those allegiances appear to be contradictions, in my view they were of the best kind. </p>
<h2>Love for Rustin?</h2>
<p>Above all else, Rustin chose to help people in trouble based on their condition, not their identity. </p>
<p>For that he has, if not my love, then my profound respect. </p>
<p>Of all the voices I’ve heard on my journeys through America’s 20th-century history, it is his that resonates most with me.</p>
<p>Rustin died in 1987, his radical vision unwavering until the end.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197250/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jerald Podair does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bayard Rustin led a long and complicated life dedicated to the fight for equal rights. Targeted by the FBI, Rustin became a close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.Jerald Podair, Professor of History, Lawrence UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1686002021-09-28T19:04:06Z2021-09-28T19:04:06ZThe Supreme Court’s immense power may pose a danger to its legitimacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423333/original/file-20210927-27-11bt8b3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=24%2C0%2C8155%2C5464&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Supreme Court has no army to enforce its decisions; its authority rests solely on its legitimacy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-u-s-supreme-court-is-shown-june-21-2021-in-washington-news-photo/1324719634?adppopup=true">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/why-the-supreme-court-starts-on-the-first-monday-in-october">The first Monday in October</a> is the traditional day that the U.S. Supreme Court convenes for its new term. Analysts and soothsayers carefully read the signals and forecast the direction the court will take. This year the scrutiny seems a little more intense, as the court takes up several highly charged cases. </p>
<p>Alexander Hamilton famously thought the judiciary would be the weakest branch of government. <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed78.asp">He recognized that the Supreme Court lacked “the sword and the purse”</a> and could not enforce or implement its own decisions. Rather, it would need to rely on the good offices of the other branches.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=utLMvy4AAAAJ&hl=en">As a student of</a> the Supreme Court, I have examined how the power and authority of the Court have waxed and waned over the centuries. The modern Supreme Court, dating back to <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483">Brown v. Board of Education in 1954</a>, is one of the <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691141022/political-foundations-of-judicial-supremacy">most powerful tribunals in the world and across history</a>. </p>
<p>That immense power has arguably made the court a leading player in enacting policy in the U.S. It may also cause the loss of the court’s legitimacy, which can be defined as popular acceptance of a government,
political regime or system of governance.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Six Black schoolchildren involved in the Brown v. Board of Education case, dressed up and standing in a line." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423338/original/file-20210927-15-a3bji5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Brown v. Board of Education, the Court ruled that racially segregated public schools were unconstitutional. These are the children involved in the landmark case.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-the-children-involved-in-the-landmark-civil-news-photo/88533848?adppopup=true">Carl Iwasaki/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>May it please the Court</h2>
<p>When the founding fathers designed U.S. government, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/02/13/the-president-was-never-intended-to-be-the-most-powerful-part-of-government/">Congress was supposed to be the most powerful institution</a>. But gridlock has sapped its vitality. Presidents, who have enormous power in foreign affairs, are often constrained in domestic politics. The limits on the Supreme Court - no army, no administrative enforcers - may be real, but the judiciary, with the Supreme Court at its apex, has become in the view of some, the most powerful branch of government. </p>
<p>One of the lures of the Supreme Court is that a victory can be etched in stone as a precedent that can be used for decades.</p>
<p>The U.S. government, states, corporations, unions and interest groups are among the so-called “<a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.2307/2960277">repeat players</a>” who strategically use the courts – including the Supreme Court – to supplement their lobbying efforts and further their policy objectives. </p>
<p>An interest group like the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/about/aclu-history">American Civil Liberties Union</a> might go to the Supreme Court to protect a bookseller’s free expression. The <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/national-association-advancement-colored-people-naacp">National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</a>, now called simply the NAACP, might challenge state or national legislation that is perceived to suppress voting rights. The U.S. government might prosecute a defendant charged with violating an indecency act. <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/judicial/publications/appellate_issues/2019/winter/judicial-courage-judicial-heroes-and-the-civil-rights-movement/">Civil rights advocates famously used the judicial branch</a> because Congress, the president or both were not responsive. </p>
<p>Groups, of course, might use the courts because the judiciary is the most appropriate venue to defend the rights of unpopular groups or ensure protections for defendants. The courts might <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo3621952.html">better protect against tyranny of the majority</a>. Groups might bring a case to protect the free exercise of religion by Muslims or challenge aid to religious schools as favoring one religion over another. </p>
<h2>The ultimate resource: legitimacy</h2>
<p><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/316817/approval-supreme-court-highest-2009.aspx">The Supreme Court’s public approval</a> annually hovers around 50% to 60%, which is much better than Congress and typically better than the president. But that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/09/22/supreme-courts-approval-rate-plunges-amid-abortion-debate-poll-finds/">approval is at its lowest ebb in decades</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-nominations-us-history-amy-coney-barrett-2020-10">controversy over recent nominations</a>, threats to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/democrats-introduce-bill-expand-supreme-court-9-13-justices-n1264132">pack the court</a>, and whispers that <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-court-has-overturned-precedent-dozens-of-times-in-the-past-60-years-including-when-it-struck-down-legal-segregation-168052">certain precedents are about to be overturned</a> have held the court up to more attention and threaten its legitimacy. And the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/curbing-the-court/97B607067A2E7392C2223EF7E642FC7A">court’s ultimate authority rests on its legitimacy</a>. If the court is seen as too political, it will bleed this precious resource. </p>
<p>The Supreme Court has almost complete discretion over the cases that it hears. It annually gets <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-supreme-court-compendium/book244744">7,000 to 8,000 petitions for its attention</a> and it routinely takes about 85 cases for full review. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Anti-abortion activists holding signs in front of the Supreme Court." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423345/original/file-20210927-21-3wsgeo.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Supreme Court will take up a case this term that challenges the constitutional right to an abortion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/AbortionBattlegrounds/78ad9c6eb1ee40a3b0064f1e5de97c3a/photo?Query=U.S.%20Supreme%20Court%20protest&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=340&currentItemNo=31">AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The court takes cases <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Supreme-Court-in-a-Separation-of-Powers-System-The-Nations-Balance/Pacelle/p/book/9780415894302">to resolve disputes between lower courts and because the parties are raising important issues</a>. But having a really important issue does not ensure the court will review it. </p>
<p>Sometimes the court simply wants to let an issue <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Supreme-Court-in-a-Separation-of-Powers-System-The-Nations-Balance/Pacelle/p/book/9780415894302">develop a little more in the lower courts before addressing it</a>. The court may not want to get ahead of public opinion. For years, the court simply <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Supreme-Court-in-a-Separation-of-Powers-System-The-Nations-Balance/Pacelle/p/book/9780415894302">refused to take cases involving gay rights</a>. Sometimes, they try to avoid an issue in hopes Congress or the states might be compelled to intervene.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/constitutional.aspx">The court’s ultimate decision is binding precedent</a> on lower courts and the justices themselves. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3481421">justices have been criticized for</a> using the court to make policy decisions. This is controversial in part because the justices are not elected and enjoy lifetime tenure. They cannot be voted out of office. </p>
<p>Critics prefer that the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Supreme-Court-in-a-Separation-of-Powers-System-The-Nations-Balance/Pacelle/p/book/9780415894302">court adopt judicial restraint and defer</a> to the elected branches of government who could be removed by the voters if they oppose their policies. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/judicial-activism">Both sides charge the other with being activists</a>, which is the worst insult you could levy at a judge. </p>
<p>But the court’s willingness to push its way into the political maelstrom has quietly been welcomed by the other branches that can avoid the difficult questions and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/american-government-politics-and-policy/american-politicians-confront-court-opposition-politics-and-changing-responses-judicial-power">then curry favor with the voters by criticizing the court</a>. </p>
<h2>A court of law or of men and women?</h2>
<p>As this Supreme Court term begins, opponents and proponents of reproductive rights are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/us/politics/supreme-court-roe-wade.html">predicting the court will overrule one of its precedents, Roe v. Wade</a>. Of course, this would not be the first time that such a prediction has been made. </p>
<p>Anyone analyzing the court needs to reconcile two competing realities. First, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/decision-making-by-the-modern-supreme-court/56145C06CC46E9D321A0BEE9FD46045D">justices are relatively consistent in their decision-making</a>: <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/162878/barrett-roberts-moderate-supreme-court-term">Conservatives issue conservative decisions</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/09/10/liberal-supreme-court-justices-vote-in-lockstep-not-the-conservative-justices-column/2028450001/">liberals issue liberal ones</a>. Second, the court itself <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-court-has-overturned-precedent-dozens-of-times-in-the-past-60-years-including-when-it-struck-down-legal-segregation-168052">seldom overrules one of its precedents</a>. In addition, despite the divisions on the court, usually about <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/the-supreme-court-compendium/book244744">one-third of the cases are decided unanimously</a>.</p>
<p>Two decades ago, seven of the sitting justices at the time expressed the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/curbing-the-court/97B607067A2E7392C2223EF7E642FC7A">view that Roe was wrongly decided</a>, but a majority of that court never voted to relegate it to the dustbin of history. </p>
<p>On the other hand, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-court-has-overturned-precedent-dozens-of-times-in-the-past-60-years-including-when-it-struck-down-legal-segregation-168052">when the court does overturn precedents</a> – for instance, <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-the-supreme-court-rules-against-segregation#:%7E:text=The%20decision%20of%20Brown%20v,Ferguson%20in%201896.">Brown reversed Plessy v. Ferguson, ending legal segregation</a> – it is after the passage of time. <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691136332/the-politics-of-precedent-on-the-us-supreme-court">Fifty years is typical</a> and Roe is approaching that hallmark.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Occasionally, the court makes a decision that is out of step with public opinion and may pay a hefty institutional price. When the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/60us393">Taney Court issued the Dred Scott v. Sanford ruling in 1857</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Dred-Scott-decision">claiming freed enslaved people could not become citizens and overruling the Missouri Compromise</a> that balanced the number of free and slave states, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/liberal-reckoning-courts/616425/">the decision weakened the judiciary for decades</a>. When the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-franklin-roosevelt-clashed-with-the-supreme-court-and-lost-78497994/">conservative-leaning court gutted portions of the New Deal</a>, <a href="https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/separation-powers">President Franklin Roosevelt attacked the court</a> and the court backed down. </p>
<p>Overturning Roe would invite criticism and closer scrutiny. It might expose the court as an institution that makes the law rather than one that interprets it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard L. Pacelle Jr. does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Supreme Court is a leading player in enacting policy in the US. But it has no army to enforce its decisions; its authority rests solely on its legitimacy.Richard L. Pacelle Jr., Professor of Political Science, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508252020-12-14T13:20:34Z2020-12-14T13:20:34ZW.E.B. Du Bois embraced science to fight racism as editor of NAACP’s magazine The Crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373656/original/file-20201208-21-huflu9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C17%2C2243%2C1613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">W.E.B. Du Bois in his office at The Crisis in New York City, 1925.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-i0421">W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The NAACP – the most prominent interracial civil rights organization in American history – published the first issue of The Crisis, <a href="https://www.thecrisismagazine.com">its official magazine</a>, 110 years ago, in 1910. For almost two and a half decades, sociologist and civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois served as its editor, famously using this platform to dismantle scientific racism. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Yellowed print ad for The Crisis with photo of a young Black child and text." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373621/original/file-20201208-20-w8p2rq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1072&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An advertisement for The Crisis, circa March 1925.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b170-i549">W.E.B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the time, many widely respected <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/211280">intellectuals gave credence to beliefs</a> that empirical evidence exists to justify a “natural” white superiority. Tearing down scientific racism was thus a necessary project for The Crisis. Under Du Bois’ leadership, the magazine laid bare the irrationality of scientific racism. </p>
<p>Less remembered, however, is how it also sought to help its readers understand and engage with contemporary science. </p>
<p>In nearly every issue, the magazine reported on scientific developments, recommended scientific works or featured articles on natural sciences. Du Bois’ time as editor of The Crisis was just as much about critically embracing careful, systematic, empirical science as it was about skewering the popular view that Blacks (and other nonwhites) were naturally inferior. </p>
<p>Sociologists <a href="https://as.vanderbilt.edu/sociology/bio/?who=patrick-greiner">Patrick Greiner</a> and <a href="https://faculty.utah.edu/u0847751-BRETT_CLARK/hm/index.hml">Brett Clark</a> <a href="https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/sociology/faculty/faculty-directory/besek-jordan.html">and I</a> recently pored through the magnificent <a href="https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/collection/mums312">W.E.B. Du Bois Papers</a> at the Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X20938624">We found that Du Bois not only drew from natural sciences</a>, but thought deeply about the ways in which The Crisis should and should not do so. He would even go so far as to critique allies for using science in ways he thought inappropriate.</p>
<h2>Case in point: Defending Darwin</h2>
<p>On Feb. 18, 1932, the Harlem pastor Adam Clayton Powell wrote to Du Bois, asking him to publish his recent address at a NAACP mass meeting in an upcoming issue of The Crisis.</p>
<p>A week later, <a href="http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b192-i371">Du Bois responded</a> that while he’d read Powell’s address “with great interest,” he could not publish it as written. Why? It got biologist Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection very wrong. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="excerpt of typewritten letter on yellowed paper" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373628/original/file-20201208-23-1ibsv7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An excerpt of Du Bois’ letter of Feb. 25, 1925 to Adam Clayton Powell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-b192-i371">W.E.B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Darwin, explained Du Bois, did not try to demonstrate “who ought to survive,” as Powell’s address assumed. Rather, Darwin’s work is “simply a scientific statement” that had been twisted to support eugenicist and other pseudo-scientific doctrines. </p>
<p>This short reply to the powerful pastor contains so much. It shows that Du Bois demanded a nuanced appreciation of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Further, he insisted Darwin should not be held liable for the racist ideologues who misappropriated his work, cloaking their demagoguery in scientific objectivity. Darwin’s work is of clear value, but one must always remain aware that, like with all science, politics shaped its reception.</p>
<p>For Du Bois, how one understands and uses science were not minor issues. </p>
<h2>Science in The Crisis</h2>
<p>In the first section of <a href="https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr507789/">the first issue of The Crisis</a>, there is an archaeological report. It describes how “exploration of the African continent is yet in its infancy and will doubtless yield surprising results in establishing the advanced state of development attained by the black races in early times.” </p>
<p>According to the latest archaeology, in other words, African heritage is something to be proud of. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Subheading 'SCIENCE' above a column of text." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=210&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373640/original/file-20201208-18-1w0t65r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=264&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On page 6 of the inaugural issue of The Crisis, a subheading for ‘SCIENCE.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr507789/">The Crisis. Vol. 1, No. 1; 1910. The Modernist Journals Project. Brown and Tulsa Universities, ongoing. www.modjourn.org</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Later in that issue, under the subheading “Science,” it is noted that a paper was read before the British Association for the Advancement of Science concluding that “all earlier human races were probably colored.” This same section notes a recent study providing evidence that, in a direct rebuke to scientific racism, “mere brain weight is no indication of mentality.”</p>
<p>In the second issue of The Crisis, the famed Columbia University anthropologist Franz Boas explained that there is no physical anthropological evidence “<a href="https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr507810/">showing inferiority of the Negro race</a>.” Later issues would highlight early African metallurgy and critique racist intelligence tests. Another would <a href="https://modjourn.org/issue/bdr507921/">recommend a work by Peter Kropotkin</a>, the great Russian anarchist and zoologist, which suggested that natural selection is more about cooperation among species than any fight for survival between them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Article headlined 'Is the Negro Inferior?'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373652/original/file-20201208-20-8ogeie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Crisis published articles by prestigious scholars who drew on science to refute racism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AVgEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">The Crisis, Nov. 1932</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Crisis published this sort of work throughout Du Bois’ time as editor. The reason why is clear. Du Bois knew that a proper understanding of science does not lead to biological essentialism – the idea that biology limits who you are and what you can do. It leads to the exact opposite conclusion, that every population has the ability to make their own meaning and determine themselves as they see fit. The only constraints are social processes like colonialism and racism. Science, for Du Bois, was in this way necessary and liberating.</p>
<h2>Science for an emancipated politics</h2>
<p>Today’s political moment is different than Du Bois’, though there are some parallels. One is that a political life free of exploitation and enhanced by participatory democracy remains out of reach for many. Disenfranchisement still exists in many forms. As the Black Lives Matter movement and others have shown, racism is a big reason why.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="W.E.B. Du Bois in his office, ca. 1948" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=688&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373659/original/file-20201208-22-1wfq5kt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=864&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">W.E.B. Du Bois in his office, ca. 1948, holding the first issue of The Crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/full/mums312-i0463">W.E.B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While only a piece of the puzzle, Du Bois’ insistence on critically embracing a careful, systematic and empirical view of science can be an important part of that struggle for an emancipated politics. A critical embrace of science can help people better tackle pressing issues like environmental justice, health care disparities and more. </p>
<p>To critically embrace science is to, as Du Bois did in the pages of The Crisis, remain unwavering in the fact that any scientific theory promoting racial and other forms of injustice is categorically wrong.</p>
<p>He demonstrated how to reject racist science without rejecting the ways that science can help people better understand our relationships with the world. In particular, engaging science shows how our relationships with each other are not determined by nature, but are under our own control.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Besek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As editor of the magazine for 24 years, Du Bois featured articles about biology, evolution, archaeology in Africa and more to refute the rampant scientific racism of the early 20th century.Jordan Besek, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University at BuffaloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1495132020-11-24T13:08:52Z2020-11-24T13:08:52ZA century ago, James Weldon Johnson became the first Black person to head the NAACP<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370552/original/file-20201120-21-1mlayw7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C14%2C609%2C433&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">These NAACP leaders met at a 1916 conference.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3a50780/">Library of Congress</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In this moment of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/12/after-this-summers-protests-americans-think-differently-about-race-that-could-last-generations/">national racial reckoning</a>, many Americans are taking time to learn about chapters in U.S. history left out of their school texbooks. The early years of the <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/moves/NAACP_intro.shtml">National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</a>, a civil rights group that initially coalesced around a commitment to end the brutal practice of lynching in the United States, is worth remembering now.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/naacp/founding-and-early-years.html">An interracial group of women and men</a> founded the group that would soon become known as the NAACP in 1909. A coalition of white journalists, lawyers and progressive reformers led the effort. It would take another 11 years until, in 1920, <a href="https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-james-weldon-johnson/">James Weldon Johnson</a> became the first Black person to formally serve as its top official.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://anthonysiracusa.org/">I explain</a> in my forthcoming book “<a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469663005/nonviolence-before-king/">Nonviolence Before King: The Politics of Being and the Black Freedom Struggle</a>,” interracial organizing was extremely rare in the early 20th century. But where it did take place – like in many of the summer of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests – it was because some white Americans united with Black Americans over their shared concern about wanton violence directed against Black people.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C237%2C2061%2C1612&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A medallion monument of a Black man and a white woman" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C237%2C2061%2C1612&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370420/original/file-20201119-23-e8h0xz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=685&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">W.E.B. Du Bois and Mary White Ovington were among the NAACP’s founders.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/65193799@N00/168549224">David/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lynching in America</h2>
<p>Between 1877 and 1945, more than <a href="https://eji.org/reports/lynching-in-america/">4,400 Black Americans were lynched</a>. Many of these lynchings were public events that attracted thousands of spectators <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807871973/lynching-and-spectacle/">in a carnival-like atmosphere</a>. </p>
<p>A violent attack by white people on the Black community in Abraham Lincoln’s longtime hometown inspired the NAACP’s founding. In August 1908, two African American men in Springfield, Illinois were accused without clear evidence of murder and assault and taken into custody.</p>
<p>When a white mob that had organized to lynch the two men, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/land-lincoln-long-buried-traces-race-riot-come-surface-180971036/">Joe James and George Richardson</a>, failed to locate them, it lynched two other Black men instead: <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2015.139">Scott Burton and William Donnegan</a>. White mobs raged for days afterwards, burning black homes and businesses to the ground.</p>
<p>Only after Illinois Gov. Charles Deneen called in <a href="http://springfieldnaacp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Springfield-Il-1908-Race-Riot-Brochure2012.pdf">thousands of the state’s National Guardsmen</a> was the <a href="https://www.nprillinois.org/post/efforts-rebuild-after-springfield-s-1908-race-riot-still-ongoing-0#stream/0">white mob violence</a> quelled.</p>
<h2>‘The call’ for racial justice</h2>
<p>Two of the NAACP’s most prominent African American founders were <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dubois/">W.E.B. Du Bois</a>, a sociologist, historian, activist and author, and the journalist and activist <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett">Ida B. Wells</a>, who had been publicly challenging lynching since the early 1890s.</p>
<p>They were joined by a number of white people, including New York Post publisher <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2009633550/">Oswald Garrison Villard</a> and social worker <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003669896/">Florence Kelley</a> in issuing “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/civil-rights-and-the-making-of-the-modern-american-state/D13BB115C9C82A5B5053E65053E0AE85">the call</a>” for racial justice on the centenary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth: Feb. 12, 1909.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait of a young women in the late 1800s" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370195/original/file-20201118-19-u24s3r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ida B. Wells was among the NAACP’s founders.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93505758/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The group organized a precursor to the NAACP known as the <a href="https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/reconstruction-and-its-impact/platform">National Negro Committee</a> in 1909, which built on earlier efforts known as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/naacps-first-meeting-was-held-in-canada-but-there-were-no-canadians-there-110762">Niagara Movement</a>. This loose affiliation of Black and white people <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/naacp/founding-and-early-years.html#obj2">called on</a> “all believers in democracy to join in a national conference for the discussion of present evils, the voicing of protests, and the renewal of the struggle for civil and political liberty.” Du Bois chaired a <a href="https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-mary-white-ovington/">May 1910 conference</a> that led to the NAACP’s official formation.</p>
<p>As the historian <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/lift-every-voice">Patricia Sullivan writes</a> the NAACP emerged as a “militant” group focused on ensuring equal protection of under the law for Black Americans.</p>
<p>The NAACP’s founders, in their words, envisioned a moral struggle for the “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/civil-rights-and-the-making-of-the-modern-american-state/D13BB115C9C82A5B5053E65053E0AE85">brain and soul of America</a>.” They saw lynching as the preeminent threat not only to Black life in America but to democracy itself, and they began to organize chapters across the nation to wage legal challenges to violence and segregation.</p>
<p>The group also focused its early efforts on challenging portrayals of Black men as violent brutes, starting its own publication in 1910, <a href="https://www.thecrisismagazine.com/">The Crisis</a>. Du Bois was tapped to edit the publication, and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40338447">Wells was excluded</a> from this early work despite her expertise and prominence as a writer – an exclusion she later blamed on Du Bois.</p>
<p>Although the group’s early work was an interracial effort, according to historian Patricia Sullivan, all <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/lift-every-voice">members of its initial executive committee were white</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old NAACP poster calls attention to 3,436 people lynched between 1889 and 1922." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370199/original/file-20201118-13-t367m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1045&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The NAACP produced this anti-lynching poster in 1922.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.si.edu/object/poster-naacp-anti-lynching-campaign:nmaahc_2011.57.9?edan_q=naacp&oa=1&edan_fq%5B0%5D=media_usage:CC0&destination=/search/collection-images&searchResults=1&id=nmaahc_2011.57.9">National Museum of African American History and Culture</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>James Weldon Johnson</h2>
<p><a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/lift-every-voice">James Weldon Johnson</a> joined the organization as a field secretary in 1916 and quickly expanded the NAACP’s work into the U.S. South. Johnson was already an accomplished figure, having served as U.S. consul to Venezuela and Nicaragua under the Taft and Roosevelt administrations.</p>
<p>Johnson also wrote a novel called “<a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/autobiography-of-an-ex-colored-man/oclc/631781750&referer=brief_results">The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man</a>” – a powerful literary work about a Black man born with skin light enough to pass for white. And he wrote, with his brother J. Rosamond Johnson, the song “<a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9781469638607/may-we-forever-stand/">Lift Every Voice and Sing</a>,” which to this day serves as the unofficial Black national anthem.</p>
<p>As field secretary, Johnson oversaw circulation of The Crisis throughout the South. The NAACP’s membership grew from <a href="https://depts.washington.edu/moves/NAACP_map-basic.shtml">8,765 in 1916 to 90,000 in 1920</a> as the number of its local chapters exploded from 70 to 395. Johnson also organized more than 10,000 marchers in the NAACP’s <a href="https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-silent-protest-parade">Silent Protest Parade of 1917</a> – the first major street protest staged against lynching in the U.S.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man in suit holds hold-fashioned telephone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=821&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370197/original/file-20201118-19-jssp3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1031&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Weldon Johnson became the first Black American to head the NAACP in 1920.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93505758/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These clear successes led the <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/lift-every-voice">board to name Johnson to be the first person</a> – and the first Black American – to serve as the NAACP’s executive secretary in November 1920, cementing Black control over the organization. He united the hundreds of newly organized local branches in national legal challenges to white violence and anti-Black discrimination, and made the NAACP the most influential organization in the fight for Black equality before World War II.</p>
<p>Johnson united local chapters in advocating for the introduction of an <a href="https://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Temporary-Farewell/Anti-Lynching-Legislation/">anti-lynching bill</a> in Congress in 1921. Despite efforts in 2020 to finally <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/politics/rand-paul-anti-lynching-bill-senate.html">accomplish this goal</a>, the U.S. still lacks a law on the books outlawing racist lynching.</p>
<p>Johnson did, however, preside over the NAACP when the group notched its first of many major Supreme Court wins. In 1927, the court ruled in <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/273/536/">Nixon v. Herndon</a> that a Texas law barring Black people from participating in Democratic Party primaries violated the constitution.</p>
<p>Johnson’s tenure at the NAACP’s helm ended in 1930, but his ability to unite local chapters in national litigation laid much of the groundwork for numerous Supreme Court wins in the years ahead, including the 1954 <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483">Brown v. Board of Education</a> Supreme Court decision which marked the beginning of the end for legalized segregation in the United States.</p>
<p>In later years, Johnson became the <a href="https://nyunews.com/2019/02/28/under-the-arch-black-history-month-nyu/#:%7E:text=James%20Weldon%20Johnson%2C%20the%20first,the%20%E2%80%9CBlack%20National%20Anthem.%E2%80%9D">first Black professor to teach at New York University</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/i30SdcfEpSE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Alicia Keyes performing ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The work continues</h2>
<p>Among Johnson’s contributions to the NAACP was hiring <a href="https://www.si.edu/object/walter-francis-white:npg_NPG.82.197">Walter White</a>, an African American leader who succeeded Johnson as executive secretary. White presided over the organization between 1930 and 1955, a period that included many successful legal actions.</p>
<p>The struggle launched by Du Bois, Wells and Johnson and their white allies a century ago continues today. The killing of Black Americans that led to the NAACP’s founding remains a harrowing continuity from the Jim Crow era.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>In 2020, 155 years after the Civil War ended, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/us/politics/mississippi-voters-approve-flag-with-magnolia-instead-of-confederate-symbol.html">the people of Mississippi voted to remove the Confederate battle flag</a> from their state flag, confirming an act Mississippi lawmakers undertook a few months earlier. Utah and Nebraska <a href="https://apple.news/AZdOUwSoRRwSwRiHKwLaAsA">stripped archaic slavery provisions</a> from their state constitutions. Alabama nixed language <a href="https://www.fox10tv.com/news/alabama/alabama-voters-back-move-to-cut-racist-language-from-constitution/article_6b4aa049-4402-5a1b-ac89-c625c5e13ba5.html">mandating school segregation</a> from its state constitution.</p>
<p>These changes were the result of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html">millions of Americans</a> joining together to take action against racism, a sign that an interracial movement for justice in America has never been stronger.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Siracusa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The influential civil rights group got its start following a wave of brutal white-led violence against Black people in Springfield, Illinois.Anthony Siracusa, Director of Community Engagement, University of MississippiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1401432020-08-03T11:58:48Z2020-08-03T11:58:48ZHow the failures of the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty set the stage for today’s anti-racist uprisings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349728/original/file-20200727-21-gt3hqo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=90%2C67%2C4865%2C3311&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On May 27, 1919, British Prime Minister Lloyd George, Italian President Vittorio Orlando, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and American President Woodrow Wilson met May 27, 1919, during the Paris Peace Conference.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-prime-minister-lloyd-george-italian-president-news-photo/3289187?adppopup=true">Lee Jackson/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The racism that is now the target of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/world/george-floyd-global-protests.html">protest across the globe</a> is rooted in the tragic choices of leaders seeking to roll back change a century ago. </p>
<p>Nearly all historians now agree that at the end of World War I, the choice to return to an imperialist world order by the victorious Allied, or Entente, powers – France, Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan and the United States – was a historic error. It not only prepared the ground for the rise of fascism in Europe, but also sparked decades of political violence in Asia and Africa by <a href="https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/the_paris_peace_conference_and_its_consequences">people denied their rights</a> and humanity.</p>
<p>As World War I ended in <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/world-war-i-ends">November 1918</a>, the Spanish Flu pandemic swept across the globe, killing <a href="https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu-second-wave-resurgence#:%7E:text=The%20horrific%20scale%20of%20the%201918%20influenza%20pandemic%E2%80%94known,and%20civilians%20killed%20during%20World%20War%20I%20combined.">more than 50 million</a> people. <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/210420/worldwide_flu_outbreak_killed_45000_american_soldiers_during_world_war_i">Most vulnerable were soldiers</a> living in crowded barracks and their families back home, where hunger weakened immunity.</p>
<p>Like today, the effect of pandemic was aggravated by <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2015/02/02/the-biggest-recession-youve-never-ever-heard-of/#4d41863d3619">economic recession and unemployment</a>. Worse, the people of the defeated German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empires <a href="https://www.history.com/news/germany-world-war-i-debt-treaty-versailles">suffered chaos under political collapse</a>.</p>
<p>Amid these multiple crises, the <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/paris-peace">Paris Peace Conference</a> opened in January 1919. American President Woodrow Wilson personally traveled to Paris to ensure that the conference would make the world “<a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/woodrow-wilson-racism-self-determination.html">safe for democracy</a>.”</p>
<p>Wilson had promised a new era of peace and justice in his famous <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/fourteen_points.shtml">Fourteen Points</a> statement of war aims, which included an end to secret treaties, the curtailment of colonial empires, the right of all people to choose their own government and a League of Nations to adjudicate international conflicts. </p>
<p>In 1920, like 2020, race became the pivot of a historic turning point. In both moments, world leaders faced a choice: to restore the previous status quo that had produced the crisis – or to embrace the need for a new world order. </p>
<p>The European members of the Entente powers <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Allied-Powers-international-alliance#ref1228825">at Paris – Britain, France, and Italy</a> – ignored Wilson’s call for world order based on law and rights. With the implementation of the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000002-0043.pdf">Treaty of Versailles</a> in January 1920, they chose to restore a racial hierarchy across the globe, extending their colonial rule over territories once held by the defeated German and Ottoman empires in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. </p>
<p>The treaty, which included establishment of the League of Nations, betrayed not only Wilson’s ideals, but also the Entente’s nonwhite allies and the colonial soldiers who fought in the “war to end all wars.” The racial injustice of the 1919-20 peace settlement sparked decades of political violence – not only in the colonized Middle East, Africa and Asia, but also in the United States. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Portrait of NAACP leader W.E.B. Du Bois" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349735/original/file-20200727-19-u04cq9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=950&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">NAACP leader W.E.B. Du Bois went to Paris to try to ensure that racist laws like the U.S. had would not be imposed in Africa to the detriment of African rights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2003681451/?loclr=blogloc">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Journey to Paris</h2>
<p>In January 1919, activists from around the world traveled to Paris <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic#:%7E:text=Even%20President%20Woodrow%20Wilson%20reportedly%20contracted%20the%20flu,in%20Spain%2C%20though%20news%20coverage%20of%20it%20did.">despite risks to their health</a>. They embraced Wilson’s Fourteen Points as a chance to remake a broken world system of imperial rivalry that had led to World War I and the deaths of <a href="https://www.geo.tv/latest/212756-world-war-i-in-numbers">10 million soldiers and 50 million civilians</a>.</p>
<p>Among those activists was NAACP leader <a href="http://scua.library.umass.edu/duboisopedia/doku.php?id=about:versailles_peace_conference">W.E.B. Du Bois</a>, who had fought against the spread of racist, segregationist Jim Crow laws from southern states to the North. He now feared that a similar legal double standard might be imposed in international law, to the detriment of African rights.</p>
<p>Du Bois asked to join the American delegation at Paris, but the Wilson administration refused him. Wilson feared that Du Bois’ <a href="https://iowaculture.gov/history/education/educator-resources/primary-source-sets/civil-rights-during-and-after-world-wars/dubois-wilson">call for racial equality</a> might spoil his negotiations with the other conference leaders – prime ministers of Britain, France and Italy – who ruled most of Africa as colonies. </p>
<h2>Claiming rights</h2>
<p>Undeterred, <a href="https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/world-war-i-american-experiences/about-this-exhibition/world-overturned/peace-and-a-new-world-order/the-pan-african-conference/">Du Bois organized a Pan African Congress</a> to defend Africans’ rights. He understood, as others did in Paris, that racial <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2019/08/11/742293305/a-century-later-the-treaty-of-versailles-and-its-rejection-of-racial-equality">inequality was the foundation</a> of the old imperial world order.</p>
<p>Like Du Bois and his African allies, <a href="https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2019/06/the-middle-eastern-prince-who-tried-to-change-the-treaty-of-versailles/">Arabs and Egyptians</a> claimed their right to sovereignty. But they found that the Entente leaders also considered Arab Muslims a lower species of human, unfit for self-rule.</p>
<p>Prince Faisal of Mecca gained entry to the conference because his Arab army had fought against the Ottoman Turks alongside Britain, with the understanding that Arabs would <a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/08/14/treaty-versailles-michael-neiberg">gain an independent state</a>. But the British broke their promise and denied independence to Faisal’s Syrian Arab Kingdom. They instead <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Sykes-Picot-Agreement">joined French colonialists to divide Arab lands</a> between them. </p>
<p>Asians, too, were regarded as an inferior race. Japan had fought alongside the victorious Allies and had <a href="https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Treaty-Of-Versailles-And-Japan-F3V33J6WKPTDX">won a leading role</a> at the conference.</p>
<p>But when the Japanese delegation proposed a racial equality clause for the Covenant of the new League of Nations, the conference’s white leaders <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-japan-turned-against-paris-peace-treaty-and-why-it-matters-39527">rejected it</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The five members of the Japanese delegation to the Paris peace conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349734/original/file-20200727-23-11is6ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Japanese delegation, shown here, proposed a racial equality clause for the charter of the new League of Nations. The leading powers rejected it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ggbain.28843/">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Racial inequality codified</h2>
<p>The Covenant of the League of Nations, drafted by those same leaders at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/League-of-Nations/The-Covenant">Paris in 1919</a>, codified the inequality of races in international law.
<a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp">Article 22</a> denied independence to Arabs, Africans and Pacific Islanders once ruled by the Ottomans and Germans. </p>
<p>In the condescending language of moral uplift, the article designated them as “peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world.” Therefore, they would be placed under temporary European rule as “a <a href="https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/leagcov.asp#art22">sacred trust of civilisation</a>.”</p>
<p>In other words, the League of Nations would administer temporary colonies, called mandates, to tutor uncivilized (nonwhite) people in politics. Racial inequality was enshrined in the very institution, the League of Nations, that was to ensure the governance of international law.</p>
<p>The mandates were imposed by gunpoint, with no pretense to respect self-determination. In July 1920, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Syria/The-French-mandate">French army occupied Damascus</a>, destroyed the Syrian Arab Kingdom and sent <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Faysal-I">Faisal into exile</a>. Likewise, the British battled mass opposition to claim its mandates in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq/British-occupation-and-the-mandatory-regime">Iraq</a> and <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199796953/obo-9780199796953-0200.xml">Palestine</a>. Meanwhile, South Africa imposed a brutal racist regime upon southwest Africa.</p>
<p>Racial exclusion from the club of so-called civilized nations provoked anti-colonial movements for the rest of the 20th century. </p>
<p>The president of the Syrian Arab Kingdom’s Congress, Sheikh Rashid Rida, foresaw violent consequences <a href="https://tcf.org/content/report/arab-worlds-liberal-islamist-schism-turns-100/?session=1">in his 1921 appeal</a> to the League of Nations. </p>
<p>“It does not befit the honor of this League, which President Wilson proposed to include all civilized nations for the good of all human beings,” he wrote, “for it to be used as a tool by two colonial states. These states seek to use this Assembly to guarantee … the subjugation of peoples.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Prince Faisal of Mecca with his delegation at the Peace Conference." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349737/original/file-20200727-27-1hwbmt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349737/original/file-20200727-27-1hwbmt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349737/original/file-20200727-27-1hwbmt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349737/original/file-20200727-27-1hwbmt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349737/original/file-20200727-27-1hwbmt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349737/original/file-20200727-27-1hwbmt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349737/original/file-20200727-27-1hwbmt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prince Faisal of Mecca with his delegation at the Peace Conference.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faisal_I_of_Iraq#/media/File:FeisalPartyAtVersaillesCopy.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rida prophetically warned that “Syria, Palestine, and other Arab countries will ignite the fires of war in both the West and the East.” The bitter sheikh turned against European liberalism and inspired the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rashid-Rida">founding of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928</a>. </p>
<p>In the later 20th century, this racial exclusion of Arab Muslims inspired the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/06/30/the-new-islamic-caliphate-and-its-war-against-history/">violent Islamist movements that</a> drew the United States into seeming endless conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.</p>
<h2>Jim Crow stays</h2>
<p>In the United States, racial hierarchy was similarly reimposed by violence. Black veterans returned from Europe to confront <a href="https://www.theworldwar.org/learn/wwi/red-summer">lynching and race riots</a>.</p>
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<p>The link between the American racial order and the new world order was made explicit by President Wilson’s adviser, Colonel <a href="https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=2294">Edward M. House</a>. He advised Wilson that racial equality would cost him votes in the South and California. Worse, such a clause could <a href="https://www.guernicamag.com/andrew-s-lewis-wilson-and-the-racial-equality-clause/">empower the League of Nations</a> to intervene in the United States against Jim Crow laws.</p>
<p>In March 1920, the U.S. Senate <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/senate-rejects-league-of-nations-nov-19-1919-113006">rejected American membership</a> in the League of Nations precisely because clauses on transnational law enforcement and collective security threatened U.S. sovereignty.</p>
<p>It is no accident that the current crisis in the U.S. has come to focus on racial injustice. Among its several sources are the decisions made 100 years ago by white men from powerful countries who believed maintaining their dominance was more important than seeking peace through justice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Thompson received funding for her research from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and American University in Washington, DC. </span></em></p>Suffering a pandemic and the aftermath of a war that killed 50 million, the world in 1920 faced a turning point as it negotiated a new political order. As today, the key issue was racial inequality.Elizabeth Thompson, Professor and Mohamed S. Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1328482020-03-17T12:10:27Z2020-03-17T12:10:27ZNetflix’s ‘Self-Made’ miniseries about Madam C.J. Walker leaves out the mark she made through generosity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320165/original/file-20200312-111268-xur3es.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Octavia Spencer, left, stars in this rags-to-riches tale, along with Blair Underwood.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/80202462">Amanda Matlovich/Netflix</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Netflix series “<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80202462">Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker</a>” brings to life part of a fascinating rags-to-riches tale I’ve been researching for the past 10 years.</p>
<p>Walker, widely documented to have been America’s first self-made female millionaire, made her fortune building an <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/affluence-and-community-at-the-madam-c-j-walker-manufacturing-company/">Indianapolis-based beauty products company</a> that served black women across the U.S. and overseas. Today it offers a product line through <a href="https://www.mcjwbeautyculture.com/">Sephora</a>.</p>
<p>Oscar-winner <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818055/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t8">Octavia Spencer</a> stars in the miniseries about the African American entrepreneur originally named Sarah Breedlove. Born shortly after emancipation in 1867 on a cotton plantation in Louisiana to a formerly enslaved family, she later adapted the initials and last name of her third husband – played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005516/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t9">Blair Underwood</a> in the series. The show imagines Walker’s struggles and successes in a dramatic reinterpretation of the historical record.</p>
<p>I’ve been studying <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/m0399">Walker’s archival collections</a>
for my upcoming book “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/43qme5pk9780252043451.html">Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving: Black Women’s Philanthropy during Jim Crow</a>”
and speaking about her to audiences around the country for years. I screened the series with great anticipation of how her lifelong generosity and activism would be portrayed in this account that “Indianapolis Monthly” described as having “<a href="https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/longform/making-waves-the-madam-c-j-walker-netflix-series">fictional characters, invented moments, and a few surreal sequences</a>.”</p>
<p>Her philanthropic legacy didn’t make the cut – aside from a few visual footnotes just before final credits roll. Those footnotes touch on her charitable giving to black colleges, social services and activism with <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/3-organized/naacp.html">the NAACP</a>. </p>
<p>While viewers will enjoy the series, I want them to learn that Walker didn’t just live a life of hard-won opulence. She exemplified black women’s generosity. Her <a href="https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/walker">philanthropy and activism</a> imbued every aspect of her daily life. “I am not and never have been ‘close-fisted,’ for all who know me will tell you that I am a liberal hearted woman,” Walker told the audience of the 1913 National Negro League Business meeting sponsored by prominent black leader <a href="https://www.tuskegee.edu/discover-tu/tu-presidents/booker-t-washington">Booker T. Washington</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yYDJvnDfB2w?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer stars as Madam C.J. Walker in the Netflix miniseries ‘Self Made.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>More than money</h2>
<p>Walker distinguished herself on a philanthropic landscape dominated by white people. Men like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-D-Rockefeller">John D. Rockefeller</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/carnegie-biography/">Andrew Carnegie</a> turned to large-scale philanthropy after spending their lives accumulating wealth. In contrast, Walker’s giving began in earnest when she was a poor, young, widowed mother struggling in St. Louis. She gave along the way from what she had, rather than waiting.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319832/original/file-20200311-116232-13f8r2v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=937&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Madam C. J. Walker was the nation’s first self-made female millionaire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/madam-c-j-walker-the-first-female-self-made-millionaire-in-news-photo/74286282">Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She had much in common with other black churchwomen, club women, educators and activists. Like <a href="https://www.nps.gov/mamc/learn/historyculture/mary-mcleod-bethune.htm">Mary McLeod Bethune</a>, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/people/nannie-helen-burroughs.htm">Nannie Helen Burroughs</a> and <a href="https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett">Ida B. Wells-Barnett</a> – and tens of thousands of other working and middle class black women – Walker embodied a versatile generosity that sought to meet communal needs and topple widespread discrimination.</p>
<h2>Treasure</h2>
<p>Walker was a highly prized donor in the black community. Constantly solicited, she gave money to black-serving organizations across the Midwest and the South. </p>
<p>The Netflix miniseries briefly references her gifts to social services. She supported organizations like <a href="https://flannerhouse.org/">Flanner House</a> in Indianapolis, which helped African Americans get jobs, an education and childcare. She made sure that poor families could eat at Christmastime.</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=FIkAGs9z2eEC&dat=19150102&printsec=frontpage&hl=en">Indianapolis Freeman</a>,” a black newspaper, reported in 1915 how her company’s office resembled a grocery store due to all the gift baskets that were filled with food. In 1918, she gave US$500 to support the National Association of Colored Women’s campaign to purchase and preserve <a href="https://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm">Cedar Hill</a>, home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass, which still stands today in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Walker lacked formal education but she was a lifelong learner who donated thousands of dollars to the <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/m0399/id/2151/rec/6">Tuskegee Institute</a> in Alabama and other black schools. </p>
<p>She also patronized the arts, supporting Indianapolis painters such as <a href="http://thejohnsoncollection.org/william-scott/">William Edouard Scott</a> and <a href="https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19141212-01.1.4&srpos=5&e=------191-en-20-INR-1--txt-txIN-Hardrick------">John Wesley Hardrick</a>, whom she wanted to help gain national stature as an artist.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320181/original/file-20200312-111268-sxt84f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Walker, second from left, and Booker T. Washington (holding his hat) at the opening of a black YMCA in Indianapolis that she supported with her own money and fundraising efforts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/m0399/id/222/rec/33">Madam C. J. Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Time and talent</h2>
<p>In addition, Walker belonged to important <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/the-collectivist-roots-of-madam-c-j-walkers-philanthropy/">networks of women</a> that were advancing the cause of freedom from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/lynching-preachers-how-black-pastors-resisted-jim-crow-and-white-pastors-incited-racial-violence-129963">Jim Crow era’s racism</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hidden-story-of-two-african-american-women-looking-out-from-the-pages-of-a-19th-century-book-118243">sexism</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320182/original/file-20200312-111223-1hl959l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1142&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The entrepreneur made her fortune by creating hair care products for African American women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/m0399/id/1940/rec/101">Madam C. J. Walker Collection, Indiana Historical Society</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>She helped the poor through the Mite Missionary Society of St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church in St. Louis. She supported the <a href="http://www.crusadeforthevote.org/nacw">National Association of Colored Women</a>, which provided educational and social services to black communities around the country, and advocated for changing public policies.</p>
<h2>Testimony</h2>
<p>Walker also expressed her generosity by using her voice to speak out against the injustices of Jim Crow discrimination and oppression. She drew attention to sick and <a href="https://armyhistory.org/fighting-for-respect-african-american-soldiers-in-wwi/">injured black soldiers</a> during World War I by visiting and entertaining them at military camps in the Midwest. To black and white audiences, she spoke out publicly about black soldiers’ patriotic sacrifice overseas for freedoms denied them at home, and her full expectation that such freedoms be granted upon their return.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319834/original/file-20200311-168563-t71iq5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The miniseries is based on a book by A'Lelia Bundles, Walker’s great-great-granddaughter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lelia-bundles-of-dc-is-a-descendant-of-madam-c-j-walker-who-news-photo/598200786">Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At her first national convention of her sales agents held in Philadelphia, she and her agents collectively raised their voices through a <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/m0399/id/9556/rec/1">telegram against lynching sent to President Woodrow Wilson</a>. She wanted the government to make lynching a federal crime.</p>
<p>Walker also advocated for temperance, women’s suffrage, female empowerment and civil rights. She <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/m0399/id/7193/rec/3">secured a pardon</a> for a black man jailed for an alleged murder in Mississippi. And she shared her own encouraging story of success with audiences around the country as an affirmative testimony of the value and dignity of black life amid pervasive hateful and hurtful Jim Crow stereotypes.</p>
<h2>‘Netflix and engage’</h2>
<p>I hope that many viewers who see “Self-made” and feel inspired by Walker’s story consider a new way to binge on TV: “Netflix and Engage.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/On-Her-Own-Ground/ALelia-Bundles/9780743431729">Learn more about Madam Walker’s story</a> by reading the biographical account written by her great-great-granddaughter – the journalist, <a href="https://aleliabundles.com/">A'Lelia Bundles</a> – which inspired the series. Explore other chapters in <a href="https://bwstbooklist.net/">black women’s history</a>. </p>
<p>Surf Madam Walker’s <a href="http://images.indianahistory.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/m0399">electronic archive</a> of 40,000 items at the Indiana Historical Society. Consider her influence on the musical and fashion icon <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/rihanna-30-greatest-moments-birthday.html">Rihanna</a> and <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/look-good-do-good-madam-c-j-walker-and-rihannas-beauty-politics/">today’s beauty culture industry</a>. Visit her company’s former <a href="https://madamwalkerlegacycenter.com/">headquarters</a> in Indianapolis. Admire the architecture of her <a href="https://www.aaihs.org/villa-lewaro-on-madam-c-j-walkers-architecture/">New York mansion</a> where women of color will be <a href="https://www.diversityinc.com/walker-estate-women-of-color/">trained to become entrepreneurs</a>. </p>
<p>Give to charity. March for a cause.</p>
<p>Like Walker, you may make a difference in someone’s life.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re too busy to read everything. We get it. That’s why we’ve got a weekly newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybusy">Sign up for good Sunday reading.</a> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A'Lelia Bundles, who authored the book upon which ‘Self-Made’ is based, wrote the foreword to Tyrone Freeman’s book about Madam C. J. Walker. Freeman is also a former member of the Indiana Historical Society's advisory council for the Madam Walker Exhibit.</span></em></p>The founder of a black hair-care empire supported the NAACP and the Tuskegee Institute, helped preserve Frederick Douglass’s home. She also tried to used her prominence to stop lynching.Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies, Director of Undergraduate Programs, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1221752019-08-26T13:39:50Z2019-08-26T13:39:50ZDemocrats turn a venerable legal tool into a declaration of war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289283/original/file-20190823-170910-17e9swo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Supreme Court in June</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Supreme-Court/74c6fb9470104c28b37afea7c39d2262/204/0">AP/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Legal briefs, in even the most high profile cases, rarely make headlines. They are <a href="https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/insights/learn/how-do-i-write-appellate-brief">technical documents</a> intended to persuade judges in a case about particular points of law. </p>
<p>In American law schools, students now take courses to help them master the arcane genre of brief writing. Their <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=sulr">persuasiveness</a> depends on carefully marshaling legal precedents and complex, factual arguments. As a result, they seldom interest anyone outside the legal community. </p>
<p>On Aug. 12, we witnessed a rare exception.</p>
<p>That’s when a friend of the court brief, known as an “amicus” brief, was <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-280/112010/20190812151259076_18-280bsacSenatorSheldonWhitehouse.pdf">filed in the Supreme Court</a> by five Democratic senators, including one presidential candidate. The senators were Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Richard Durbin of Illinois, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. </p>
<p>The brief provoked considerable
<a href="https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a28761535/sheldon-whitehouse-supreme-court-corruption-guns-climate/">controversy</a> and even led to the filing of a <a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/uncategorized/judicial-watch-files-complaint-with-rhode-island-supreme-court-against-u-s-senator-sheldon-whitehouse-for-unauthorized-practice-of-law/">legal complaint</a> against Whitehouse, who was its principal author.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289288/original/file-20190823-170910-1clp2bp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the main author of the amicus brief.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump-Russia-Probe-Barr/7315c890a2c443d4b3c92ae3855e42d0/9/0">AP/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Gun regulation case</h2>
<p>The amicus brief asked the court to dismiss <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/new-york-state-rifle-pistol-association-inc-v-city-of-new-york-new-york/">a challenge to a New York City ordinance</a>. The law prohibited licensed gun owners from transporting their guns out of the city, for example, to shooting ranges or second homes. </p>
<p>The challenge was issued by the New York State Rifle and Gun Association, which <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-280/62499/20180904122332608_NYSRPA%20cert%20petition%209-04-18%20FINAL.pdf">argued</a> that such a prohibition infringed on Second Amendment gun ownership rights as well as the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/commerce_clause">Commerce Clause</a> and the right to travel.</p>
<p>The case seemed destined to become a <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90391024/us-supreme-court-2nd-amendment-guns-case-whats-at-stake">vehicle for the court to strictly limit gun regulations</a>. To ward that off, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/27/us/politics/supreme-court-gun-control.html">New York City repealed the offending regulation</a> in June. </p>
<p>Doing so, city officials assumed, would render the case moot. The plaintiffs would no longer have <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5966&context=ylj">standing to sue</a>, and the case would not result in weaker gun control laws. </p>
<h2>An unusual brief</h2>
<p>The senators supported that view. But their amicus brief presented little in the way of legal argument. </p>
<p>Instead it offered a broad and unprecedented indictment of the court’s conservative majority. </p>
<p>It accused the <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Federal_judicial_appointments_by_president">five justices who were appointed by Republican presidents</a> – Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts and Clarence Thomas – of pursuing a “political project” and being in league with the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups seeking to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/05/22/nra-gun-rights-groups-seek-second-amendment-win-conservative-supreme-court/3685651002/">radically expand gun owners’ protections provided by the Second Amendment</a>. </p>
<p>The petitioners’ “effort did not emerge from a vacuum,” the brief alleged. “The National Rifle Association (NRA), promoted the confirmation (and perhaps selection) of nominees to this Court who, it believed, would ‘break the tie’ in Second Amendment cases. … This backdrop no doubt encourages petitioners’ brazen confidence that this Court will be a partner in their ‘project.’”</p>
<p>The brief was particularly harsh on Justice Kavanaugh, whose <a href="https://www.nraila.org/articles/20180807/nra-ila-launches-major-advertising-campaign-urging-confirmation-of-judge-brett-kavanaugh">confirmation was aggressively pursued by the NRA</a>. And it was blunt in documenting the alleged partisanship of the conservative justices. It quoted an NRA ad supporting Kavanaugh’s confirmation: “‘Four liberal justices oppose your right to self-defense. … Four justices support your right to self-defense. President Trump chose Brett Kavanaugh to break the tie. Your right to self-defense depends on this vote.’” </p>
<p>Pointing out the increasingly <a href="https://home.gwu.edu/%7Ebartels/Bartels%20Chapter%20-%20Polarization%20Volume%20FINAL.pdf">polarized nature of the Supreme Court</a> is standard fare in scholarly commentary. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, as someone who teaches and <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/the-social-organization-of-law-9780195330342?cc=us&lang=en&">writes about American law and courts</a> and knows the traditions and styles of brief writing, I was surprised by what the senators wrote. The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senators-file-an-enemy-of-the-court-brief-11565911608">Wall Street Journal got it right</a> when it called it an “enemy of the court brief.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/289289/original/file-20190823-170935-2ufmee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, two of the justices targeted in the amicus brief.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/State-of-Union/c31d2587539a472195a23d113ba0f114/11/0">Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A brief’s history</h2>
<p>Some legal scholars trace friend of the court briefs back to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/24870502.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A573fd67b6d0cc3cc49fadaa7b440ca2a&seq=1">Roman law</a>. Others argue that they originated in the <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4f06/44147fde6850a9e6711c926dec92eb421622.pdf">English common law</a>.</p>
<p>Whatever their origins, there is no dispute about the fact that amicus briefs have been a longstanding part of Anglo American legal practice. Although filed by <a href="http://nomodos-ilcantoredelleleggi.it/2017/02/20/the-common-law-roots-of-amicus-curiae/">many different kinds of parties</a>, they have been useful vehicles for the public to make its views known to judges.</p>
<p>Today, in the United States such briefs allow interested parties, who are not themselves litigants, to bring to court
“<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/supct/rule_37">relevant matter not already brought to its attention by the parties</a>.” For example, in 2013, the American Psychological Association submitted a <a href="https://www.apa.org/about/offices/ogc/amicus/fisher">brief</a> in an important affirmative action case that offered scientific evidence about the educational benefits associated with campus diversity. </p>
<p>Amicus briefs are a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3053362.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A214a9ae0c58fa3e6e87e63def50b485f&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">growing feature of Supreme Court litigation</a>. A <a href="http://www.virginialawreview.org/sites/virginialawreview.org/files/Larsen%26Devins_Online.pdf">study by two law professors</a> found that “submissions at the Supreme Court have increased 800 percent since 1954 and 95 percent between 1995 and 2015.”</p>
<p>In addition, a story on the Columbia Law School’s website says that <a href="https://www.law.columbia.edu/news/2019/01/supreme-court-amicus-curiae-briefs">in the Supreme Court’s 2017–2018 term</a>, “Amicus curiae briefs were filed in every one of the 63 argued cases, averaging just over 14 briefs per case, a new record.” </p>
<h2>Do they matter?</h2>
<p>Harvard law professor Noah Feldman <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2016-03-09/the-dark-side-of-those-amicus-briefs-at-the-supreme-court">contends</a> that those briefs do not help the court and impose substantial burdens on the justice’s clerks, who are responsible for reading and digesting them. Another law professor, Philip Kurland, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1599505.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3Aefbb272aa9fbd99fbf7f05c070f8c3c2&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">once called the filing of amicus briefs</a> “a waste of time, effort, and money.”</p>
<p>Yet those briefs have been important to groups, like the <a href="https://www.naacp.org/naacp-legal-team/amicus-briefs-archives/">NAACP</a>, seeking to expand civil rights protections. One of the NAACP’s most influential briefs was filed by future Justice <a href="https://www.npr.org/2003/12/08/1535826/thurgood-marshall-and-brown-v-board-of-ed">Thurgood Marshall</a> in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483">Brown v. Board of Education</a>. It helped the court understand the pernicious effects of segregation on black school children. </p>
<p>Friend of the court briefs also are often <a href="https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372144.001.0001/acprof-9780195372144">submitted by well-financed interest groups or organizations</a> seeking to shape court decisions. </p>
<p>Amicus briefs <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3356&context=penn_law_review">are cited frequently in Supreme Court opinions</a>. In the 2017-18 term, <a href="https://www.arnoldporter.com/-/media/files/perspectives/publications/2018/10/supreme-court-amicus-curiae-review.pdf">justices did so</a> in 23 majority, 21 dissenting, and five concurring opinions. </p>
<h2>‘Declaration of war’</h2>
<p>Neither Thurgood Marshall, nor those routinely filing friend of the court briefs, have used them to accuse the court of providing “a friendly audience” for a particular interest group. </p>
<p>The directness and harshness of the rhetoric in the senators’ brief may be a reflection of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/us/politics/trump-language-immigration.html">the temper of America’s legal and political culture in the age of Donald Trump</a>. Or, it may be a logical next step in a <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/12/19/167645600/robert-borks-supreme-court-nomination-changed-everything-maybe-forever">war over the Supreme Court’s direction</a> that began with the Senate’s 1987 rejection of the nomination of conservative hero Robert Bork.</p>
<p>Whatever its causes, the brief signals the transformation of a venerable legal tool into a weapon of Democratic partisan combat. This weapon is aimed at a court likely to be controlled for the foreseeable future by Republican-appointed justices.</p>
<p>The brief concludes with the warning that the court must “heal itself” lest it be “restructured.” As one progressive group aptly <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/five-democratic-senators-just-declared-all-out-war-on-the-supreme-court-7601fed719e6/">noted</a>, that warning is less the work of a legal document than “a declaration of war.”</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122175/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Austin Sarat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Was a friend-of-the-court brief filed with the Supreme Court by five Democratic senators a legal argument – or a political threat?Austin Sarat, Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1172992019-05-16T20:45:51Z2019-05-16T20:45:51ZThe Brown v. Board of Education case didn’t start how you think it did<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275017/original/file-20190516-69195-1vodby7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thurgood Marshall outside the Supreme Court in Washington in 1958. Marshall, the head of the NAACP's legal arm who argued part of the case, went on to become the Supreme Court's first African-American justice.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/School-Segregation-5-Things/5e2ed88ec9dd4de1a59dc35bf757dc33/178/0">AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the nation celebrates the 65th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, the case is often recalled as one that “<a href="https://www.cjonline.com/opinion/20190515/nicolas-shump-with-all-deliberate-speed">forever changed the course of American history</a>.”</p>
<p>But the story behind the historic Supreme Court case, as I plan to show in my forthcoming book, “Blacks Against Brown: The Black Anti-Integration Movement in Topeka, Kansas, 1941-1954,” is much more complex than the highly inaccurate but often-repeated <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/26/597154953/linda-brown-who-was-at-center-of-brown-v-board-of-education-dies">tale</a> about how the lawsuit began. The story that often gets told is that – as recounted in <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/26/597154953/linda-brown-who-was-at-center-of-brown-v-board-of-education-dies">this news story</a> – the case began with Oliver Brown, who tried to enroll his daughter, Linda, at the Sumner School, an all-white elementary school in Topeka near the Browns’ home. Or that Oliver Brown was a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/03/27/the-determined-black-dad-who-took-linda-brown-by-the-hand-and-stepped-into-history/?utm_term=.a1c02f541f8d">“determined father who took Linda Brown by the hand and made history.”</a></p>
<p>As my research shows, that tale is at odds with two great historical ironies of Brown v. Board. The first irony is that Oliver Brown was actually a reluctant participant in the Supreme Court case that would come to be named after him. In fact, Oliver Brown, a reserved man, had to be convinced to sign on to the lawsuit because he was a new pastor at church that did not want to get involved in Topeka NAACP’s desegregation lawsuit, according to various Topekans whose recollections are recorded in the Brown Oral History Collection at the <a href="https://www.kshs.org/p/brown-v-board-of-education-oral-history/13996">Kansas State Historical Society</a>.</p>
<p>The second irony is that, of the five local desegregation cases brought before the Supreme Court by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1953, Brown’s case – formally known as <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=87&page=transcript">Oliver Brown et al., v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al.</a> – ended up bringing widespread attention to a city where many blacks actually resisted school integration. That not-so-small detail has been overshadowed by the way the case is presented in history.</p>
<h2>Black resistance to integration</h2>
<p>While school desegregation may have symbolized racial progress for many blacks throughout the country, that simply was not the case in Topeka. In fact, most of the resistance to the NAACP’s school desegregation efforts in Topeka came from Topeka’s black citizens, not whites.</p>
<p>“I didn’t get anything from white folks,” Leola Brown Montgomery, wife of Oliver and mother of Linda, recalled. “I tell you here in Topeka, unlike the other places where they brought these cases we didn’t have any threats” from whites.</p>
<p>Prior to the Brown case, black Topekans had been embroiled in a decade-long conflict over segregated schools that began with a lawsuit involving Topeka’s junior high schools. When the Topeka School Board commissioned a poll to determine black support for integrated junior high schools in 1941, 65 percent of black parents with junior high school students indicated that they preferred all-black schools, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/westhistquar.42.4.0481">according to school board minutes</a>.</p>
<h2>Separate but equal</h2>
<p>Another wrinkle to the story is that the city’s four all-black elementary schools – Buchanan, McKinley, Monroe and Washington – had resources, facilities and curricula that were comparable to that of Topeka’s white schools. The Topeka school board actually adhered to the “separate-but-equal” standard established by the 1896 <a href="https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=52&page=transcript">Plessy v. Ferguson</a> case.</p>
<p>Even Linda Brown recalled the all-black Monroe Elementary School that she attended as a <a href="http://digital.wustl.edu/e/eop/eopweb/smi0015.0647.098lindabrownsmith.html">“very nice facility, being very well-kept.”</a></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=862&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212532/original/file-20180328-109175-1ltjf8m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1083&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Linda Brown Smith, shown at age 9 in 1952.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-United-States-LI-/daad13dbe4e6da11af9f0014c2589dfb/9/0">AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>“I remember the materials that we used being of good quality,” Linda Brown <a href="http://digital.wustl.edu/e/eop/eopweb/smi0015.0647.098lindabrownsmith.html">stated</a> in a 1985 interview. </p>
<p>That made the Topeka lawsuit unique among the cases the NAACP Legal Defense Fund combined and argued before the Supreme Court in 1953. Black schoolchildren in Topeka did not experience overcrowded classrooms like those in Washington, D.C., nor were they subjected to dilapidated school buildings like those in Delaware or Virginia.</p>
<p>While black parents in Delaware and South Carolina petitioned their local school boards for bus service, the Topeka School Board voluntarily provided buses for black children. Topeka’s school buses became central to the local NAACP’s equal access complaint due to <a href="http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/50359858-rear-view-of-linda-brown-10-yr-old-african-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=yDBvXkFZSD8CXY2A11A8jtLimoAtZnu8nbiCsIQLNqA%3d">weather and travel conditions</a>. </p>
<p>Quality education was “not the issue at that time,” Linda Brown <a href="http://digital.wustl.edu/e/eop/eopweb/smi0015.0647.098lindabrownsmith.html">recalled</a>, “but it was the distance that I had to go to acquire that education.”</p>
<p>Another unique characteristic of Topeka public schools was that black students went to both all-black elementary and predominantly white junior high and high schools. This fact presented another challenge for the Topeka NAACP’s desegregation crusade. The transition from segregated elementary schools to integrated junior and senior high schools was a harsh and alienating one. Many black Topekans recalled the overt and covert racism of white teachers and administrators. “It wasn’t the grade schools that sunk me,” Richard Ridley, a black resident and Topeka High School alumnus who graduated in 1947, told interviewers for the Brown Oral History Collection at the Kansas State Historical Society. “It was the high school.”</p>
<h2>Black teachers cherished</h2>
<p>A primary reason that black Topekans fought the local NAACP’s desegregation efforts is because they appreciated black educators’ dedication to their students. Black residents who opposed school integration often spoke of the familial environment in all-black schools.</p>
<p>Linda Brown herself praised the teachers at her alma mater, Monroe Elementary, for having high expectations and setting “<a href="http://digital.wustl.edu/e/eop/eopweb/smi0015.0647.098lindabrownsmith.html">very good examples for their students</a>.</p>
<p>Black teachers proved to be a formidable force against the local NAACP. "We have a situation here in Topeka in which the Negro Teachers are violently opposed to our efforts to integrate the public schools,” NAACP branch Secretary Lucinda Todd <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/westhistquar.42.4.0481">wrote in a letter</a> to the national NAACP in 1953.</p>
<p>Black supporters of all-black schools used a number of overt and covert tactics to undermine NAACP members’ efforts. Those tactics included lobbying, networking, social ostracism, verbal threats, vandalism, sending harassing mail, making intimidating phone calls, the Brown Oral History Collection reveals.</p>
<p>But the national office of the NAACP never appreciated the unique challenges that its local chapter faced. The Topeka NAACP struggled to recruit plaintiffs, despite their door-to-door canvassing.</p>
<p>Fundraising was also a major problem. The group could not afford the legal services of their attorneys and raised only $100 of the <a href="http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/213401/page/1">$5,000 needed to bring the case</a> before the U.S. Supreme Court.</p>
<h2>Unheralded legacy</h2>
<p>History ultimately would not be on the side of the majority of Topeka’s black community. A small cohort of local NAACP members kept pushing for desegregation, even as they stood at odds with most black Topekans.</p>
<p>Linda Brown and her father may be remembered as the faces of Brown v. Board of Education. But without the resilience and resourcefulness of three local NAACP members – namely, Daniel Sawyer, McKinley Burnett and Lucinda Todd – there would have been no Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.</p>
<p>The real story of Brown v. Board may not capture the public imagination like that of a 9-year-old girl who “brought a case that ended segregation in public schools in America.” Nevertheless, it is the truth behind the myth. And it deserves to be told.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story appeared in The Conversation on <a href="https://theconversation.com/much-of-what-you-think-you-know-about-linda-brown-a-central-figure-in-brown-v-board-of-education-is-wrong-94082">March 30, 2018</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117299/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charise Cheney does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While the Brown vs. Board of Education case is often celebrated for ordering school desegregation, history shows many black people in the city where the case began opposed integrated schools.Charise Cheney, Associate Professsor of Ethnic Studies, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1156022019-04-24T10:47:38Z2019-04-24T10:47:38ZDuke Ellington’s melodies carried his message of social justice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270536/original/file-20190423-175539-89s5jv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Duke Ellington leads his orchestra in a rehearsal in Coventry, England, on Dec. 2, 1966.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-I-ENT-XEN-GBR-APHS344504-Duke-Ellington/d56fd7dcc2124faeb1daff3471da3172/46/0">Associated Press</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a moment when there is a longstanding <a href="https://www.theperspective.com/debates/entertainment/celebrities-voice-social-causes/">heated debate</a> over how artists and pop culture figures should engage in social activism, the life and career of musical legend Edward Kennedy “<a href="https://www.biography.com/musician/duke-ellington">Duke” Ellington</a> offers a model of how to do it right.</p>
<p>Ellington was born on April 29, 1899 in Washington, D.C. His tight-knit black middle-class family nurtured his racial pride and shielded him from many of the difficulties of segregation in the nation’s capital. Washington was home to a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C2Y6DwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Chocolate+City&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjx9fqWgufhAhXyqFkKHbJIDqYQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=black%20Washington%20thrived&f=false">sizable black middle class</a>, despite prevalent racism. That included the racial riots of 1919’s <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/red-summer-of-1919-45394">Red Summer</a>, three months of bloody violence directed at black communities in cities from San Francisco to Chicago and Washington D.C.</p>
<p>Ellington’s development from a D.C. piano prodigy to the world’s elegant and sophisticated “Duke” is <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo8169884.html">well</a> <a href="https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/john-edward-hasse/beyond-category/9780306806148/">documented</a>. Yet a fusion of art and social activism also marked his more than 56-year career.</p>
<p>Ellington’s battle for social justice was personal. Films like the <a href="http://time.com/5527806/green-book-movie-controversy/">award-winning</a> <a href="https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/the-green-book#/?tab=about">“Green Book”</a> only hint at the costs of segregation for black performing artists during the 1950s and 60s. </p>
<p>Duke’s experiences reveal the reality. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7DRlJWSFUAg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra playing ‘The Mooche,’ 1928.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cotton Club to Scottsboro Boys</h2>
<p>Ellington first rose to fame at Harlem’s “whites only” <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/cotton-club-harlem-1923/">Cotton Club</a> in the 1920s. There, the only mingling of black and white happened on the piano keyboard itself, as black performers entered through back doors and could not interact with white customers. </p>
<p>Ellington quietly devoted his services to the <a href="https://www.naacp.org/nations-premier-civil-rights-organization/">NAACP</a> and its racial equality activities in the 1930s. Whether it was demanding that black youth have equal entrance rights to segregated dance halls or holding benefit concerts for the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/scottsboro-boys-who-were-the-boys/">Scottsboro Boys</a>, nine black adolescents falsely imprisoned for rape in 1931, Ellington used his growing fame as a prominent band leader for a greater good. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://earl-brooks.com">literary</a> and <a href="https://history.umbc.edu/facultystaff/full-time/michelle-scott/">historical</a> research on African American entertainment, Ellington’s ability to travel and perform across national boundaries stands out. </p>
<p>After success in Harlem’s night spots, Ellington composed, recorded and appeared in film shorts like 1935’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027068/">“Symphony in Black”</a> as himself. He traveled the world with his orchestra, at first performing in the U.K. in the 1930s. Later, Ellington continued to perform on behalf of the U.S. State Department as a <a href="http://www.meridian.org/jazzambassadors/duke_ellington/duke_ellington.php">“jazz ambassador”</a> in the 1960s and 70s. Audiences in such places as India, Syria, Turkey, Ethiopia and Zambia were given the opportunity to hear and dance to Ellington’s compositions.</p>
<p>However, not even international popularity ensured that hotels would host Ellington’s all-black ensemble during a <a href="https://www.nationaljazzarchive.org.uk/explore/programmes/duke-ellington-british-tour-1933/1270369">tour in the U.K.</a> in June 1933. Members scrambled to find boarding homes in London’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6p4HAQAAMAAJ&dq=Beyond+Category&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=Bloomsbury">Bloomsbury</a> neighborhood when mainstream hotels turned them away on account of their race. </p>
<h2>Despite success, racism</h2>
<p>Ellington’s 1932 “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c87DFkFfBn4-It">It Don’t Mean a Thing if It Ain’t Got That Swing”</a> was the soundtrack for the nation’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/swing-music">swing era</a> of the 1930s and 40s. The tune stayed on the Billboard charts for six weeks in 1932 and was inducted into the <a href="https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/hall-of-fame#i">Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008</a>. </p>
<p>But when Ellington traveled in the South, he still had to hire a private rail car to avoid crowded, poorly maintained “colored only” train seating, or hotels and restaurants that refused service to black Southerners. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270530/original/file-20190423-175528-y65yaq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ellington and band members playing baseball in front of the ‘colored’ only Astor Motel while touring in Florida in 1955.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2009632168/">Library of Congress/Charlotte Brooks photographer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Northern or western engagements in the 1930s and 1940s often proved no better. While there were no “white only” signs on the doors of these hotels or restaurants, establishments enforced segregation by telling black customers to enter through back doors or purchase their meals to go. </p>
<p>Bassist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Milt-Hinton">Milt Hinton</a> recalled that Ellington and fellow band leader <a href="https://countbasie.com/">Count Basie</a> often stayed at black-owned boarding houses rather than risk being thrown out or ignored. </p>
<p>White band managers attempted to protect the black bands they managed from these racist practices, but this still did not prevent Ellington from being denied service in a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5ponZR7emQMC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Duke+Ellington%27s+America&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkv63EgN3hAhXot1kKHRvZDKEQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Salt%20Lake%20City&f=false">Salt Lake City hotel’s</a> cafe in the 1940s.</p>
<h2>Subtle style</h2>
<p>Once the civil rights movement of the 1950s began to fight for racial equality through direct-action techniques like mass protests, boycotts and sit-ins, activists in the early 1950s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5ponZR7emQMC&pg=PA380&lpg=PA380&dq=Ellington+NAACP+clause+refused+to+sign&source=bl&ots=QZfV9JeB-P&sig=ACfU3U0HlZn_99RCJNn8bleYxVrH2aYG2Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjs9cDBvebhAhUywlkKHdbwC_UQ6AEwAnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Ellington%20NAACP%20clause%20refused%20to%20sign&f=false">criticized the older Ellington</a>. His subtle activism style had focused on benefit concerts, and not “in the streets” protests.</p>
<p>But as the movement continued, Ellington included a non-segregation clause in his contracts and refused to play before segregated audiences by 1961. He maintained in an interview in the <a href="http://afroarchives.libraryhost.com/">Baltimore Afro American newspaper</a> that he had always been devoted to <a href="http://ellingtonweb.ca/Hostedpages/TDWAW/removed20130727%20nextTDWAW.html#Yr1951">“the fight for first class citizenship.”</a> </p>
<p>This was a devotion best seen in his music.</p>
<p>Ellington used his creative musical talents against racist beliefs that African Americans were inferior or unintelligent.</p>
<p>His diverse and wide-ranging catalog of music demanded the kind of serious attention and respect that had previously only been reserved for elite, white composers of classical music. </p>
<p>Songs such as “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLJmgzMnOjQ">Black and Tan Fantasy”</a> completely challenged what was then called “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17494060.2012.721292">jungle music,”</a> a negative term used to reference music inspired by the African diaspora. As a fusion of sacred and secular black culture, both the “Black and Tan Fantasy” composition and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLJmgzMnOjQ">film</a> combined the speaking traditions of black preachers with the humor and rhythms of black life.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uLJmgzMnOjQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Black and Tan Fantasy’ melded sacred and secular black culture.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern black variety shows such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472989/">“Wild ‘N Out”</a> and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/in-living-color-tribeca-film-festival-cast-reunion_n_5c9130d7e4b09b8d563a2463">“In Living Color”</a> share a lineage with Ellington’s major stage production of 1941, “<a href="https://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/jump-for-joy-duke-ellingtons-celebratory-musical/">Jump for Joy</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBvjPiZ1t6o">“Jump for Joy”</a> combined comedy skits and music into a revue that featured African American stars of the mid-20th century, including actress, singer and dancer <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/dandridge-dorothy-1922-1964/">Dorothy Dandridge</a> and poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/langston-hughes">Langston Hughes</a>. </p>
<p>Ellington claimed that his production “<a href="https://indianapublicmedia.org/nightlights/jump-for-joy-duke-ellingtons-celebratory-musical/">would take Uncle Tom out of the theater and say things that would make the audience think</a>.” </p>
<p>He used his music to showcase black excellence as a resistance tactic against the negative stereotypes of African Americans made popular in American blackface <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/blackface-birth-american-stereotype">minstrelsy</a>. </p>
<p>Ellington also used “Jump for Joy” to call out those who borrowed from black music without any credit or financial compensation to its creators.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/270535/original/file-20190423-175532-1dgokou.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Duke Ellington, Paramount Theater, New York, 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.loc.gov/item/gottlieb.02291/">Library of Congress/William P. Gottlieb photographer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Melody’s other purpose</h2>
<p>One of Ellington’s most powerful works is the orchestral piece <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/22/697075534/a-sprawling-blueprint-for-protest-music-courtesy-of-the-jazz-duke">“Black, Brown and Beige</a>.” </p>
<p>This work shows his ability to infuse the blues into classical music and his commitment to tell the history of black America through song. </p>
<p>From the spirituals developed through the trials of slavery to the fight for civil rights and the modern rhythms of big band swing music, Ellington sought to tell a story about black life that was both beautiful and complex. </p>
<p>For Ellington, melody became message.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From spirituals about the trials of slavery to the fight for civil rights and the modern rhythms of swing music, Duke Ellington told a story about black life that was both beautiful and complex.Michelle R. Scott, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyEarl Brooks, Assistant Professor of English, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1107622019-02-14T22:37:42Z2019-02-14T22:37:42ZNAACP’s first meeting was held in Canada but there were no Canadians there<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257834/original/file-20190207-174857-1rhnyap.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Niagara Movement meeting in Fort Erie Canada, near Niagara Falls in 1905 had no Canadians present. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.37818/">Library of Congress</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first meeting of what would later become the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took place in 1905 in Fort Erie near Niagara Falls, Canada. Legendary thinkers such as W.E.B. Du Bois attended.</p>
<p>Although the social justice movement for the advancement of Black Americans was initially named <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/niagara-movement">the Niagara Movement</a>, based on that first meeting in Canada, there was no mention of Black Canadians at this historic meeting. </p>
<p>The story of this meeting helps to demonstrate the ongoing invisibility of Black Canadians both within Canada, across North America and internationally. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259129/original/file-20190214-1730-10t1tm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259129/original/file-20190214-1730-10t1tm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259129/original/file-20190214-1730-10t1tm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259129/original/file-20190214-1730-10t1tm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259129/original/file-20190214-1730-10t1tm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259129/original/file-20190214-1730-10t1tm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259129/original/file-20190214-1730-10t1tm9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American women at the 2nd Niagara Movement Conference which took place in the U.S. at Harpers Ferry: Mrs. Gertrude Wright Morgan (seated) and (left to right) Mrs. O.M. Waller, Mrs. H.F.M. Murray, Mrs. Mollie Lewis Kelan, Mrs. Ida D. Bailey, Miss Sadie Shorter, and Mrs. Charlotte Hershaw.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given the strong geographical connection between Canada and the U.S., it is reasonable to question why Black Canadians are missing from the Niagara Movement’s historical narrative. </p>
<p>Their absence in this history highlights the erasure of the contributions of Indigenous, Black people and other racialized peoples in Canada. This Canadian historical narrative, as Canadian sociologist Rinaldo Walcott suggests, has effectively “invisibilized” the Black presence in Canada. </p>
<p>In his book, <em><a href="https://49thshelf.com/Books/B/Black-Like-Who3">Black Like Who?</a></em>, Walcott speculates that the NAACP disallowed Black Canadians from attending this first meeting, despite their attempts to engage in dialogue with the organizers. Walcott writes that there were Black people in Canada who had both heard of and wanted to participate in the movement. However, he believes they were not welcomed. </p>
<p>Many know that Black Americans faced racist laws meant to segregate and oppress their existence, but many do not realize that Black Canadians also faced the hardship of anti-Black racism or the extent to which they suffered. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259130/original/file-20190214-1721-2apkp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259130/original/file-20190214-1721-2apkp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259130/original/file-20190214-1721-2apkp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259130/original/file-20190214-1721-2apkp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259130/original/file-20190214-1721-2apkp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259130/original/file-20190214-1721-2apkp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/259130/original/file-20190214-1721-2apkp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The untold story of Canadian slavery and the burning of Old Montréal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HarperCollins</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Historian Afua Cooper’s portrayal of enslaved woman Marie Joseph Angelique, accused of <a href="https://greyroots.com/sites/default/files/naomi_norquay_book_review_the_hanging_of_angelique_2009.pdf">“allegedly setting fire to Montréal in 1734”</a> in <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-hanging-of-angelique-book-review"><em>The Hanging of Angelique</em></a>, helps to illuminate anti-Black racism and the enslavement of Black people in Canada in the 1700s. Although there was no direct evidence to prove Angelique caused the blaze, <a href="https://greyroots.com/sites/default/files/naomi_norquay_book_review_the_hanging_of_angelique_2009.pdf">“she was convicted on circumstantial evidence in a justice system that declared defendants guilty unless proven innocent, by a court whose members had all suffered losses in the fire and by 24 vengeful witnesses, including a 5 year old girl.”</a> </p>
<p>Cooper’s example helps to demonstrate the Canadian settler social conditions where Black people are assumed to be guilty.</p>
<h2>The urgent need for a social justice movement</h2>
<p>Black people in both Canada and the United States have encountered, and continue to face, a white settler terrain that loathes Blackness. After the Civil War, the United States Congress passed laws to support newly freed African-Americans but in the decades that followed, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of decisions that set back those efforts. </p>
<p>During that time, Black Americans encountered “anti-Negro” <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/springfield-race-riot-1908/">race riots</a>. Historian <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jah/article-abstract/54/3/696/744430">Charles Kellogg</a> recounts stories from African-Americans in places like Springfield, Illinois, where they encountered <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/2716769?journalCode=jnh">white mobs that burned down Black homes, lynched Black bodies and murdered Black people</a>.</p>
<p>By 1905, the need for a social movement for African-Americans was urgent. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257827/original/file-20190207-174894-ld8xlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257827/original/file-20190207-174894-ld8xlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257827/original/file-20190207-174894-ld8xlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257827/original/file-20190207-174894-ld8xlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257827/original/file-20190207-174894-ld8xlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257827/original/file-20190207-174894-ld8xlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257827/original/file-20190207-174894-ld8xlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A closer look at the studio photo taken at the Niagara Movement meeting in Fort Erie Canada, 1905. Top row (left to right): H. A. Thompson, Alonzo F. Herndon, John Hope, James R. L. Diggs (?). Second row (left to right): Frederick McGhee, Norris B. Herndon (boy), J. Max Barber, W. E. B. Du Bois, Robert Bonner. Bottom row (left to right): Henry L. Bailey, Clement G. Morgan, W. H. H. Hart, B. S. Smith.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Library of Congress</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The NAACP would become the vehicle to increase the social citizenship of Black people in America, especially during the early 1900s, when the race divide cut deep and afflicted the social, political and economic conditions of Black folk. </p>
<p>U.S. segregation laws in the 1900s made holding meetings in hotels impossible. Efforts to hold the original meeting in Buffalo, New York were thwarted by a social climate that was simmering with racial hostility toward Black Americans. In historical notes, Buffalo’s NAACP chapter president, Rev. Mark Blue, mentioned that Black American thinkers were accepted by the management of the <a href="https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/niagara-movement-paved-the-way-for-the-naacp/71-588302597">Erie Hotel</a>, near Niagara Falls, Ont. </p>
<p>Why were Black Americans but not Black Canadians allowed at this historic meeting? Who disallowed them to enter? Was it the hotel managers? Was it the organizers? Were they there but perhaps not mentioned?</p>
<h2>Invisible in Canada</h2>
<p>Canada often characterizes itself as a haven for Black slaves of the American South, but it does so without acknowledging its own participation in the Black slave industry.</p>
<p>A seldom mentioned historical fact is that <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/black-enslavement">Canada has its own Black slave history</a>. Prior to abolition, Black enslavement existed in Canada until it was abolished throughout British North America. </p>
<p>Before the Niagara Movement, the Canadian region was the site of safer passage of Blacks fleeing slavery in the United States. Heroic figures like <a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/dc40217905404be7424014b40b6ba0fd/1?casa_token=v-V4tPkuYPkAAAAA:k4hQUofCUVTgFEDg86h6OA_kRohjSniPD1ZoqWG_7MQLdhv1s3xideVBtUzViBG9twOIpAXM6gIB&cbl=37747&pq-origsite=gscholar">Harriet Tubman</a> travelled through Niagara, Canada to bring slaves to a better life in northern North America. Yet, as Walcott points out, <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674076068">there is little or no reference to these facts</a> in the historical commentaries on the Niagara Movement. </p>
<p>Black Canadian historical moments, such as the destruction of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/4w5q9n/africville-canadas-secret-racist-history">Africville</a> in 1967, live “only in the memories of its former inhabitants and their descendants.” Few know that <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/africville">“Halifax was founded in 1749, when African people held as slaves dug out roads and built much of the city.”</a></p>
<p>The lack of information about these histories is another form of anti-Black racism that exists in Canada. Canada has adopted a policy of erasure when it comes to acknowledging the history and contributions of its Indigenous and Black peoples. </p>
<p>Many scholars have asserted the importance of continued Black Canadian cultural studies. The power politics of whose work gets published, and where, and the absence of Black, Indigenous and racialized histories have reinforced Black invisibility. </p>
<p>It is necessary to critically engage on historical notions of Blackness and the “<a href="https://49thshelf.com/Books/B/Black-Like-Who3">cross border political identification</a>” of Black Canadians and Americans. By recognizing that both Black Canadian and American historical episodes of anti-Black racism are similar, we question how the white settler terrain has convinced mainstream society to believe one is worse than the other. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a story originally published on Feb. 14, 2019. It clarifies the location of the Niagara Movement’s first meeting.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The first NAACP meeting was held in Canada but there is no mention of Black Canadians in the books. This historical absence is a symbol of the invisibility of anti-Black racism in Canada.Warren Clarke, Ph.D., Carleton UniversityNadine Powell, PhD Student Department of Sociology; RA - Migration and Diaspora Studies, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/814272017-07-26T01:55:29Z2017-07-26T01:55:29Z100 years ago African-Americans marched down 5th Avenue to declare that black lives matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179312/original/file-20170722-28515-16wxxmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Silent protest parade in New York against the East St. Louis riots, 1917.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95517074/">Library of Congress</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s Note: This article was published on July 25, 2017.</em></p>
<p>The only sounds were those of muffled drums, the shuffling of feet and the gentle sobs of some of the estimated 20,000 onlookers. The women and children wore all white. The men dressed in black. </p>
<p>On the afternoon of Saturday, July 28, 1917, nearly 10,000 African-Americans marched down Fifth Avenue, in silence, to protest racial violence and white supremacy in the United States.</p>
<p>New York City, and the nation, had never before witnessed such a remarkable scene. </p>
<p>The “Silent Protest Parade,” as it came to be known, was the first mass African-American demonstration of its kind and marked a watershed moment in the history of the civil rights movement. As I have written in my book <a href="https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469609850/torchbearers-of-democracy/">“Torchbearers of Democracy</a>,” African-Americans during the World War I era challenged racism both abroad and at home. In taking to the streets to dramatize the brutal treatment of black people, the participants of the “Silent Protest Parade” indicted the United States as an unjust nation. </p>
<p>This charge remains true today.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179691/original/file-20170725-2133-1td69y0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Several thousand people attended a Seattle rally to call attention to minority rights and police brutality in April 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One hundred years later, as black people continue to insist that “Black Lives Matter,” the “Silent Protest Parade” offers a vivid reminder about the power of courageous leadership, grassroots mobilization, direct action and their collective necessity in the fight to end racial oppression in our current troubled times. </p>
<h2>Racial violence and the East St. Louis Riot</h2>
<p>One of the great accomplishments of the Black Lives Matter movement has been to demonstrate the continuum of racist violence against black people throughout American history and also the history of <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-making-of-black-lives-matter-9780190601348?cc=us&lang=en&">resistance against it</a>. But as we continue to grapple with the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/20/us/police-shooting-castile-trial-video.html?_r=0">hyper-visibility of black death</a>, it is perhaps easy to forget just how truly horrific racial violence against black people was a century ago. </p>
<p>Prior to the “Silent Protest Parade,” <a href="https://archive.org/details/thirtyyearsoflyn00nati">mob violence and the lynching</a> of African-Americans had grown even more gruesome. In Waco, a mob of 10,000 white Texans attended the May 15, 1916, lynching of a black farmer, <a href="http://www.tamupress.com/product/First-Waco-Horror,1483.aspx">Jesse Washington</a>. One year later, on May 22, 1917, a black woodcutter, <a href="https://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/memphis-burning/Content?oid=4438125">Ell Persons</a>, died at the hands of over 5,000 vengeance-seeking whites in Memphis. Both men were burned and mutilated, their charred body parts distributed and displayed as souvenirs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-short-history-of-black-women-and-police-violence-139937">A short history of black women and police violence</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Even by these grisly standards, <a href="http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/57mbk5qp9780252009518.html">East St. Louis</a> later that same summer was shocking. Simmering labor tensions between white and black workers exploded on the evening of July 2, 1917.</p>
<p>For 24 hours, white mobs indiscriminately stabbed, shot and lynched anyone with black skin. Men, women, children, the elderly, the disabled – no one was spared. Homes were torched and occupants shot down as they attempted to flee. White militia men stood idly by as the carnage unfolded. Some actively participated. The death toll likely ran as high as 200 people.</p>
<p>The city’s surviving 6,000 black residents became refugees. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179539/original/file-20170724-11166-omtn8e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ida B. Wells.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93505758/">Library of Congress</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>East St. Louis was an <a href="http://www.ohioswallow.com/book/American+Pogrom">American pogrom</a>. The fearless African-American anti-lynching activist <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780061972942">Ida B. Wells</a> traveled to the still smoldering city on July 4 and <a href="http://gildedage.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-gildedage%3A24051">collected firsthand accounts</a> of the aftermath. She described what she saw as an “awful orgy of human butchery.” </p>
<p>The devastation of East St. Louis was compounded by the fact that America was at war. <a href="https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Wilson's_War_Message_to_Congress">On April 2</a>, President Woodrow Wilson had thrown the United States into the maelstrom of World War I. He did so by asserting <a href="https://theconversation.com/1917-woodrow-wilsons-call-to-war-pulled-america-onto-a-global-stage-75022">America’s singularly unique place on the global stage</a> and his goal to make the world “safe for democracy.” In the eyes of black people, East St. Louis exposed the hypocrisy of Wilson’s vision and America itself. </p>
<h2>The NAACP takes action</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.naacp.org/">National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</a> quickly responded to the massacre. Founded in 1909, the NAACP had yet to establish itself as a truly representative <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/lift-every-voice">organization for African-Americans across the country</a>. With the exception of <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781466841512">W.E.B. Du Bois</a>, one of the NAACP’s co-founders and editor of The Crisis magazine, the national leadership was all white. Branches were overwhelmingly located in the North, despite the majority of African-Americans residing below the Mason-Dixon line. As a result, the NAACP had largely failed to respond with a sense of urgency to the everyday horrors endured by the masses of black folk. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179628/original/file-20170725-31338-oegjci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/179628/original/file-20170725-31338-oegjci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179628/original/file-20170725-31338-oegjci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179628/original/file-20170725-31338-oegjci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179628/original/file-20170725-31338-oegjci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179628/original/file-20170725-31338-oegjci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/179628/original/file-20170725-31338-oegjci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Weldon Johnson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Weldon_Johnson.jpg">Twentieth Century Negro Literature</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/321968/along-this-way-by-james-weldon-johnson/9780143105176/">James Weldon Johnson</a> changed things. Lawyer, diplomat, novelist, poet and songwriter, Johnson was a true African-American renaissance man. In 1916, Johnson joined the NAACP as a field secretary and made an immediate impact. In addition to growing the organization’s southern membership, Johnson recognized the importance of expanding the influence of the NAACP’s existing branches beyond the black elite.</p>
<p>Johnson raised the idea of a silent protest march at an executive committee meeting of the NAACP Harlem branch shortly after the East St. Louis riot. Johnson also insisted that the protest include the city’s entire black community. Planning quickly got underway, spearheaded by Johnson and local black clergymen. </p>
<h2>A historic day</h2>
<p>By noon on July 28, several thousand African-Americans had begun to assemble at 59th Street. Crowds gathered along Fifth Avenue. Anxious New York City police officers lined the streets, aware of what was about to take place but, with clubs at the ready, prepared for trouble.</p>
<p>At approximately 1 p.m., the protest parade commenced. Four men carrying drums began to slowly, solemnly play. A group of black clergymen and NAACP officials made up the front line. W.E.B. Du Bois, who had recently returned from conducting an <a href="http://library.brown.edu/pdfs/1292426769648500.pdf">NAACP investigation in East St. Louis</a>, and James Weldon Johnson marched side by side. </p>
<p>The parade was a stunning spectacle. At the front, women and children wearing all-white gowns symbolized the innocence of African-Americans in the face of the nation’s guilt. The men, bringing up the rear and dressed in dark suits, conveyed both a mournful dignity and stern determination to stand up for their rights as citizens.</p>
<p>They carried signs and banners shaming America for its treatment of black people. Some read, “Your hands are full of blood,” “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” “Mothers, do lynchers go to heaven?” Others highlighted the wartime context and the hollowness of America’s ideals: “We have fought for the liberty of white Americans in six wars; our reward was East St. Louis,” “Patriotism and loyalty presuppose protection and liberty,” “Make America safe for Democracy.”</p>
<p>Throughout the parade, the marchers remained silent. The New York Times <a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/07/29/96262006.html?pageNumber=12">described the protest</a> as “one of the most quiet and orderly demonstrations ever witnessed.” The silence was finally broken with cheers when the parade concluded at Madison Square. </p>
<h2>Legacy of the Silent Protest Parade</h2>
<p>The “Silent Protest Parade” marked the beginning of a new epoch in the long black freedom struggle. While adhering to a certain <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674769786">politics of respectability</a>, a strategy employed by African-Americans that focused on countering racist stereotypes through dignified appearance and behavior, the protest, within its context, constituted a radical claiming of the public sphere and a powerful affirmation of black humanity. It declared that a “New Negro” had arrived and launched a black public protest tradition that would be seen in the parades of the <a href="http://lsupress.org/books/detail/the-world-of-marcus-garvey/">Universal Negro Improvement Association</a>, the civil rights demonstrations of the 1960s and the Black Lives Matter marches of today. </p>
<p>[<em>Context on today’s headlines, each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=context">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The “Silent Protest Parade” reminds us that the fight against racist violence and the killing of black people remains just as relevant now as it did 100 years ago. Black death, whether at the hands of a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/03/us/alton-sterling-doj-death-investigation/index.html">Baton Rouge police officer</a> or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/charleston-church-shooter-i-would-like-to-make-it-crystal-clear-i-do-not-regret-what-i-did/2017/01/04/05b0061e-d1da-11e6-a783-cd3fa950f2fd_story.html">white supremacist in Charleston</a>, is a specter that continues to haunt this nation. The expendability of black bodies is American tradition, and history speaks to the long endurance of this violent legacy.</p>
<p>But history also offers inspiration, purpose and vision. </p>
<p>Ida B. Wells, James Weldon Johnson and other freedom fighters of their generation should serve as models for activists today. That the “Silent Protest Parade” attracted black people from all walks of life and backgrounds attests to the need for organizations like the NAACP, following its recent national convention, to remember and embrace its origins. And, in building and sustaining the current movement, we can take lessons from past struggles and work strategically and creatively to apply them to the present. </p>
<p>Because, at their core, the demands of black people in 2017 remain the same as one of the signs raised to the sky on that July afternoon in 1917: </p>
<p>“Give me a chance to live.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chad Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Thousands marched in silence against racial violence after a riot left hundreds of blacks dead and thousands homeless. The demands of black people in 2017 remain the same as they did in 1917.Chad Williams, Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/771232017-05-04T14:59:25Z2017-05-04T14:59:25ZRachel Dolezal: why ignoring the painful past of “passing” is indefensible<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167855/original/file-20170504-21649-wy27my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Civil rights advocate Rachel Dolezal has been accused of falsely claiming she is African-American.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephanie Keith/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2015, American Rachel Dolezal <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/13/us/rachel-dolezal-naacp-president-accused-of-lying-about-her-race.html?_r=0">captured</a> the public imagination when the media discovered that she was white and had been passing as black for nearly a decade. </p>
<p>Dolezal, who has had white ancestors for over three centuries, checked boxes like “black” and “African-American” on application forms, darkened her skin, and began to wear her hair in African-American styles. She lied about her <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/06/whas-rachel-dolezal-has-said-about-her-identity.html">past</a> and <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/06/16/rachel_dolezal_claimed_father_was_a_black_oakland_police_officer_when_seeking.html">family</a>, and attempted to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/06/15/rachel-dolezal-sued-howard-for-racial-discrimination-because-she-was-white/?utm_term=.d22ab6528a7a">sue</a> her alma mater, historically black <a href="https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/howard-university-1448">Howard University</a> for reverse racism. </p>
<p>“Black” Dolezal was a lecturer in Africana studies and president of her local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People <a href="http://www.naacp.org/">NAACP</a>. </p>
<p>She recently <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2017/04/19/%E2%80%98I-have-no-interest-in-being-famous%E2%80%99-%E2%80%93-Rachel-Dolezal">visited South Africa</a> to discuss non-racialism, but received <a href="http://www.okayafrica.com/op-ed-2/rachel-dolezal-south-africa-hope-shes-leaving-soon/">resistance</a> against her self-identification as “trans-black” and her claim to an authentic, internal black identity. This isn’t surprising given the brutality of the country’s racial past.</p>
<h2>Painful history</h2>
<p>In both the US and South Africa, “passing” as another race has a long and painful history. For a very long time this was a highly guarded secret in many families out of necessity.</p>
<p>South African poet Michael Chapman’s stark <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Paperbook-South-African-English-poetry/dp/0868521094">“Concrete Poem”</a> (1986) illustrates it powerfully:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Chameleon Dance</p>
<p>The Minister of Home Affairs, Mr Stoffel Botha, has now disclosed that during 1985:</p>
<p>● 702 coloured people turned white;</p>
<p>● 19 whites became coloured;</p>
<p>● One Indian became white;</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>● Eight Malays became coloured;</p>
<p>● Three blacks were classified as Malay.</p>
<p>No blacks became white, and no whites became black.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The form of “Concrete Poem’s” cold, official bullet list shows a sharp divide from the social and emotional gravity of its content. Racial passing under apartheid did not simply entail a quick visit to the Department of Home Affairs, followed by popping champagne to celebrate one’s new life. It typically included a traumatic separation from family, community and an initial subjectivity raced in a particular way. </p>
<p>South Africa’s <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/population-registration-act%2C-act-no-30-of-1950">Population Registration Act of 1950</a> drew the boundaries of race in a move that both proscribed and enabled the act of passing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“white person” means a person who in appearance obviously is, or who is generally accepted as a white person, but does not include a person who, although in appearance obviously a white person, is generally accepted as a coloured person.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same act described <a href="http://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/multimedia.php?id=65-259-2">“coloureds”</a> as “neither white nor ‘native’”.</p>
<p>For a coloured person to pass as white and reap the benefits of a racist society, they had to become “generally accepted” as a white person. That’s what Marion Campbell’s parents do in <a href="http://africasacountry.com/2017/03/the-uncompromising-zoe-wicomb/">Zoë Wicomb</a>’s 2006 <a href="http://thenewpress.com/books/playing-light">novel</a> “Playing in the Light”. </p>
<p>Marion, an Afrikaner in her late thirties, discovers that her racist white parents were “play-whites”. It was a local term for coloured people who “passed” as white. Her parents removed from their lives anything that could reveal any connection to their coloured families, in order to “raise the child without the burden of history”.</p>
<p>In fear of their secret being discovered, they raised Marion strictly, not only without history but also without free play, friends, family and cousins, family photos, trinkets from her parents’ childhoods – things of culture and tradition that are so linked with race. Marion’s father breaks down after confessing to her that as a younger man, he had disowned his tight-knit coloured family and deprived Marion of cousins, uncles and an aunt. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>He is racked with dry sobbing. Things became so complicated in the country, so political, he croaks, that they agreed to stop seeing him; he was excluded from [his sister] Elsie’s dinners. Marion cradles his head in her arms. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This scene resonates with the ideas of American race scholar Alysson Hobbs, who <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/10/07/354310370/a-chosen-exile-black-people-passing-in-white-america">says</a>, “writing a history of passing is writing a history of loss”. </p>
<h2>Misrepresentation</h2>
<p>Dolezal <a href="https://omny.fm/shows/the-breakfast-show-702/rachel-dolezal-and-her-fantasy-blackness">referenced</a> Hobbs’ work <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674368101">“A Chosen Exile: A history of racial passing in American life”</a>, in a conversation with South African talk show host Stephen Grootes, when he provoked her on a history of race: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In Jim Crow America, or the time of slavery, you would never have [chosen to pass as black]; it would be disadvantageous.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Dolezal retorted that it’s still disadvantageous today and deflected by discussing a history of American passing and referencing Hobbs’ book. However, while Hobbs’ project does argue for an understanding of racial boundaries as more porous than we often assume, it chiefly examines personal accounts to see not only what was gained by passing, but what was lost: the many sacrifices, risks, secrecies, lies, exclusions and traumas entangled in the commitment to passing. </p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/10/07/354310370/a-chosen-exile-black-people-passing-in-white-america">interview</a> with NPR, Hobbs expands on the idea of loss:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The family jokes, the oral history every family has, and repeats and passes down, those things are lost to people who pass.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Black and coloured people, who passed in the US and in South Africa respectively, chose to “pass” because of deeply unequal conditions. These put them in danger or led to the full benefits of citizenship being withheld.</p>
<p>Dolezal, on the other hand, as white, is uncoerced by an overtly racist political order. She seems to wilfully misunderstand or ignore that she’s inserting herself into a history of coerced crossings that reverberate with black peoples’ loss and trauma. </p>
<p>The exercise of power enforcing the boundaries of race – held in the past by white political orders – is the condition for subjects to be able to cross in the first place. But now black people have more say than ever about what blackness is. </p>
<p>Scholar Stuart Hall and others do <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/WJiUTXcB3ZnUaywCi4W2/full">argue</a> for many “blacknesses”, and against an essential black self (of hip hop, activism, basketball, corn rows, etc), while acknowledging that the central uniting factor among black people is a shared experience of racism. That’s something Dolezal did not grow up with and can easily escape. </p>
<p>Black people have fought tooth and nail for laws that regard them as equal citizens. It’s not enough to be considered equal if one has to deny oneself and one’s identity. For a supposedly well informed white person and lecturer of “African-American studies”, Dolezal’s use of “passing” to justify her identity makes a mockery of the serious and painful experiences of loss undergone by black people in highly racist societies.</p>
<p>Though Dolezal also underwent an experience of loss and distance from her family, she created it herself, through <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-dolezal-interview-20150616-story.html">lies and deceit</a>. In Wicomb’s novel, historically white Marion considers how, why and if she should begin to identify herself as coloured. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Perhaps it’s a question of time, the arrival of a moment when you cross a boundary and say: Once I was white, now I am coloured. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Perhaps it’s a question of time for Dolezal too. I don’t know if her moment will arrive in today’s arena of highly contested identity politics. Right now the precious gains made by civil rights movements remain under attack in the US and <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/03/28/395608605/why-south-african-students-say-the-statue-of-rhodes-must-fall">South Africa</a> via more insidious racisms than legal segregation.</p>
<p>It’s therefore understandable that black people are resistant to altering the boundaries of a racial “social construction” to welcome an insensitive white woman. Someone who refuses to listen to black voices about blackness, co-opts a painful history of passing and ignores the work of civil rights movements to remove the racist socioeconomic and violent conditions that coerced black people into passing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77123/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Londiwe H Gamedze receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p>In the US and South Africa, “passing” as another race has a long and painful history. Controversial American Rachel Dolezal’s “passing” to justify her identity makes a mockery of such histories.Londiwe H Gamedze, Tutor, MA student, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/743532017-03-16T02:22:29Z2017-03-16T02:22:29ZHow online hate infiltrates social media and politics<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160794/original/image-20170314-10763-ytfp4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From person to person, the spread of online hate can be rapid.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/crowd-small-symbolic-3d-figures-network-36074200">Connections via shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In late February, the headline of a news commentary website that receives more than 2.8 million monthly visitors announced, “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170309200734/http://www.dailystormer.com/philly-jews-destroy-another-one-of-their-own-graveyards-to-blame-trump/">Jews Destroy Another One of Their Own Graveyards to Blame Trump</a>.” The story, inspired by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/26/dozens-of-headstones-vandalized-at-philadelphia-jewish-cemetery/">recent desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia</a>, was the seething fantasy of an anti-Semitic website known as the Daily Stormer. With only a headline, this site can achieve something no hate group could have accomplished 20 years ago: It can connect with a massive audience.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160367/original/image-20170310-19247-x8cvg1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hate speech moves rapidly from the fringe to the mainstream.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170309200734/http://www.dailystormer.com/philly-jews-destroy-another-one-of-their-own-graveyards-to-blame-trump/">Screenshot of DailyStormer.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To whom, and how many, this latest conspiracy may travel is, in part, the story of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/fake-news-33438">fake news</a>,” the phenomenon in which biased propaganda is disseminated as if it were objective journalism in an attempt to corrupt public opinion. My recent book on digital hate culture, “<a href="http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9783319514239">Fanaticism, Racism, and Rage Online</a>,” explores the online underworld from which many of those false narratives originate. I investigate the lesser-known source of all this hate-laced “news” simmering in our public debates, helping to cultivate a distorted reality for its ardent believers and a fractured polity for the rest of us.</p>
<p>Looking at the most-visited websites of what were once <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20020805/skinhead-rally-is-laughable-in-southern-town">diminished movements</a> – white supremacists, xenophobic militants and Holocaust deniers, to name a few – reveals a much-revitalized online culture. For example, according to <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/website/stormfront.org">SimilarWeb analytics</a>, Stormfront, the longest-standing white supremacist site, receives more than two million monthly visitors. That is half a million more than the <a href="http://www.naacp.org/">NAACP</a>, <a href="http://www.glaad.org/">GLAAD</a>, the <a href="http://www.adl.org/">Anti-Defamation League</a> and <a href="http://www.nclr.org/">National Council of La Raza</a> websites, combined.</p>
<p>But size and scope alone do not account for the unprecedented reach that these websites have found in the digital age. Their ascent mirrors the improbable rise of former KKK Imperial Wizard <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/david-duke">David Duke</a>, who shed his Klan robes for an eventual seat in the Louisiana House of Representatives. Today’s radical right is also remaking its profile, swapping swastikas and white-power rock for political blogs and news forums. The trappings may have changed, but the bigotry remains.</p>
<h2>Looking the part</h2>
<p>The American Renaissance hate site opens with a quote from Thomas Jefferson and an offering of timely news articles. These include borrowed headlines from The New York Times about looming deportation policies and Associated Press stories on Texas voter ID laws. But there is an ever-present fixation on nationality and race, as in original commentaries like “How I Saw the Light About Race.” Weaving together real news with racist views, the site stealthily positions the fringe ideas as aligned with the mainstream.</p>
<p>On the Occidental Observer (tagline: “White Identity, Interests, and Culture”), white nationalist contributors and a few former scholars speculate on forum topics like “The Holocaust Industry,” “Jewish Influence” and the “Racialization of America.” The Observer looks much like the homepage of any policy think tank, except for the conspiracy-driving anti-Semitic subtexts. </p>
<p>For online hate groups like this, perception is reality. The common emphasis on news and politics reflects a shift in the messages racist groups promote. Many no longer focus on white supremacy, but rather take the more accessible position of white victimization.</p>
<p>The headlines emanating from websites like the Daily Stormer allow contemporary racists to imagine they are now a minority race under siege. These narratives include an imagined onslaught of illegal immigrants, a fear of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170315192111/http://www.dailystormer.com/section/race-war/">black-on-white crime</a>, an equal rights movement that somehow infringes on religious freedom and a <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170315192142/http://www.dailystormer.com/?s=The+Jews+behind+the+pro-Globalist+Super+Bowl+Ads">Jewish globalist machine</a> supposedly behind it all.</p>
<p>Hate rhetoric repackaged as politics and housed in websites that look just like any other online blog can attract, or even persuade, more moderate ideologues to wade into extremist waters. This “user-friendly” hate community is joining forces in a way that could never happen in the offline world. Thanks in part to this connectedness, these poisoned narratives are now spreading well beyond racist websites. </p>
<h2>How it travels</h2>
<p>The speed with which online hate travels is breathtaking. Two days after that Daily Stormer story on “Jews Destroying Their Own Graveyards,” David Duke discussed “<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170315192214/http://davidduke.com/dr-duke-and-andrew-anglin-expose-the-jewish-media-falso-flag-psych-war-to-stifle-criticism-of-jewish-media-domination/">the likelihood that the recent string of ‘anti-Semitic hate incidents’ are in fact false flag hoaxes</a>” on his podcast.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"835136526048714752"}"></div></p>
<p>The conspiracy had also begun to echo around Twitter, where Duke was sharing a link to his podcast and spreading a new hashtag: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fakehatecrimes">#fakehatecrimes</a>. More people joined in, including followers tweeting “This is a hoax” and “Question the local rabbis.” A senior adviser to President Trump took to Twitter to advance his theory that ongoing threats to Jewish community centers could be <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/trump-adviser-suggests-democrats-are-threatening-jewish-centers-to-make-conservatives-look-bad/">linked to the Democrats</a>.</p>
<p>This is but one example of how, despite recent efforts to <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/11/15/twitter-suspends-alt-right-accounts/93943194/">limit fanatical voices</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/05/europe-hate-speech-social-media/484913/">social networks</a> have become incubators of toxic conspiracies. The topic of “hate crime hoaxes,” for example, has long been circulating through <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/HateCrimeHoaxes/">Reddit</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hate+crime+hoax">YouTube</a> and even <a href="https://www.facebook.com/myiannopoulos/videos/744338082370756/">Facebook</a>. Meanwhile, in the far-right blogosphere, sites like <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2016/05/02/hate-crime-hoaxes-growing-epidemic/">Breitbart</a>, <a href="https://www.infowars.com/man-arrested-for-jewish-center-bomb-threats-is-an-anti-trump-muslim-convert/">InfoWars</a> and <a href="http://www.wnd.com/2016/11/big-spike-in-hate-crimes-not-so-fast/">WorldNetDaily</a> dedicate more space to obsessively “debunking” hate crimes than actually reporting on them. These two worlds seamlessly come together on Twitter, where conspiracies intermix with <a href="https://twitter.com/ReturnOfTheOrb/status/836704421576912898">political diatribes</a>. </p>
<p>For hate groups, this is an unprecedented opportunity to finally plug their fringe movements into a mainstream circuit. As false narratives flow through the internet’s popular networks, they intermingle with legitimate information and gradually become washed of their radical origins in the process. It’s the same trajectory that drove the <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2011/04/birtherism-where-it-all-began-053563">birther conspiracy</a>. Questions about President Obama’s “true birthplace” began on the fringes of the web, found support in more traditional right-wing blogs like Free Republic, and then made their way onto television.</p>
<p>Technology columnist Farhad Manjoo <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/bb/does-the-internet-help-or-hurt-democracy">described this phenomenon</a>, which we’ve now seen morph into fake news:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The extreme points of views that we’re getting that couldn’t have been introduced into national discussion in the past are being introduced now by this sort of entry mechanism … people put it on blogs, and then it gets picked up by cable news, and then it becomes a national discussion.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Opportunistic politicians lend credibility</h2>
<p>There is little doubt that a key reason so much bad information has spilled over into today’s national discourse is politicians who embrace and perpetuate these narratives. Of course, doing so only gives the authors of conspiracy the very exposure they seek. </p>
<p>When, a year before the 2016 election, Donald Trump <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/23/donald-trump/trump-tweet-blacks-white-homicide-victims/">tweeted false statistics</a> about the number of “whites killed by blacks” in America, white nationalists were listening. The evidence could be in seen in the celebratory headlines to follow in websites like Stormfront and Daily Stormer.</p>
<p>Credibility has always been an ultimate but elusive goal for extremists. But online, they’re learning how to dilute the message of bigotry with heavy doses of political conspiracy for which there is apparently a welcoming audience. They achieve victory simply by injecting enough fake news into the system to produce doubt and discord around our most critical cultural debates.</p>
<p>When he was asked about the recent anti-Semitic threats and vandalism, President Trump told the Pennsylvania attorney general the incident was “reprehensible.” But he then went on to speculate that it might have been committed “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/28/trump-is-reportedly-hinting-that-anti-semitic-incidents-are-false-flags-it-wouldnt-be-the-first-time/">to make others look bad</a>.” That feeds the very doubt that extremist groups thrive on. And the cycle continues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74353/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam G. Klein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Today’s radical right is remaking its profile, using online communications to spread its message farther and deeper into our society than ever possible before.Adam G. Klein, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Pace University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/515392015-12-01T12:55:38Z2015-12-01T12:55:38ZWho was Rosa Parks, and what did she do in the fight for racial equality?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103774/original/image-20151130-10278-1bt7azc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hxBTI_3mUtqSz5qp3DH1aw">Lauren/Picasa</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rosa Parks has gone down in history as an ordinary, elderly black woman who spontaneously kick-started the modern African American civil rights movement. It all began in December 1955, when Parks was arrested for civil disobedience: she had refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a crowded bus in the racially segregated town of Montgomery, Alabama. Her defiance sparked the push for racial equality, which brought civil rights superstars such as Martin Luther King Jr into the public eye, and changed the world forever. </p>
<p>Or so the story goes. The truth – as is so often the case – is actually far more complicated.</p>
<p>In fact, Rosa Parks was just 42 years old when she took that famous ride on a City Lines bus in Montgomery – a town known for being the first capital of the pro-slavery Confederacy during the American Civil War. Parks – a seamstress at a downtown department store – <a href="http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_parks_rosa_1913_2005/">had a history</a> as a civil rights campaigner, having served as a youth organiser for the local branch of America’s oldest and most effective civil rights organisation, the <a href="http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history">National Association for the Advancement of Colored People</a> (NAACP). She had also attended the controversial Highlander Folk School in Tennessee, where a number of African Americans were trained in protest methods by labour radicals.</p>
<h2>Seizing the moment</h2>
<p>Parks’ protest did not come out of the blue. In 1954, the US Supreme Court verdict in the case of Brown v Board of Education signalled federal opposition to racial segregation. The court ruled that segregated public schools deprived African Americans of their entitlement to “equal protection of the laws”. And black leaders in Montgomery – including labour activists, NAACP members, and middle-class members of the Women’s Political Committee – had <a href="http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Dividing-Lines,1282.aspx">been campaigning</a> for better treatment for black people on the local buses for several years. </p>
<p>Parks’ refusal to give up her seat, and her subsequent arrest, seemed to offer these campaigners with the chance they had been looking for: to test the state’s bus segregation laws in the federal courts. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103780/original/image-20151130-10269-1k91bta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1073&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rosa Parks, with Martin Luther King Jr.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Rosaparks.jpg">USIA National Archives/Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As soon as they heard of Parks’ arrest, Women’s Political Committee leader Jo Ann Robinson and veteran trade unionist E. D. Nixon set about mobilising a community-wide boycott of the buses. Under the leadership of a charismatic, but previously unknown preacher named Martin Luther King Jr, the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) spearheaded the year-long boycott that captured the attention of the world and heaped pressure on the city’s white authorities to respond to black demands. </p>
<p>Initially, the MIA used the African American response to Rosa Parks’ arrest to campaign for better treatment of blacks on the segregated buses. But the NAACP wanted more – it offered legal assistance to the MIA, on condition that the organisation fight for full integration. </p>
<p>To avoid legal complications relating to Parks’ arraignment, she was not made a plaintiff in the case of <a href="http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_browder_v_gayle/">Browder v Gayle</a>, which challenged Alabama’s segregation laws. In November 1956, the US Supreme Court issued a brief and narrow ruling that, in the wake of the Brown decision, racial segregation on private buses in Montgomery was unlawful under the Fourteenth Amendment. </p>
<h2>A false dawn</h2>
<p>This judicial success proved to be a false dawn for the civil rights movement in the United States. Martin Luther King and other prominent activists <a href="https://www.routledge.com/products/9780582215320">soon found</a> that the Eisenhower administration had no intention of attacking racial segregation in the South with genuine vigour. Not until February 1960, when a group of black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, initiated the first of what proved to be a rash of “<a href="kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_sit_ins/index.html">sit-ins</a>” in segregated stores, did the movement really gain momentum . </p>
<p>The nonviolent direct action protests that followed in cities such as Birmingham and Selma would eventually bring African Americans in the South an unprecedented degree of political and social power. The US civil rights movement also had a significant impact on racial protest in other parts of the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/103778/original/image-20151130-10251-49ve8b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s own</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/20135180866/sizes/l">State Library of NSW/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Australia, students from the University of Sydney undertook their own “<a href="indigenousrights.net.au/civil_rights/freedom_ride,_1965">freedom ride</a>” in 1965 to expose racism against the country’s indigenous inhabitants. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, it was an inspiration for the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23795655">Bristol bus boycott</a> of 1963 and the Northern Ireland <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/the-making-of-martin-luther-king-and-the-civil-rights-movement-brian-ward/?sf1=barcode&st1=9780333640241">civil rights demonstrations</a> later in the decade.</p>
<p>Rosa Parks died in 2005. She earned her place in history, alongside hundreds of other brave men and women who helped end racial segregation by statute. Even today, the <a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/">Black Lives Matter movement</a> in the United States – sparked by the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/24/chicago-police-shooting-laquan-mcdonald-16-times-murder-charge">unlawful police killing</a> of African Americans – demonstrates that the activist spirit unleashed in Montgomery in 1955 lives on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rosa Parks was a hero in the fight against segregation … but she was just one of many.Robert Cook, Professor of American History, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/448112015-07-17T21:49:45Z2015-07-17T21:49:45ZIn Go Set a Watchman, the legal debate that racked America’s conscience<p>The brave, solitary figure standing up for justice against all odds has a claim on the heart. Meanwhile, the conservative traditionalist using legal arguments to cling to the past is justly forgotten. </p>
<p>That likely explains <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/07/13/422545987/harper-lees-watchman-is-a-mess-that-makes-us-reconsider-a-masterpiece">why a number of reviewers</a> have treated Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/27/sweet-home-alabama">like a dead rodent to be held at arm’s length while taken to the trash</a>.</p>
<p>For unlike Mockingbird’s Atticus – a lone hero who represented a disabled black man falsely accused of assaulting a white woman – the Atticus in Go Set a Watchman opposes Brown v Board of Education, which overturned segregation. He supports the <a href="http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/134814">White Citizens Council</a>, argues that African Americans haven’t earned their citizenship and worries what will happen if voter suppression efforts aren’t successful.</p>
<p>Yet this shouldn’t be a reason to disparage the novel; if anything, it presents a very real tension that many Americans were grappling with in the 1950s: how should they interpret the Constitution? And should the rule of law take precedent over justice being served?</p>
<p>In this sense, Atticus represents the past: strict adherence to the law, above all else. Meanwhile, his daughter Jean Louise (the adult Scout) represents a new strain of legal interpretation that’s devoted to justice for all.</p>
<p>Set in the fictional Maycomb, Alabama in the late 1950s amidst the push for integration and voting rights, the novel centers on a deep disagreement between Jean Louise Finch and her father, Atticus, over these civil rights issues.</p>
<p>In Jim Crow Alabama – where the law denies African Americans voting rights, limits their jury service and segregates them in school – this is what complicates the character of Atticus, who supports a Jim Crow society and thinks that the Constitution does, too. And it may explain the shift in Atticus’ character, from a lawyer defending a wrongly accused black man in Mockingbird, to a supporter of the White Citizens Council.</p>
<p>In Watchman, when African-American lawyers from the NAACP work in a neighboring county to challenge the exclusion of African Americans from serving on a jury, Atticus fears they may show up in Maycomb, too. </p>
<p>Here, the novel rings true to history. Stretching back to the 1930s, Alabamans had a deeply held fear of outside lawyers. One response was to run them out of town. Another was to lynch their clients. For example, in 1933, after two African-American men were shot to death in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the NAACP asked the US Department of Justice to prosecute local officials who were complicit with the lynchers. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/law/jurisprudence/karl-llewellyn-and-realist-movement-2nd-edition?format=PB">Karl Llewellyn</a> was a Columbia law professor and leader of the “legal realist” movement, which sought to understand what was actually happening between laws, enforcement of laws and the delivery of justice. In 1933, he argued on behalf of the NAACP that the intimidation of lawyers and their clients in Alabama – with the tacit approval of those in power – was hindering the proper enforcement of the law. Lynchings, Llewellyn said, were designed to intimidate the entire African-American community and to stop them from asserting their rights. </p>
<p>In Watchman, the efforts to stop African Americans from asserting their rights are somewhat more subtle. Atticus offers to represent a young African-American man accused of running over a drunk white man, but only so NAACP lawyers will not take on the case themselves – and then start asking questions about African-American jury service.</p>
<p>Alabama lawyers like Atticus still read the Constitution through the lens of white superiority. Jean Louise, recalling Atticus’ defense of Tom Robinson in the 1930s, tells him his ideas of justice “have nothing to do with people.” She calls his ideas “abstract justice written down item by item on a brief, nothing to do with that black boy.”</p>
<p>That’s just how many judges before the civil rights movement viewed constitutional law. For example, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes defended forced sterilization along similar terms when he <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/274/200">dismissed the equal protection claim</a> of a young woman about to be sterilized.</p>
<p>Jean Louise’s uncle tells her that Atticus will “always do it by the letter and by the spirit of the law.” Atticus’ version of the law was informed by the “separate but equal” doctrine, which had been the rule – up until Brown.</p>
<p>But it’s a vision of the law rooted in the past. On the one hand, Atticus won’t defend lynching, which was against the law (even if officials sometimes failed to enforce it). On the other, his narrow conception of the Constitution doesn’t extend to equal rights in schools, the voting booth or at the altar. </p>
<p>It isn’t just on race that Atticus is out of step with the times. He opposes social security, too. And he worries that even the “time-honored, common-law concept of property…has become almost extinct.”</p>
<p>Even Jean Louise is skeptical of Brown v Board of Education. She tells her father she thinks it’s inconsistent with the Tenth Amendment (which deals with states’ rights). This is an <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=IBvIFG6q4AkC&pg=PA17&dq=tenth+amendment+states+rights+segregation&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAGoVChMI4b3G2PzgxgIVjI4NCh0dfQCc#v=onepage&q=tenth%20amendment%20states%20rights%20segregation&f=false">argument</a> that was popular with states’ rights advocates and segregationists in the 1950s. </p>
<p>However, she also realizes that the Supreme Court has no choice – they “had to do it.”</p>
<p>“Atticus,” she says, “the time has come when we’ve got to do right.” She is, like the famous Karl Llewellyn, a legal realist when it comes to constitutional interpretation: she realizes that strict interpretation isn’t compatible with social realities.</p>
<p>There was a sense for Jean Louise, as for so many Americans of that era, that constitutional arguments about states’ rights were subordinate to grander principles of justice. The equal protection clause of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment was a principle that supported civil rights; but those who opposed civil rights found only principles of limited construction and state sovereignty. Jean Louise referred to the equal protection principle when she told Atticus she believed in the slogan “Equal rights for all; special privileges for none.”</p>
<p>In the 1950s, the world was changing. So was the meaning of law. The character of Jean Louise reflects the thinking of many Americans during the civil rights movement: that the Constitution was designed for equality, for voting rights and for better schools. Much has been written about how Watchman demotes Atticus from hero status. But the novel also demonstrates the idea that the Constitution stood for principles of equality.</p>
<p>The train that brought Jean Louise back to Maycomb also brought new ideas that would become central to the civil rights movement. In that respect, Watchman is more inspirational than Mockingbird, for it supports the view that the Constitution is forward-looking, and that our nation – not just some heroic lawyer – is doing something about civil rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44811/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alfred L. Brophy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The novel’s two main characters represent the constitutional conundrum that many Americans grappled with in the pre-civil rights era.Alfred L. Brophy, Judge John J Parker Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/433052015-06-16T16:10:19Z2015-06-16T16:10:19ZSpokane’s black community embraces white allies, so what’s behind Rachel Dolezal’s perplexing deception?<p>In the latest chapter of the peculiar story of Rachel Dolezal, Dolezal officially resigned from her leadership position with the Spokane, Washington NAACP yesterday <a href="https://www.facebook.com/spokane.naacp/posts/1623781377868883">via Facebook</a>. </p>
<p>While Dolezal’s remained committed to the cause of social and political justice in her note, she spoke nothing of her decision to take on a black identity. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever know the depths of her reasoning.</p>
<p>But when it comes to the story of Rachel Dolezal, a little context goes a long way in understanding why black Spokane residents may have supported Dolezal’s leadership prior to this scandal. With white allies needed more than ever, it also makes one question Dolezal’s actual motives – and whether or not she was truly committed to social and political justice. </p>
<h2>Being black in the Pacific Northwest</h2>
<p>Like Rachel Dolezal, I lived in Spokane. And while Dolezal taught African American history at Eastern Washington University, I taught the same subject at Spokane’s Gonzaga University, where I was also the advisor to the Black Student Union. </p>
<p>Had I stayed, it may have only been a matter time before Rachel and I met. Perhaps we’d have even become friends (we’re both Howard University alums). And we both probably would have talked about how being black in the Pacific Northwest is a unique experience; in Spokane – where the African American population <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/14/became-a-black-woman-spokane-rachel-dolezal-black-girl">hovers around 2%</a> – being black is largely a struggle for significance.</p>
<p>When I advised the Black Student Union (BSU), our membership was about 30% to 40% non-African American. We had Latino members and Filipino members. And if white students wanted to join, they were welcomed, no questions asked. </p>
<p>Because diversity at Gonzaga and in the Pacific Northwest is dismal, solidarity was paramount; no one ever seemed to question the presence of other marginalized groups or white allies because they viewed them as students with the same goals.</p>
<h2>White guilt, or something more pathological?</h2>
<p>Therefore, Dolezal’s deception elicits many questions, namely: <em>why?</em> </p>
<p>Could it be white guilt? Perhaps Dolezal is a modern-day John Brown, the white radical abolitionist. Frederick Douglass once <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html">described Brown</a> as “a white gentleman” who “is in sympathy a black man, and as deeply interested in our cause, as though his own soul had been pierced with the iron of slavery.” </p>
<p>So maybe Dolezal sympathized with the African American experience to such an extent that she decided to engage in a form of racial suicide, forfeiting her privilege entirely. She made herself marginalized even in the face of threats from the Ku Klux Klan, as she’s claimed. </p>
<p>These purported hate crime cases (which have been <a href="http://www.krem.com/longform/news/local/spokane-county/2015/06/10/detectives-question-naacp-hate-mail-processing/71043278/">suspended</a> by the Spokane Police Department) lead to another explanation for her actions: pathological behavior, perhaps born out of mental illness. </p>
<p>After all, her experiences – put together – seem just too extreme for one person to have faced over the course of one life. Most African Americans discuss their encounters with racism in the form of <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/02/microaggression.aspx">micro-aggressions</a> – the subtle, daily forms of racism that reinforce white supremacy in work, school or social activities. </p>
<p>Did the KKK really burglarize each of her homes and frequently send her hate mail? Did she grow up in a teepee and bow-hunt for her food, <a href="http://easterneronline.com/35006/eagle-life/a-life-to-be-heard/#sthash.1aUk3liU.BXipJrXp.dpbs">as she’s claimed</a>?</p>
<p>These stories sound like lazy caricatures of racism and race. And to have gone to such lengths to concoct and spread such myths (if they’re found to be untrue) – well, that sounds like grounds for some intensive counseling. </p>
<p>Worse, because of Dolezal’s actions, more and more biracial and multiracial Americans could be confronted with micro-aggressions, like questions about the authenticity and legitimacy of their blackness: “Are you black?” or the even more sinister, “What are you?”</p>
<h2>White allies needed more than ever before</h2>
<p>Let’s be clear: Dolezal passing for African American is completely different from when African Americans have passed as white. “Passing” – as some African Americans have done throughout history – largely stemmed from a place of oppression. </p>
<p>Passing to join the military, obtain a bank loan or gain acceptance into a particular school was part of navigating a racist, segregated society. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/20/light-girls-skin-bleaching-phenomenon_n_6503630.html">Skin bleaching</a> – and the self-hatred that accompanies it – are painful consequences of a discriminatory world that has deemed blackness a bad thing. Though hilarious on TV, Dave Chappelle’s <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/tumblr_m5vc3oGAhr1qglvrpo1_1280.png">Clayton Bigsby</a> – a blind and black white supremacist – could never exist in the real world. </p>
<p>Which leads to the third rationale for Dolezal’s actions: power couched in white privilege. </p>
<p>By some logic, Dolezal’s rejection of her whiteness is an extreme form of white privilege. No black woman could ever navigate whiteness so successfully that she could become, say, president of the Daughters of the Confederacy. Yet Dolezal was able to seamlessly enter a world where she was given the benefit of the doubt – likely because she was positioning herself as a minority. And she didn’t simply use deception to <em>join</em> a traditionally black group; she used deception to <em>lead</em> one. </p>
<p>Moreover, her actions clearly undermine the significant value of white allies. Yes, the NAACP didn’t even have its first black national president until 1975. But in what could be a warped form of maternalism, Dolezal deemed herself the authority on what was best for the black community and other marginalized groups. </p>
<p>When black people throw their hands up in frustration, it’s not because they can’t lead. It’s because their so-called allies refuse to follow. Dolezal could have been just as powerful – perhaps even more powerful – if she had been a white ally. </p>
<p>What might it mean to see a white person marching with a sign that read Black Lives Matter? The image of progress can’t be a minister preaching to the choir. </p>
<p>Dolezal didn’t just assume African American cultural accouterments; she occupied spaces and positions where we expect to see a black face. Dolezal’s deceptions goes along the lines of what Toni Morrison once said during a talk at Howard University: “White people steal what’s yours, and then they sell it back to you.” </p>
<p>Except Dolezal isn’t selling albums like <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3123904/Aboriginal-activist-accuses-Iggy-Azalea-adopting-black-persona-comparing-civil-rights-leader-outed-white-woman.html">Iggy Azalea</a>, the singer who’s also drawing some criticism for assuming a black identity. </p>
<p>Instead, Dolezal’s peddling a bill of goods, a knock-off version of what she thinks is blackness. And because she is doing so in a place like Spokane, where blackness and allies are hard to come by, we buy it.</p>
<p>But while we need allies, we don’t need avatars.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kellie Carter Jackson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Blacks need allies, not avatars.Kellie Carter Jackson, Assistant Professor of History, Hunter CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/359452015-01-19T06:40:42Z2015-01-19T06:40:42ZBlack leaders matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/69264/original/image-20150116-5201-1gnsa9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The "engineer" of civil rights legal victories </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">law2.umkc.edu</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The civil rights movement produced many different types of leaders. </p>
<p>Thurgood Marshall, argued successfully before the Supreme Court that racial segregation laws violated the US Constitution. </p>
<p>Diane Nash, a college student at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, led sit-ins and freedom rides. Those efforts helped outlaw racial segregation in public places. </p>
<p>Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the most significant civic leaders in American history, inspired common people and influenced US Presidents. For over a decade, he led a nonviolent movement that promoted social, political and economic justice. </p>
<p>King, Nash, and many others exerted tremendous pressure on President Lyndon Johnson and the US Congress, and those efforts helped pass national voting rights legislation.</p>
<p>But for all these achievements, Americans have more work to do. </p>
<h2>Economic, education, legal inequalities</h2>
<p>Today, black people living in urban ghettos suffer the effects of decades of housing segregation. They live far from employment opportunities. Almost all of their neighbors are poor, which limits the types of professional networks they can access. </p>
<p>The cost of living in American cities rises each year while for decades wages for working people have <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/sunday-review/americas-productivity-climbs-but-wages-stagnate.html?_r=0">flat-lined.</a> Public schools in cities like New York City and Philadelphia are now more racially segregated than they were in the <a href="http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integration-and-diversity/ny-norflet-report-placeholder/Kucsera-New-York-Extreme-Segregation-2014.pdf">1960s.</a> The Supreme Court has limited policies that promoted affirmative action and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/25/us/annotated-supreme-court-decision-on-voting-rights-act.html">voting rights.</a> Many police departments, district attorneys, judges and juries arrest, imprison, and even kill black people at rates significantly higher than the African American proportion of the <a href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_ICCPR%20Race%20and%20Justice%20Shadow%20Report.pdf">total population.</a> </p>
<p>We are witnessing a contemporary civil rights crisis in America. </p>
<p>In recent months, new waves of protest for social justice have arisen across the country. Like the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, today’s leaders are fighting for African Americans’ human and civil rights. </p>
<p>They have articulated a simple and powerful idea: <a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/">“Black Lives Matter.”</a> </p>
<p>Inevitably, the effectiveness of the Black Lives Matter Movement will hinge upon whether its leaders can produce tangible changes in America’s political, educational, and criminal justice systems. </p>
<h2>Helpful to examine those who went before</h2>
<p>Biographies of past leaders offer many useful lessons for today’s citizens and activists. Well-researched biographies teach the importance of leaders having clear political ideas, strategic alliances, well-organized institutions, and effective tactics. They also show that many different styles, ideas, and approaches existed. The civil rights movement’s successes came from the diversity, dynamism, and dedication of its leaders, not the charisma and influence of a single messiah. </p>
<p>Life stories of significant leaders, especially those who are not well-known, also reveal that they sometimes did not live to see their efforts end in success. Generations of leaders contributed to the civil rights movement’s accomplishments. Successful movements often span many lifetimes. </p>
<p>A brief sketch of the life of Charles Hamilton Houston illustrates these points. </p>
<p>Born in 1895, Hamilton graduated from Amherst College and served as a First Lieutenant in the US Infantry during World War I. It was that experience that helped set his eventual path: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The hate and scorn showered on us Negro officers by our fellow Americans convinced me that there was no sense in my dying for a world ruled by them. I made up my mind that if I got through this war I would study law and use my time fighting for men who could <a href="http://www.naacp.org/pages/naacp-history-charles-hamilton-houston">not strike back.</a> </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hamilton attended Harvard Law School where he was the first African American to become editor of the Law Review. He became a professor at Howard University Law School in the 1920s, and then dean in the early 1930s.</p>
<p>Houston trained the cadre of civil rights attorneys who, under his direction, played a major role in nearly all of the civil rights cases before the US Supreme Court in the 1940s and 1950s. </p>
<p>The strategy he developed led to the landmark Brown vs Board of Education case in 1954, which famously struck down <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483">"separate but equal”</a> doctrine that perpetuated racial segregation in public schools. It was a major civil rights victory. </p>
<p>Houston had a clear philosophy about the law and how black lawyers could effect real change in a racially entrenched society. He believed that the law should promote positive, peaceful forms of <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1PjEDn9XizkC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=Charles+hamilton+Houston+sentinels+guarding&source=bl&ots=-W38DLnuox&sig=0eiFbjCs44zQFAzqiuuGcE5hIKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v1S5VOW2Mu6asQSkqIKwCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=social%20engineering&f=false">“social engineering.”</a></p>
<p>Gradual changes in our legal system, Houston argued, would ensure justice for all American citizens, especially African Americans. As an educator, Houston’s goal was to train lawyers to become <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1PjEDn9XizkC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=Charles+hamilton+Houston+sentinels+guarding&source=bl&ots=-W38DLnuox&sig=0eiFbjCs44zQFAzqiuuGcE5hIKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v1S5VOW2Mu6asQSkqIKwCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Charles%20hamilton%20Houston%20sentinels%20guarding&f=false">“sentinels guarding against wrong.”</a> He often told students, “a lawyer’s either a social engineer or he’s a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1PjEDn9XizkC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=Charles+hamilton+Houston+sentinels+guarding&source=bl&ots=-W38DLnuox&sig=0eiFbjCs44zQFAzqiuuGcE5hIKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v1S5VOW2Mu6asQSkqIKwCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=parasite%20on%20society&f=false/">parasite on society.”</a> The work and accomplishments of just one of Houston’s protégés, Thurgood Marshall, proved his philosophy’s effectiveness. </p>
<p>In the late 1930s Houston also led the legal team for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Before he died in 1950, he had mounted legal challenges against racial discrimination in housing and employment. Looking back on the civil rights movement’s tremendous legal victories, Marshall told an audience in 1978 that “Charlie Houston,” was the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1PjEDn9XizkC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=Charles+hamilton+Houston+sentinels+guarding&source=bl&ots=-W38DLnuox&sig=0eiFbjCs44zQFAzqiuuGcE5hIKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v1S5VOW2Mu6asQSkqIKwCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Charlie%20Houston&f=false">“engineer of it all.”</a> </p>
<p>Houston was a powerful leader because he possessed a clear vision of how black lawyers, and the law itself, could change American social life in positive ways. He advanced this idea through institutions and organizations. He trained other leaders to carry on this work. </p>
<p>Houston did not live to see his work’s greatest achievements but, for a time, the legal victories Houston helped design made America a more just and equitable society. </p>
<p>After Houston died, whenever Marshall and other lawyers who worked on the Brown case got stuck on a problem, they’d often ask, “What would Charlie say?” </p>
<p>It is a question we would do well to keep asking.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/35945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian J Purnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The civil rights movement produced many different types of leaders. Thurgood Marshall, argued successfully before the Supreme Court that racial segregation laws violated the US Constitution. Diane Nash…Brian J Purnell, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.