On Campus thinking About Du Bois

Getting that conference paper done. As you can tell, this section clearly deals with the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois. I can honestly say that I have read just about everything written by him and about him.

King and The Christian Century

Something to meditate on this Sunday: The Christian Century was at the front of using faith as a medium to drive society toward racial reconciliation in its publications circa 1960. My students read MLK JRs Letter from a Birmingham Jail which was first published here; I think back to Du Bois’s Will the Church Remove the Color Line?, which too was published in The Christian Century in 1931.

The Christian Century published a nice essay regarding King’s work, here.

Conference Paper (Revisting the Problem of the Twentieth Century)

Below is a copy of the conference press release. I am working hard to get this paper as well as another one completed for journal submission.

— FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —

The Saint James Conference 2013

Friday 14 June through Sunday 16 June

Saint James School, St. James, Maryland

Papers

“Revisiting the Problem of the Twentieth Century: Will Evangelical and

Faith-Based Schools Mend the Color Line in the Twenty-First Century?”

Mr. Edward Carson

Instructor, Department of History & Social Science

Houston Christian High School, Texas

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“How We Make Christ Present in School Ministry”

The Rev. D. Stuart Dunnan, D.Phil (Oxon)

Rector & Headmaster

Saint James School, Maryland

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“Tom Brown’s School Days, Thomas Arnold, and Classical Christian Education Today”

James Freeman, Ph.D

Headmaster, Alpine Classical School

Alpine, West Texas

“Christianity and Honor:  A Traditional Concern in 21st-Century Schools”

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David Hein, Ph.D, FRHistS

Professor of Religion & Philosophy

Hood College, Maryland

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“The Demise of Compulsory Chapel in New England Boarding Schools”

Frederick Jordan, Ph.D

History Department Chair

Woodberry Forest School, Virginia

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“Apostles of Education: The Role of the Bishops in Promoting Episcopal Schools, 1783 to 1873”

The Rev. Dr. Charles R. Henery

Formerly Helmuth Professor of Ecclesiastical History and the John Maury Allin Distinguished Professor of Homiletics, Nashotah House Theological Seminary, Wisconsin

Director of Spiritual Life, St.John’s-Northwestern Military Academy

Delafield, Wisconsin

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A scholarly response and open Q & A will follow each paper presentation.

Conference Moderator

The Reverend W. L. “Chip” Prehn, Ph.D (Charlottesville)

Headmaster, Trinity School

Midland, West Texas

Saturday Afternoon Panelists

Father Dunnan, Father Henery, Dr. Freeman, Father F. Washington Jarvis, Dr. Jordan

Conference Chaplain

The Reverend Dr. O. William Daniel, Jr.

Chaplain, Saint James School, Maryland

The Conference will begin with Evensong at 5:30 P.M. on Friday, June 14^th.

Lodging and all meals will be provided on the Saint James campus.

The Conference will close on Sunday following Holy Eucharist and Brunch.

Saint James School is situated in the Great Valley of America, sixty-five miles northwest of Washington, D.C.  Dulles is the nearest airport.  The school is only six miles from the Sharpsburg/Antietam National Battlefield and quite close to the intersection of Interstate Highways 70 and 81.  Historic Harper’s Ferry WV is also near.

The Purpose of the Saint James Conference

Founded in A.D. 2012 as part of the celebration of Father Stuart Dunnan’s twentieth anniversary as Headmaster of historic Saint James School, Maryland, the Saint James Conference is a gathering of friends, educators, and scholars from all over North America and abroad.  Convening as Christians dedicated at once to the premier education of the whole person and to the historic Faith of the Church, conference participants will engage with scholars, worship and pray together, and enjoy the hospitality of Saint James School in beautiful Western Maryland.  The campus is one of the most beautiful in America.

Most independent school educators attend conferences and workshops designed to give them state-of-the-art practical knowledge in one kind or another; for example, of educational psychology, of statistical studies, of educational anthropology, of curriculum development, of educational technology, of brain research, or of the latest tips on pedagogy.  The Saint James Conference complements other kinds of professional development by affording educators the opportunity to gain insights and inspiration from the latest scholarship in the humanities, history, literature, classics, theology, philosophy, economics, biblical studies, and other disciplines considered under the aspect of liberal education and the liberal arts.  New knowledge and interpretations in these fields can lead directly to conceptual changes in the world, and these conceptual changes do alter how we teach, how we learn, and how we relate to one another in and out of school.  Thus it is crucial that we school folk consider these other disciplines in our continuing education.

The inaugural Conference in June 2012 was a most enjoyable fellowship of Christian focus, hearty conversation, solid learning, debate, and worthy inspiration.  (The meals were delicious!)  Said one Conference participant, “This was truly one of the most wonderful experiences I’ve ever had in terms of professional development.  It was not only high-toned and the papers were very stimulating, but the genuine camaraderie we enjoyed in just a few days was very useful to me as an independent school educator.  This was a very special gathering.”

The Conference begins with Evensong at 5:30 P.M. on June 14^th.

All participants and guests will find lodging and meals at Saint James School

and/or at the nearby Hagerstown Sleep Inn.  The Conference is a great bargain!

  For cost info, more details, and to register:

www.stjames.edu/SJSConf2013

Saint James and the Church School Movement

Saint James School (1842) is the oldest Episcopal college preparatory school in the United States built on the unique and eminently successful “Church school” model established by William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796-1877) and his immediate protégés, John Barrett Kerfoot (1816-1883), Henry Augustus Coit (1830-1895), and J. Lloyd Breck (1818-1876).  The movement began in 1828 on Long Island.  The disciples founded Saint James, St. Paul’s in New Hampshire (1856), and the Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Minnesota (1858).  Faculty from Saint James School founded not only St. Paul’s, Concord, but Saint Mark’s, Southborough MA (1865), Racine College in Wisconsin (1852), and other schools.  The founders of Groton School in Massachusetts (1884), TMI-Episcopal in Texas (1893), the Pomfret School in Connecticut (1894), St. George’s School in Rhode Island (1896), St. Andrew’s School in Sewanee TN (1904), and the Kent School in Connecticut (1906) named Muhlenberg and his disciples the pioneers of their own philosophy and practice.

Revisiting the Color Line

Working Conference Paper: Revisiting the Problem of the Twentieth Century: Will Evangelical and Faith-Based Schools Mend the Color Line in the Twenty-First Century?

In my recent paper, I get to discuss the black and white point of view about segregation.

From the point of view of blacks and their white allies, desegregation needed to happen since segregation not only violated the 14th amend of the Constitution, but separate and equal were deemed wholly unconstitutional in 1954. Hence, as noted by Thomas Jones of the U.S Bureau of Education,  “Inadequacy and poverty are the outstanding characteristics of every type and grade of education for Negroes.” So, the state perpetuated the notion of cyclical poverty and inferiority among blacks. Jim Crow marked decades of institutional problems. However, anti-desegregation whites believed that the matter of education was not addressed in the Constitution. Actors such as members of the Dixiecrat Party viewed it as a 10th amend matter. Democrats and many Republicans held true to this too. Thus according to segregationist, the construct of states’ rights should manifest the will of the majority. I guess the point to ponder is to what extent were whites pro-segregation.

Segregationist whites viewed the race issue as a violation of state sovereignty and a Constitutional matter. I am still unclear about why.

The Crucifying of Christ by the White South

The image below–”Christmas in Georgia, 1916,” by Lorenzo Harris, and taken from the December 1916 issue of The Crisis (pp. 78-79). The caption reads: “Inasmuch as ye did unto the least of these, My brethren, ye did it unto Me.”

“Christ Recrucified” (1922)

The South is crucifying Christ again
Christ’s awful wrong is that he’s dark of hue
The sin for which no blamelessness atones;
But lest the sameness of the cross should tire,
They kill him now with famished tongues of fire,
And while he burns, good men, and women, too,
Shout, battling for his black and brittle bones.

“The Black Christ” (1929)

O Form immaculately born,
Betrayed a thousand times each morn,
As many times each night denied,
Surrendered, tortured, crucified!
That love which has no boundary;
Our eyes have looked on Calvary (135-136).

[Source: James H. Smylie, “Countee Cullen’s ‘The Black Christ,’” Theology Today38/2 (July 1981): 160-73]

 

God is Black, but

…does it really matter? For some Americans — yes, it does matter; however, for others — it does not. Black Americans are going through a religious transformation, one predicated on class; a topic I will continue to blog about.

Jesus Christ has been portrayed in a number of  ways and by a number of groups. As religious scholar Stephen Prothero noted in his American Jesus: There is a Jesus Christ in all of us, regardless if one is a believer or non-believer. Jesus is ubiquitous in American culture, as seen and/or heard in movies, art work, and musical lyrics. I recall a post written on this blog by Turner Batdorf, in which he noted how Family Guy uses religion to drive its point: “One of Family Guy’s biggest targets is American Protestantism and the values that the average American calls American values, despite its Puritan origin. Family Guy’s approach to Protestantism is simple: to make God and Jesus look as silly and ridiculous as possible…. On a consistent basis, Family Guy portrays God as a womanizer, a drunk, and someone not able to control his powers.”

Though the American landscape has become keenly aware of the comical nature of Jesus, it still struggles at times with the more complex avenues of who is God, as painted by academicians. The question of race and God is cemented among the most divisive topics. I recall once a conversation by a white female who stated how disappointed she would be to die and find out that God is black. In an earlier post, I noted historian Edward Blum’s Jesus — as depicted by W.E.B Du Bois. I wrote that Blum discusses the Gospel according to Mary Brown and her child Joshua, who represent one of Du Bois’s black biblical characters who found comfort among those who were societal outcasts. He, who was [the black] Jesus Christ, marched with the poor, with sinners, and communists; however, this Christ was not embraced by whites. Better yet, this Christ was lynched by the white South because they could not accept a Christ that accepted all people, especially the American Negro. Because of this, Joshua was killed by the very people who awaited him – the Christian South. I often wonder about the thought processes of religious bigots who believe their God will accept them into His kingdom as a hater of people. I suspect many Christians do not realize they are destined to the one place they are trying to avoid, Hell. Furthermore, much of the historical literature paints a deeply racist American South in which Christians often attend Church in the morning, only to lynch blacks in the evening.

As noted by Prothero, Americans have their own image of God. That became clear when Morgan Freeman portrayed God in the hit movie Bruce Almighty. According to a New York Times article:

At this point, there’s a little bit of God in everything Freeman does. It’s as if he has transcended race by transcending human frailty. He seems less like an actor and more like an emissary from some higher, more decorous plane, which makes him the ideal host for a show like “Through the Wormhole,” a brisk and accessible primer on the various ways that today’s way-out-there science is becoming indistinguishable from science fiction.

Though not all Americans embrace the notion of a black God, it has been noted that many white Americans believe Morgan Freeman is God. This clearly supports what the NY Times article stated: Regardless of race, Freeman transcends race in a way that very few can.  For most people, God has long been this old white-haired man with a long white beard. But that image has shifted. God is now Morgan Freeman; he is the first image that comes to mind when one ponders the image of God. Thus, God is not black, white, Asian, or Hispanic. This simply means I must revise the title of this post to God is not Black. God is Morgan Freeman, an actor who has been able to transcend race. Freeman makes us forget about race.

Du Bois at Baylor

W.E.B. Du Bois said, on the launch of his groundbreaking 1903 treatise The Souls of Black Folk, “for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line”—a prescient statement. Setting out to show to the reader “the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century,” Du Bois explains the meaning of the emancipation, and its effect, and his views on the role of the leaders of his race. Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.

Du Bois continues to be significant in the 21st century, as noted by Madeline Sneed, a former student of mine at Baylor University. She saw this while walking across campus.

What Are You Working On?

Working Title and Paper: Revisiting the Problem of the Twentieth Century: Will Evangelical and Faith-Based Schools Mend the Color Line in the Twenty-First Century?

Currently, my most recent research and writing project explores WEB Du Bois’s notion of the color line; he noted that the problem of the 20^th century was that of the color line. I have spent the past two years doing archival work on Du Bois in an effort to construct a document reader, one that I am co-authoring. Drawing from my archival work, the basic premise of my current paper explores the letters, writings, and publications via The Crisis in which Du Bois addressed the academic and religious divide among blacks and whites in society, as well as in education. Du Bois continued to add tension to the conversation by putting into question his sense of religiosity. His sense of faith brings in various debates regarding his belief in God…and not just among whites – but blacks, too. His faith mixed in with his Marxist leanings creates an interesting topic regarding the color line, education, and the Negro plight.

The initial point of my work explores Du Bois and his construction as it relates to race, faith, and education. It transitions into the late 20^th and early 21^st century as I attempt to analyze the question of the color line. My paper will be of most interest to many in that it attempts to highlight the concept of racial identity; it will address matters of multi-ethnicity as more than a modern phenomenon and a novel condition. Drawing from the age of Du Bois to the 1960’s origin that defined black as beautiful, black Americans sought a sense of pride and unity in their hair and cultural make-up. Thus, with a rising number of blacks attending college, a bourgeois attitude towards race, faith, and culture became cemented. However, the following 40 years witnessed a shift in which black American’s “sense” of self declined due to the values assigned by various member in society. Much like in the age of Du Bois, black thinkers and members of the black community have witnessed a shift in religious beliefs, class expectations, and behavioral norms.

The question of community and self brings back to light the notion of the color line in the 21^st century. Students and faculty members of color have often been predicated on the notion of self-worth. This is noted in popular culture and is systematic in independent schools in which mainstream values are defined for them: language, dress, faith, and ideology. These latter components create newly minted historical questions of historical phenomena that should be debated among scholars and within the environment of independent schools. Hence, the challenges faced by Du Bois are still present. The question of evangelical and faith-based schools mending those challenges is explored in this work.

The Decline of African American Religion

With Easter Sunday just passing, a slew of resurrection films, documentaries on Jesus Christ, and academic pieces debating the merit of Heaven and Hell on the History Channel have once again inundated our living rooms. I greatly enjoy this time of the year due to the diversity of discussions about Christ, and that of religion in general. However, this post is not one seeking to articulate my beliefs or the beliefs of my friends and colleagues; it is a post offering some reflective thoughts regarding the general nature of religiosity, and its subsequent impact on both the American conservative and liberal.

Growing up in the home of agnostics, Easter carried very little meaning. But, as is the case for many Americans, it provided an opportunity for some discussion on faith. In general, American blacks are highly spiritual and far more conservative than mainstream white culture realizes. However, the notion of black liberalism is encapsulated by societal constructs forcing blacks to eradicate racism, fight classism, and promote cultural views of themselves in the media; it is the latter point that has brought about a false assumption of black ghettoization; hence, black folks killing black folks; promoters of the welfare state; and the perception of dominant sexual beings vis-à-vis Yo MTV Rap, a once popular music video show. Keep in mind, there is a difference between being spiritual and that of religious; I suspect many black brothers and sisters attend church not for the religious value of salvation, but the comfort of the spiritual.

In truth, the majority of black folks are highly conservative. Often time, conservative to a point that contradicts the general gains manifested during the civil rights era. Thus, the church has long been the center of black social, political, and economic discourse between both the academic brother, and that of the common layperson. Yet, there are black folks that have drifted away from mainstream Protestant and Catholic beliefs; in part, this is manifested by a sense of suspicion in the two mainstream religious cannons. I think back to the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois, whose notion of religiosity is prevalent in his writings and artwork, but not always clearly defined. This is one reason there is some debate among Du Bosian scholars about the extent to which he is religious. Being an academic with Du Boisian interest, I find great conflicts in his religious prowess, where much of my confusion centers on his belief in Christ. He references Christ in his writings, at times noting that Christ is a symbol of socialism, and denoting how society should care for each other.

A mistake many make is they assume Karl Marx concocted this whole notion of socialism. But yet, there is evidence that it existed well before Marx. After all, “Jesus preceded Marx historically by nearly 19 centuries.  In addition, Marx built his entire socialist philosophy on the initial premise that God is merely a human delusion, and the second that religion is nothing more than an “opiate of the masses.”  Thus, Du Bois’s framework of Christ as a symbol of socialism clearly reflects his suspicion of the existence of Christ as a divine being.

Though most of us are not at the intellectual level of Du Bois, it is safe to say that black religiosity has declined since the 1970s.  The 21^st century black church is in a dilemma. With the civil rights era over, black folks witnessed the rise of neoconservatives during the late 1970s. Such neoconservatives elected a conservative regime that declared war on black society. Thus, with the rise of hip hop and gangster rap, and the demise of the Black Panthers and the black church, black folks turned to gangs and other practices of socialization. Now, this is not a ubiquitous phenomenon. There is a vibrant black middle class aiming to hold on to the cultural value promulgated in the black church; however, many of the black bourgeoisie look toward the intellectual notion of ideology as a guide. Like Du Bois, the more education blacks gain, the more secular they are in thought. Yet, this secular element is more conservative than what existed during the civil rights era. As noted before, hip-hop and Jesus Christ are not synonymous; however, the two are drawn together through a “sense” of spiritual reconciliation.  Christians contend that the Bible offers hope and understanding to those that are lost. The hip-hop artist also contends that his lyrics offer a “sense” of hope and salvation, much like that of Jesus Christ. Religious historians have given very little attention to the impact religion has had on hip-hop and rap culture.

As noted by Anthony Pinn, this demoting of black churches will not simply result from external pressures” — those opposed to churches for whatever reason(s) — but will also result from internal inconsistencies and conservatism. How can churches address current and pressing issues of discrimination when sexism and homophobia are so very alive within pulpits and pews? How can these churches speak to the integrity of life when in practice and conversation they reflect a deep distrust and discomfort with physical bodies and how they give and receive pleasure? How can churches address in sustainable ways community development when they can’t manage their own budgets?”

Honoring Communist Du Bois: The Champion of a Race

One of my upper-school administrators gave me an article published from the wire report in the Houston Chronicle about W.E.B. Du Bois. I have written a few conference papers about Du Bois, and I teach and disseminate his writings frequently in my courses. I first read his Souls of Black Folk while a junior in high school. Thus, my interest in him comes from his intellectual curiosity and his activism against the democracy of racism that  was so inculcated in American culture. As I have noted on this blog before, Du Bois is  “perceived” as a radical by those who cannot understand the plight of 20th century blacks in an undemocratic society once called Jim Crow America. In my classes, I try to emphasize to students  how important it is that they do not conform to rules of textbooks and tradition, but to explore truths in a deconstructing way. Hence, the truly bright ones might one day eradicate falsities that have contributed to the problem of the 21st century. Du Bois concluded that this problem is one of race and economics: “for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line”-a prescient statement. Setting out to show to the reader the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century.

Though I am currently working on a book about Du Bois and have read a number of works about him, I still find  some but not many faults in him for abandoning America in the 1950s. He set sail for Ghana in self-exile as a member of the Communist Party. However, this action and his writings, do not make him a radical. He was a communist; he was a communist for many good reasons; I think he is being honored because he championed a vanguard of academics and civil rights advocates. Du Bois literally transformed the concept of race and class in America.

According to a recent report:

“He’s the most famous son of a quit mountain hamlet in western Massachusetts. But until recently, people looking for signs of W.E.B. Du Bois’s life and legacy in Great Barrington would have had a hard time finding them. The Civil rights activists and black scholar is set to be featured prominently as the town readies to celebrate its 250th birthday. In addition, a portion of the River Walk has been named in his honor and organizers are planning a Du Bois guided-tour of the town. In previous years, almost all planned events or projects were met with resistance by residents upset over his radical views and membership in the Communist Party.

The Religion of Hip-Hop and the Music of Jesus Christ

Hip-hop and Jesus Christ are not synonymous; however, the two are drawn together through a “sense” of spiritual reconciliation.  Christians contend that the Bible offers hope and understanding to those that are lost. The hip-hop artist also contends that his lyrics offer a “sense” of hope and salvation, much like that of Jesus Christ. Religious historians have given very little attention to the impact religion has had on hip-hop and rap culture. Though, there is a natural juxtaposition here.

Edward Blum’s W.E. B. Du Bois presents Jesus Christ as a savior: a God who walked with communist, sinners, blacks, and others. The great debate, or post-modern questions is this: Who is Jesus Christ? Believers will tell you that He is the Son of God. He is a part of a complex matrix called the Trinity. Others will tell you that He is a great prophet who told moral tales in times of strife and chaos. Then there are those that find him to be too mythical to have ever existed in the current form that society knows him as.  Historians look at Christ through multiple frames. Scholars of American Religion, such as Blum and Phillip Sinitiere, take a dynamic approach by juxtaposing Him as a savior of a race. But note, not that of the Jews – but of black folks.

This spiritual and racial personification can be seen through the lens of historical actors like Harriet Tubman, also known as black Moses, due to her efforts in rescuing enslaved blacks from the depths of the plantation system. Nat Turner, the enslaved leader of the 1831 slave rebellion, stated that God told him in a dream to free the colored people from their bondage, as well as killing their masters. Thus, his historical attack was the worse ever. After such a rebellion, many slaveholders forbade Negro worship in isolation.  Hence, allowing for integrated worship with whites.[1]Slaves heard the Old Testament tales of oppression by the unrighteous.  Due to such oral examples, many looked to a hero – that being Jesus Christ.

 

The historiography of slavery is one that continues to be redefined. Though the topic of Negro religion has long been one of interest by historians, the mere impact of slave religion on modern culture is new.  I hope to finish drafting a paper for UrbanFaith which examines the anthropological and historical impact Jesus Christ has had on both hip-hop and rap music; if one were to look at many artist and listen to their lyrics, there is often a sense of racial oppression due to modern-day conditions that date back to the historical roots of Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman.

Above: The late controversial rapper, Tupac Shakur, was a devote Christian. He addressed his pains and life as a gangster in his music. Thus, the rapper sought faith through his lyrics as a form of prayer. Note the lines from his rap song, God:

When I was alone, and had nothing
I asked for a friend to help me bear the pain
No one came, except God
When I needed a breath to rise, from my sleep
No one could help me.. except God
When all I saw was sadness, and I needed answers
No one heard me, except God
So when I’m asked.. who I give my
unconditional love to?
I look for no other name, except God

In a draft of my paper analyzing the significance of teaching the 1980s in United States history survey courses, I noted that urban blacks felt oppressed by a conservative government looking to enrich the wealthy, while impoverishing the poor at an alarming rate; I do not agree with this; however, my opinion is not relevant to a generation of hip-hop artist and rappers singing about the racial brutality imposed by the police. Rap music quickly conflated the role of gangs and religion; Jesus Christ was found as the head of the gang known as the Bloods; h[H]e would rescue the youth from their enslavement of American racism.

Above: Peter Gomes

Peter Gomes, a man I deeply admire for his scholarship, faith, and willingness to address his personal life[2], noted in his work, The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart, stated that American society all but looked to our great leaders and their devotion to Christ. He mentioned the born-again Christian in Jimmy Carter who took time to teach Sunday school classes while being the leader of the free world. Ronald Reagan, a man who sought to build the strength of America off of the values of Christianity.[3] Gomes praised George W. Bush for his professed faith in Christ, as well as his fervor for showcasing it, too. But, there is a disconnect when it comes to the faith of public official and that of black music artist. In the mind of the young black teen, public officials represent a societal paradox. Sure, they are great men, but often time they represent the constructs and authority in which urban youths are looking to teardown. This creates a vacuum. Young black Christians find their identity not in a government, but in the hip-hop/rap artist. The artist has taken on the role of apostle Paul, who made a number of missionary journeys in hopes of bringing the gospel of Christ to those that do not know him.

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[1] Jason Young’s book, Ritual of Resistance, also discusses the first use of balcony gatherings during worship. Since whites felt a sense of obligation to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people, keeping Negros from worshiping was thought to be sinful.

 

[2] Gomes is the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and chaplain at Harvard University; he received a great deal of attention when he public announced that he was a homosexual in the mid 1990s. He contends to be a devote conservative Republican.

[3] Gomes did note that Reagan was part of the late 1970s cultural wars that witnessed the rise of the religious right. Moreover, this population played a major part in his election.

Professor Du Bois from Cuba

Tyler Look, a student of mine, took this picture while in Cuba. Du Bois is still relevant today.

Congrats Phil!!!

I am working on a book project with my friend and colleague, Phil Sinitiere, professor of history at Sam Houston State University; he was honored with the above award this month as many academics, students, and people of color celebrate the history and gains made in society. Phil stated on his blog…

…I had the privilege of delivering the Brotherhood/Sisterhood Conference banquet address for the NAACP student chapter (Unit 6816) on the campus of Sam Houston State University. I gave a talk titled “Finding the Past in the Present: W.E.B. Du Bois for a New Century.” I was also honored with the
2009-2010 Faculty Freedom Fighter Award, recognizing the role of teaching and scholarship in keeping the memory of the NAACP alive and continuing its work for civil and human rights in the 21st century. I am particularly excited to win this award during the 2009-2010 academic year, months that span the centennial of the association itself and The Crisis magazine. The SHSU chapter is doing great work on campus and in the greater Huntsville and Houston communities, in addition to playing key roles at the national level. I’m humbled to be associated with chapter, and excited to be a part of the work the students are doing.

Phil is one of my academic heros; I have long admired his passion, work ethic, and belief in social justice. Our book addresses this:

W.E.B. Du Bois and Religion: A Brief History with Documents (Forward Edward Blum, professor of History at San Diego State University) and co-edited with Phillip Luke Sinitiere, professor of History at Sam Houston State University, is a collection of primary sources that reflect Du Bois’s thoughts on faith, spirituality, and the political implications of religion.  Documents include those that address religion from a sociological perspective, religious artwork, and spiritual fiction, among others.  This collection also includes a timeline of Du Bois’s life, bibliography, and study questions.

Du Bois Book

I spoke to Phil some last night and I am very excited that we believe we can get our book done by March; we talked about what publishers to go with and how we could present it to schools and college faculties across the country. Our work, as noted before, is a reader: W.E.B. Du Bois and Religion: A Brief History with Documents (Forward by Edward J. Blum).  Co-edited with Phillip Luke Sinitiere, this is a collection of primary sources that reflect Du Bois’s thoughts on faith, spirituality, and the political implications of religion.  Documents include those that address religion from a sociological perspective, religious artwork, and spiritual fiction, among others.  This collection also includes a timeline of Du Bois’s life, bibliography, and study questions. One document that I intend on drafting an essay around looks at his political nature. Being a black intellectual, Du Bois grew frustrated that the American plight did not include the blacks. Thus, he like so many learned individuals, sought and admired the greatness of the Soviets, especially under the leadership of Josef Stalin.

In his eulogy drafted shortly after Stalin’s death, Du Bois praises a man who brought faith, confidence, and respectability to a proud nation. Du Bois, as did FDR, highly respected Stalin. I have long found that history books have been kind to Stalin; he killed more people than Hitler, he brought an end to freedom for many living in Eastern Europe, and he challenged the ideology of America until his death; it was his ideological challenge that most interested Du Bois. By the death of Stalin, DuBois had lost faith in American democracy. He claimed that it had failed the American negro….There was no faith in democracy or capitalism. The following document is one that I have used in my class before; it is a powerful piece. I got excited reflecting on Du Bois while editing and writing about this document for our book today.

Josef Stalin was a great man; few other men of the twentieth century approach his stature. He was simple, calm and courageous. He seldom lost his poise; pondered his problems slowly, made his decisions clearly and firmly; never yielded to ostentation nor coyly refrained from holding his rightful place with dignity. He was the son of a serf, but stood calmly before the great without hesitation or nerves. But also — and this was the highest proof of his greatness — he knew the common man, felt his problems, followed his fate.

Stalin was not a man of conventional learning; he was much more than that; he was a man who thought deeply, read understandingly and listened to wisdom, no matter whence it came. He was attacked and slandered as few men of power have been; yet he seldom lost his courtesy and balance; nor did he let attack drive him from his convictions nor induce him to surrender positions which he knew were correct. As one of the despised minorities of man, he first set Russia on the road to conquer race prejudice and make one nation out of its 140 groups without destroying their individuality.

His judgement of men was profound. He early saw through the flamboyance and exhibitionism of Trotsky, who fooled the world, and especially America. The whole ill-bread and insulting attitude of liberals in the U.S. today began with our naive acceptance of Trotsky’s magnificent lying propaganda, which he carried around the world. Against it, Stalin stood like a rock and moved neither right nor left, as he continued to advance toward a real socialism instead of the sham Trotsky offered.

Three great decisions faced Stalin in power and he met them magnificently; first, the problem of the peasants, then the West European attack, and last the Second World War. The poor Russian peasant was the lowest victim of tsarism, capitalism and the Orthodox Church. He surrendered the Little White Father easily; he turned less readily but perceptibly from his icons; but his kulaks clung tenaciously to capitalism and were near wrecking the revolution when Stalin risked a second revolution and drove out the rural bloodsuckers.

Then came intervention, the continuing threat of attack by all nations, halted by the Depression, only to be re-opened by Hitlerism. It was Stalin who steered the Soviet Union between Scylla and Charybdis; Western Europe and the US were willing to betray her to fascism, and then had to beg her aid in the Second World War. A lesser man than Stalin would have demanded vengeance for Munich, but he had the wisdom to ask only justice for his fatherland. This Roosevelt granted but Churchill held back. The British Empire proposed first to save itself in Africa and southern Europe, while Hitler smashed the Soviets.

The Second Front dawdled, but Stalin pressed unfalteringly ahead. He risked the utter ruin of socialism in order to smash the dictatorship of Hitler and Mussolini. After Stalingrad the Western World did not know whether to weep or applaud. The cost of victory to the Soviet Union was frightful. To this day the outside world has no dream of the hurt, the loss and the sacrifices. For his calm, stern leadership here, if nowhere else, arises the deep worship of Stalin by the people of all the Russias.

Then came the problem of Peace. Hard as this was to Europe and America, it was far harder to Stalin and the Soviets. The conventional rulers of the world hated and feared them and would have been only too willing to see the utter failure of this attempt at socialism. At the same time the fear of Japan and Asia was also real. Diplomacy therefore took hold and Stalin was picked as the victim. He was called in conference with British Imperialism represented by its trained and well-fed aristocracy; and with the vast wealth and potential power of America represented by its most liberal leader in half a century.

Here Stalin showed his real greatness. He neither cringed nor strutted. He never presumed, he never surrendered. He gained the friendship of Roosevelt and the respect of Churchill. He asked neither adulation nor vengeance. He was reasonable and conciliatory. But on what he deemed essential, he was inflexible. He was willing to resurrect the League of Nations, which had insulted the Soviets. He was willing to fight Japan, even though Japan was then no menace to the Soviet Union, and might be death to the British Empire and to American trade. But on two points Stalin was adamant: Clemenceau’s “Cordon Sanitaire” must be returned to the Soviets, whence it had been stolen as a threat. The Balkans were not to be left helpless before Western exploitation for the benefit of land monopoly. The workers and peasants there must have their say.

Such was the man who lies dead, still the butt of noisy jackals and the illbred men of some parts of the distempered West. In life he suffered under continuous and studied insult; he was forced to make bitter decisions on his own lone responsibility. His reward comes as the common man stands in solemn acclaim.

W.E.B DuBois, March 16, 1953.

Black Intellectuals

I constructed the above bulletin in the room that I teach in; I wanted to present to my students a list of works and authors that they might or might not know. This is clearly not an exhausted list. And, it represents authors often ignored by teachers. Black scholars have a very important case to represent when it comes to the history of America.

W.E.B DuBois

E. Franklin Frazier

Richard Wright

John Hope Franklin

William Banks

Carter Woodson

Alex Haley

Cornel West

Angela Davis

Harold Cruse

Langston Hughs

James Baldwin

A number of blacks have the job of being a part of the Talented Tenth (short excerpt):

The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races. Now the training of men is a difficult and intricate task. Its technique is a matter for educational experts, but its object is for the vision of seers. If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men; if we make technical skill the object of education, we may possess artisans but not, in nature, men. Men we shall have only as we make manhood the object of the work of the schools � intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it � this is the curriculum of that Higher Education which must underlie true life. On this foundation we may build bread winning, skill of hand and quickness of brain, with never a fear lest the child and man mistake the means of living for the object of life.

Writing and Presentation Projects

I have been doing some work towards completing two journal articles this summer; one looks at the historical impact of rap music and the socioeconomic conditions that shaped race relations during the 1980s; much of this piece looks at the pedagogical significance of teaching the 80s via music and pop culture in the U.S. history survey course; the second article is one that I have started but will be co-authored with another colleague; we will examine the teaching of point of view and historiography in the classroom. We are presenting on this at a national conference this week.

My other writing project is a book project. Here is what my friend and colleagued noted about this project on his webpage: 

W.E.B. Du Bois and Religion: A Brief History with Documents (Forward by Edward J. Blum).  Co-edited with Phillip Luke Sinitiere, this is a collection of primary sources that reflect Du Bois’s thoughts on faith, spirituality, and the political implications of religion.  Documents include those that address religion from a sociological perspective, religious artwork, and spiritual fiction, among others.  This collection also includes a timeline of Du Bois’s life, bibliography, and study questions.

Phil, who worked as the department chair at the Second Baptist School, will take his teaching to the history department at Sam Houston State University; he will be serving as a visiting professor of history starting this fall. We hope to have this ready to be published by December.

Good Luck Phil Sinitiere

Today is a big day for my friend and colleague Phil Sinitiere; he will be defending his doctoral dissertation at the University of Houston; Phil’s research interest centers around race and religion. Phil and I are working on a book that looks at WEB Du Bois’s writings and artistic depictions and placing them in a reader. We are opening the reader with an essay on Du Bois’s political and religious constructs; I am writing the political piece while Phil drafts the religious essay. I will say more about this project the closer we are to getting it published; we will spend sometime at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s archives this summer finishing the research. Until we can celebrate the completion of this book, let us wish Phil the best today as he presents his research so that he can collect the PhD. Also, congrats to Phil on the publication of his most recent book: Holy Mavericks. See the book cover below.

The Talented Tenth

It has long been one of my life goals to join the ranks of the Talented Tenth. I hope to do this by making contributions to the thinking of my community and by advancing the thought processes of my students; it is important that they not conform to rules of textbooks and tradition, but to extrapolate both truths in a deconstructive way as well falsities that will permit them to challenge the problems of the 21st century. W.E.B. Du Bois concluded that this problem is one of race and economics: “for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line”-a prescient statement. Setting out to show to the reader the strange meaning of being black here in the dawning of the Twentieth Century,Du Bois explains the meaning of the emancipation, and its effect, and his views on the role of the leaders of his race.

What is the Talented Tenth?

It states (read all of it here): The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races. Now the training of men is a difficult and intricate task. Its technique is a matter for educational experts, but its object is for the vision of seers. If we make money the object of man-training, we shall develop money-makers but not necessarily men; if we make technical skill the object of education, we may possess artisans but not, in nature, men. Men we shall have only as we make manhood the object of the work of the schools � intelligence, broad sympathy, knowledge of the world that was and is, and of the relation of men to it � this is the curriculum of that Higher Education which must underlie true life. On this foundation we may build bread winning, skill of hand and quickness of brain, with never a fear lest the child and man mistake the means of living for the object of life.

Thoughts on Ed Blum, W.E. B. Dubois, Toni Morrison, Race, Sex, and Black Literature

I recall reading Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye for the first time in high school; in it, Morrison took on similar issues as W.E.B Du Bois did in The Quest for the Silver Fleece. Ed Blum addressed Du Bois’s character Zora, whose interest in the white Madonna’s whiteness and purity created some comparison to three of Morrison’s characters in The Bluest Eye. This blog piece was pulled from a comment I left on the American Religion blog.

Honestly, Ed Blum thought it would make for a good post. Thus, while thinking more about Blum’s post on Du Bois’s The Quest for the Silver Fleece, I thought about the importance of black literature and its value in the complexities of the black plight. Much of black literature addressed matters of sexuality: rape, interracial sex, incest, and adultery – - topics deemed tabooish in some circles. However, black literature also addressed matters of historical themes, too: black ghettoization and rural poverty via Jim Crow, broken English and inferior schooling, as well as cultural remoteness and isolation. This, by the way, was a large part of Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.

Furthermore, I have found that Protestant Christian schools (upper schools and colleges) tend to avoid teaching black literature due to matters of sexual content; I suspect some of this has to do with how communities define purity of mind and intellect; I have always viewed this differently. Black literature draws on past conditions: slavery, Jim Crow, and the exploitation and rape of black women by slave masters.

Paradoxically, it was white teachings and preaching that launched the myth that black men prey on white women. Popular culture has used historical falsities to portray black men as sexual champions. Thus, the black man has been the secret fantasy of white women, when in reality – - it was the white male that served as the sexual predator.

Ed Blum’s post entitled “Beauty, Purity, Whiteness, and Godliness in W. E. B. Du Bois’s First Novel” stated:

Perhaps one of the most remarkable discussions in The Quest of the Silver Fleece (1911) occurred after Bles and Zora built a house in the swamp and Bles placed a picture of the Madonna on the wall. As Du Bois described, it was “a little picture in blue and gold of Bouguereau’s Madonna.” A French painter of the nineteenth century, Adolphe-William Bouguereau was known for his tender images of young children and women. Bouguereau painted numerous images of the Madonna, including “The Madonna of the Roses” and “Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist.” The image entranced Zora. She “was staring silently at the Madonna,” and asked of Bles, “Who’s it?” Bles responded reverently, “The mother of God.” Zora expressed confusion over the picture, especially the lily and the baby held by the Madonna. Bles explained that the lily “stands for purity-she was a good woman” and the baby “is the Christ Child-God’s baby.” Zora retorted, “God is the father of all the little babies, ain’t He, Bles?” When Bles responded, “Why, yes-yes, of course; only this little baby didn’t have any other father.” Christ’s lack of an earthly father resonated with Zora, for either she knew no human father or she had been raped by a white man and her baby had never known its father. “Yes, I know one like that,” Zora said softly, “Poor little Christ-baby” (81).

After reading Blum’s post, I could not help but see a relationship between what Du Bois’s The Quest for the Silver Fleece stated in comparison to Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Here is my comparison:

Maureen, who was loved by all because of her fair skin, green eyes, etc., was the envy of darker skinned girls – - an unfortunate reality about intra-black racism. Then there was Claudia, who hated blacks for assuming that good things revolved around whiteness. I am most reminded of Pecola, who was obsessed with Claudia’s Shirley Temple mug. Her love for Temple marks some comparison to Zora, who was obsessed with the Madonna. Furthermore, like Zora, Pecola was raped, but not by a white man. Pecola’s love for the purity and beauty of Shirley Temple’s whiteness reflects what Zora was thinking…. White purity and beauty were the established thought and norm of society.

Both Du Bois and Morrison concluded that white culture has conditioned us into accepting the supremacy of white religion, white beauty, and white constructs — which I addressed here on my black Jesus post. As mentioned in Blum’s book about Du Bois, he [Du Bois] could not understand why blacks saw Christ in the image of a white man, but could not see Christ as a black man.

White supremacy has conditioned us into accepting whiteness as pure and perfect; black men desire white women because they have been the ultimate prize…. That has been the teaching of Hollywood and Miss America. Black beauty for females depends on their features. If one were to look at the most celebrated black women over the past decades – - I am sure her physical features reflect whiteness. Of course Toni Morrison’s Pecola did not rise above the matter of whiteness like Du Bois’s Zora did.

Do You Believe in Black Jesus?

In chapter 4 of Edward Blum’s W.E.B. Du Bois, American Prophet, Blum discusses the Gospel according to Mary Brown and her child Joshua, who represents one of Du Bois’s black biblical characters, who found comfort among those who were societal outcasts. He, who was [the black] Jesus Christ, marched with the poor, with sinners, and communists; however, this Christ was not embraced by whites. Better yet, this Christ was lynched by the white South because they could not accept a Christ that accepted all people, especially the American Negro. Because of this, Joshua was killed by the very people who awaited him – the Christian South. I often wonder about the thought processes of religious bigots who believe their God will accept them into His kingdom as a hater of people. I suspect many Christians do not realize they are destined to the one place they are trying to avoid, Hell. Furthermore, much of the historical literature paints a deeply racist American South in which Christians often attend Church in the morning, only to lynch blacks in the evening. This, more than anything, is why my parents are suspicious of religious people and their institutions. I was raised and educated in a suspicious black home; however, I was taught to love and embrace all people: black, white, gay, lesbian, poor, and defeated.

I have asked students and others what color was Christ? Most correctly they respond by saying he was Jewish; I then ask if they think Christ was a black Jew? It is here that causes some to pause…even from blacks; Du Bois struggled to understand why whites saw Christ in their image but blacks failed to see this. I have visited white churches in which their congregation’s depiction of Christ was blond hair and blue eyed man. I am most interested in the response I would get from my school community if I were to teach that Christ was black while he walked the earth. Keep in mind that my campus community is made up primarily of affluent white evangelicals. I suspect that my colleague who teaches at a similar school might be able to answer this question since his class addressed this topic on his blog here. This too was part of the 20th century color line problem Du Bois addressed.

“Christ Recrucified” (1922)

The South is crucifying Christ again
Christ’s awful wrong is that he’s dark of hue
The sin for which no blamelessness atones;
But lest the sameness of the cross should tire,
They kill him now with famished tongues of fire,
And while he burns, good men, and women, too,
Shout, battling for his black and brittle bones.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“The Black Christ” (1929)

O Form immaculately born,
Betrayed a thousand times each morn,
As many times each night denied,
Surrendered, tortured, crucified!
That love which has no boundary;
Our eyes have looked on Calvary (135-136).

[Source: James H. Smylie, “Countee Cullen’s ‘The Black Christ,’” Theology Today38/2 (July 1981): 160-73] h/t: Phil Sinitiere