{"id":50823,"date":"2023-02-12T15:45:26","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T23:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=50823"},"modified":"2023-02-12T15:45:26","modified_gmt":"2023-02-12T23:45:26","slug":"everyday-erinyes-357","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2023\/02\/12\/everyday-erinyes-357\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes #357"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong>, and Tisiphone<\/strong><\/span>. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”<\/p>\n

The Furies and I have a slightly more tranquil Black History month article today than we had last week – unless, I suppose, you live in Florida, where it’s not possible to use the words “Black History” and “tranquil” in the same sentence. But today is my day to see Virgil – and W.E.B. DuBois is certainly not unimportant. Incidentally, PBS has a series going this month, a documentary from Henry Louis Gates, Jr., called “The Making of Black America.” Check your local listings, and, if you are a Passport member, it is already streamable.
\n==============================================================<\/p>\n

W.E.B. Du Bois, Black History Month and the importance of African American\u00a0studies<\/h1>\n
Scholar-activist W.E.B. DuBois in 1946.
\nUnderwood Archives\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chad Williams<\/a>, Brandeis University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The opening days of Black History Month 2023 have coincided with controversy about the teaching and broader meaning of African American studies.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 1, 2023<\/a>, the College Board released a revised curriculum for its newly developed Advanced Placement African American studies course.<\/p>\n

Critics have accused the College Board of caving to political pressure stemming from conservative backlash and the decision of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to 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 critical race theory<\/a>, reparations<\/a> and the Black Lives Matter<\/a> movement.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 11, 1951, an article by the 82-year-old Black scholar-activist W.E.B. Du Bois titled \u201cNegro History Week<\/a>\u201d appeared in the short-lived New York newspaper The Daily Compass.<\/p>\n

As one of the founders of the NAACP in 1909 and the editor of its powerful magazine The Crisis<\/a>, Du Bois is considered by historians and intellectuals from many academic disciplines as America\u2019s preeminent thinker on race<\/a>. His thoughts and opinions still carry weight throughout the world.<\/p>\n

Du Bois\u2019 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>\n

Du Bois began his Daily Compass commentary by praising Carter G. Woodson<\/a>, founder of the 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>\n

\"An
Black historian Carter G. Woodson in 1946.<\/span>
\nLibrary of Congress<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Du Bois described the annual commemoration as Woodson\u2019s \u201ccrowning achievement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woodson was the second African American<\/a> to earn a doctorate in history from Harvard University. Du Bois was the first<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Du Bois and Woodson did not always see eye to eye. However, as I explore<\/a> in my new book, \u201cThe Wounded World: W.E.B. Du Bois and the First World War<\/a>,\u201d the two pioneering scholars always respected each other.<\/p>\n

Reckoning with history and reclaiming the past<\/h2>\n

Du Bois\u2019 connection to and appreciation of Negro History Week grew during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s. 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>\n

In the Feb. 11, 1951, article, Du Bois reflected that his own contributions to Negro History Week \u201clay in my long effort as a historian and sociologist to make America and Negroes themselves aware of the significant facts of Negro history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Summarizing his work from his first book, \u201cThe Suppression of the African Slave-Trade<\/a>,\u201d published in 1896, through his magnum opus \u201cBlack Reconstruction in America<\/a>,\u201d published in 1935, Du Bois told readers of the Daily Compass piece that much of his career was spent trying \u201cto correct the distortion of history in regard to Negro enfranchisement.\u201d<\/p>\n

By doing so, the nation would hopefully become, Du Bois wrote further, \u201cconscious 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to championing Negro History Week, Du Bois applauded other Black scholars, like E. Franklin Frazier<\/a>, Charles Johnson<\/a> and Shirley Graham<\/a>, who were \u201csteadily attacking\u201d the omissions and distortions of Black people in school textbooks.<\/p>\n

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>\n

\"A
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>
\nGeorge Rinhart\/Corbis via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Du Bois, however, questioned what deeper meaning these achievements held to the issues facing Black people in the present.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat now does Negro History Week stand for?\u201d he asked in the 1951 article. \u201cShall American Negroes continue to learn to be \u2018proud\u2019 of themselves, or is there a higher broader aim for their research and study?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other words,\u201d he asserted, \u201cas it becomes more universally known what Negroes contributed to America in the past, more must logically be said and taught concerning the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The time had come, Du Bois believed, for African Americans to stop striving to be merely \u201cthe equal of white Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black people needed to cease emulating the worst traits of America \u2013 flamboyance, individualism, greed and financial success at any cost \u2013 and support labor unions<\/a>, Pan-Africanism<\/a> and anti-colonial struggle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He especially encouraged the systematic study of the imperial and economic roots of racism: \u201cHere is a field for Negro History Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black history and Black struggle<\/h2>\n

Looking ahead, Du Bois declared that if Negro History Week remained \u201ctrue to the ideals of Carter Woodson\u201d and followed \u201cthe logical development of the Negro Race in America,\u201d it would not confine itself to the study of the past nor \u201cboasting and vainglory over what we have accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will not mistake wealth as the measure of America, nor big-business and noise as World Domination,\u201d Du Bois wrote in his article.<\/p>\n

\"Under<\/a>
In 1922, the NAACP ran a series of full-page ads in The New York Times calling attention to lynchings.<\/span>
\nNew York Times, Nov. 23, 1922\/American Social History Project<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead, Du Bois believed Negro History Week would \u201cconcentrate on study of the present,\u201d \u201cnot be afraid of radical literature\u201d and, above all else, advocate for peace and voice \u201ceternal opposition against war between the white and colored peoples of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. Du Bois died<\/a> on Aug. 27, 1963, in Accra, Ghana.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

Du Bois also reminds us that Black History Month is rooted in a legacy of activism and resistance, one that continues in the present.\"The<\/p>\n

Chad Williams<\/a>, Samuel J. and Augusta Spector Professor of History and African and African American Studies, Brandeis University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

==============================================================
\nAlecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong>, and Tisiphone<\/strong><\/span>, and readers, so far I have only seen the first hour of :”Making Black America,” but I have it bookmarked, and I will see it all before the end of the month. And I never feel bad about recommending “Skip” Gates sight unseen.<\/p>\n

The Furies and I will be back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":50369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3729],"class_list":["post-50823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-furies","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}