John Hope Franklin Seminar, Week of October 12

Justin Co Writes about Race and History:

Whenever one reads about American history concerning the Revolutionary War, they always see evidence that the American people were hypocrites, yet one does not get use to it. This is most likely because of the age that we grew up in, but one always finding it interesting that the people felt they had the right to complain that they were “slaves of England” while at the same time they were truly owning black slaves. The constitution states that “all men are created equal,” but that’s only if you’re not black.

I believe that this book shows you a little more about how JHF dealt with his research and the amount of time that he put into his writings. I was surprised that I enjoyed reading his autobiography, as well as this book so far because I don’t usually like to read the assigned books; however, I have to credit JHF’s writing ability because it just pulls me in and makes me want to know what he is going to say next.

So far Racial Equality in America has provide solid information about the treatment of slaves and the unethical decisions of whites at the time. His remarks about Jefferson were truly confusing because of the simple factor that Jefferson was everywhere when it came to dealing with African Americans. One second he would say one thing and the next he would say another. I did not know a lot about Jefferson before reading this but it makes it hard to have the same respect for the man that wrote the constitution after reading what JHF has said so far.

Heather Writes about Race and History:

I think it is so easy to assume that people who are anti-slavery would be also for equal rights, but in this second lecture, Franklin tries to point out that an abolitionist was not necessarily an advocate for equal rights. Lincoln who is attributed with freeing the slaves did not see how it was possible for blacks to ever live with the same freedom as a white man. As Franklin points out, according to Lincoln they were not his equal in "intellectual and moral endowments" and their physical differences from the white race would always prevent them from being equal.

It seems to me that there is almost a kind of hopelessness in this section. Franklin says, "As the nation was preparing to fight to save itself and even to end slavery, it was making no preparation to incorporate free Negroes and emanciapted slaves into the fellowship of equal American citizenship." At this point in time African Americans did not have much to look forward to even if they were free. Franklin talks about how moves toward providing education for blacks was not only inappropriate, but it was also seen as a "futile" move.

Daniel Writes about Race and History:

First and foremost I would like to point out the context of "Racial Equality in America" in relation to his former public speeches. Not too long before this book was published, John Hope, as he explains in his autobiography was speaking to the class at LSU. To a large white audience Franklin was able to exhibit his fine scholarship to a different crowd thus making a name for himself among other white scholars reporting among all aspects of American History. Shortly after his LSU appearance, Franklin was abroad in Argentina giving the Lincoln Lectures on the importance of Historians in changing public policy. Finally in 1976 Lincoln is asked by the National Endowment for Humanities to deliver 3 lectures in 3 different cities under the bicentennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence. This is such a remarkable stage in Franklins life where he was truly demonstrating his scholarship and knowledge of the material.

It is also interesting to note in the preface who Franklin makes note of in his contributions for this book. Obviously Aurelia, his secretary, MArgaret, his research assistant, Joeseph Castrovinci and the sponsors of the lectures in washington, chicago, and san franciso. This goes to show just how many people are involved in dealing with the racial problem head on.

Langston Hughes was one of the speakers at the Festival of the Arts, a ceremony Franklin attended during his undergraduate years at Fisk

Ted Writes about Race and History:

Franklin begins to talk about the later 1900s with Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Act of 1965. He explains that even after all of the progress made by these people, there still is no such thing as equality. What really jumped out and grabbed me is the way some black men were killed. The descriptions are something out of a horror movie. To top it all off, when whites would brutally kill blacks they would bring their children. The sadistic nature of people is disturbing to say the least.

Franklin also mentions economic woes of African American at the time. Economics for African Americans was ridiculous. No one would hire African Americans so they blacks would apply for loans but no one could provide them with loans because it was to risky because they had no job. On top of it all, when the government would attempt to aid these people, they would be turned away and intimidated by the whites. Racism was outrageous then, just reading how blatant and brutal people were I cringe.

Institutionalized Racism especially within the field of economics would be a great paper topic. I think I have almost settled on it as my topic. There are so many outlets to explore and Franklin offers so much insight from his personal life that I would almost be dumb not to use it. I will research and see where things go.

Andrew Writes about Race and History:

Reading this part of the book really kind of made me think differently of the Civil War and maybe what the real purpose was behind. To back track a bit I think the general idea that we have learned in High School and that most people understand is that abolitionists were obviously in support of equally rights for all as well. Not quite the case as Franklin shows us.

I really think that President Lincoln is a great example of this because he is so often shown as the great emancipator and even today President Obama has his picture hanging in the Oval Office for what he did for our country and because he thinks of him as an inspiration. I think Franklin makes a good point when he discusses the fact that Lincoln wanted to end slavery, but were the President and the country prepared to deal the consequence of this decision? Lincoln didn’t see blacks as his equals. He thought they were inferior and he thought that those different both intellectual and physical would forever be unequal. I think it is quite interesting that President Obama holds him in such high regard and I wonder what President Lincoln would think of him based on what we discovered in this reading.

Scott Writes about Race and History:

The beginning of chapter 2 discusses how racism has been in every generation in the US and is still around today. JHF begins to expand on the idea that racism has had many forms throughout the course of its existence. One form he talks about was “justified by historical precedent” (49). Southern slave owners believed what was good for the Romans and Greeks is good for Virginians and South Carolinians. Some Southerners even actually believed slavery was a divine right and that “its legality was recognized by Jesus Christ in his Kingdom”. JHF then goes onto to talk about scientific racism and how science proves blacks are inferior to whites. I could not believe some these ideas that were out back then. Using orangutans to make comparisons with blacks to make outlandish assumptions. Like JHF said slave owners came up with anything in order to justify and defend slavery.

Within the history of the United States it can be said that slavery was very short-lived compared to other slave nations. But was it just the rest of the world had reached a tipping point? Yet still so much racism exists throughout the country. Is it the governments fault? JHF paraphrases Edmund Morgan’s take on blacks in American history and how the US in effect is its own worst enemy when it comes to racial equality on page 70:

[. . . The nation purchased its political independence in the eighteenth century with slave labor. In the nineteenth century it fought to save itself and to abolish slavery, but at the same time declined to give freedmen the political economic tools with which to gain full and equal citizenship. Now, in the twentieth century the nation sent a segregated army to Europe to save the world for democracy; . . .]

Tom Writes about Race and History:

I felt that the best part of this section was the part where Franklin pointed out how people had been continuing to hand over the issue of racial inequality to future generations instead of dealing with it themselves. He traced it back to the beginning of the country and supported his point with a ton of examples.

When America was starting the whole industrialization process, Franklin noted that "the spirit of equality was in the air". With people constantly fighting for workers' rights, you'd think they'd' notice some parallels between their issues and the race issue, ("no artificial distinctions or inequalities ought to be tolerated by law") but unfortunately very little progress was made during that period.

Franklin's very effective language impressed me once more when he discussed how people were fighting to "protect the differences between blacks and whites". Putting it in those words really got me frustrated over the lengths some people went to in order to preserve segregation.

Oh also I laughed about some of the ridiculous things people made up about blacks, like the disease "drapetomania" which apparently makes them want to run away at certain times of the year...or the fact that they can "detect snakes by the sense of smell". How was any of this taken seriously?

Bobby Writes about Race and History:

I think the biggest recurring theme of Franklin's second part was the hypocrisy of Americans when it came to the issue of freedom. his specific mention of the industrialization movement, and workers fighting for equality and their rights made me laugh because at the same time, they were still pushing their black neighbors down. I know it's not funny, but seriously, the double standards people had back then were unbelievable.

It connects back to the first section, where Franklin talks of all the great men who demanded freedom from England before the Revolutionary War. But he also mentions some of them saying things like "life without slaves is a life i do not want to live" meaning that no matter what happened to the colnists freedom, the blacks would not get theirs.

This kind of hypocrisy exists today in our society. When have you ever witnessed this kind of double standards? Maybe not so much in dealing with race, but what other issues can you think of that are similar to this problem? Think back to a few years ago when a white college student sttempted to make a "White Club" on campus. Since there was already a Latin Club, a Chinese Club, and a Black Club, she didnt see a problem with the idea. However, the college denied the club's creation, and threatened to strip the girl of her scholarship. Answer this question: Why can there not be a White Club if every other culture gets to have one

Dana Writes about Race and History:

II would like to learn more about the strive for equality of education for African Americans.

" Likewise, the idea of a common school education in the United States was conceived and promoted for white chidren who, presumably would undergo a leavening experience that would give them a sense of equality, however, were denied such an opportunity because..."

John Hope Franklin brings up a very interesting point. In a country striving to be more democratic, equality did not mean everyone was equal, but more that all whites were equal. It is strange that the country would be in such a different mindset to leave behind the black children. Is in not the children that help create a successful future? Blacks were seen as incapable of gaining intelligence and this alone seems like a ridiculous reason to stop education among them.

Following the education of African Americans and pin pointing where education finally began for them is something that I would like to research more.

Brittany Writes about Race and History:

On pages 106-107, Dr. Franklin summarizes three centuries of inequality in two paragraphs, succinctly describing what has happened in the past and how that has created an African American culture of generally negative sentiments about the our nation and their position in it. This point was also included in the end of his autobiography, when he talked about young African Americans and called on those successful members of the community to do more to encourage and expand opportunities for the generation coming up. I think there might be a lot of different topic ideas with separate issues of discrimination and how that has effected the African American community socially and culturally. One can look at the history of housing discrimination and ghetto creation and how that effects the attitudes of African Americans who still live in those areas, whose families have never had the opportunities to get out. Education inequality could be examined in our history and brought up to present with issues of limited funding for minority schools in conjunction with legislation such as 'No Child Left Behind.'

I admired his closing statement, which calls for government support: "If they needed personal and group reorientation, as indeed they did, they also needed the support of those decision makers and policy makers who had done so much to bring about their tragic plight in the first place." It's sad that our government and much of our population cannot bring ourselves to admit that many African Americans are in the socioeconomic position they're in today as a consequence of centuries of social custom and state and federal legislation.