It’s startling to realize how commonplace slavery was in NJ in the past. My Dutch ancestors in NJ owned slaves. Finding an ancient ancestor’s will bequeathing a human being to his daughter upon his death is .... unnerving to say the least.
Those who do not examine the past are bound to repeat it. May we never, never allow this to happen again.
13
So, burn the house down? This is past history, let it go
I find it interesting that people who attempt to whitewash or justify slavery, or simply sweep it under the rug, use the views of white society at the time to support their arguments. White people thought slavery was okay.
So what?
And most of those opposed say, what about the abolitionists?
This reinforces the essential flaw in the original argument. That white opinions on the subject were all that mattered.
What about people who were black or mixed race? They had opinions too. Their thoughts and dreams and feelings and desires and suffering were just as real as any white people.
Ignoring the victims of slavery when attempting to downplay its significance shows that people still feel that white lives matter more than black ones.
16
(1) First Princeton Black grad 1947 (!) more than a century later than Oberlin for example. But could have been 1938: It accepted a N.Y. AfrAmerican in 1934; he showed up to enroll; they noticed he's Black [yikes!], told him it was a mistake. The fellow, knowing it was no use, turned around suitcase in hand, returned to NYC and enrolled at (as I recall) City College. Please look it up.
(2) To the Q. of Southern enrollments (white, esp. Mississippi): I knew this from Faulkner. He tells of 2 brothers attending U. of Va., raised so much hell the school notified his father who then transferred one of them -- to -- Princeton!
(3) Hamilton and Princeton. The American revolutionary army attacked Princeton as it was Brit H.Q. Delicious poetic justice for Hamilton as he has been REJECTED by that college. So Hamilton went to COLUMBIA (then, King's College). Roar, Lions, Roar!
6
Don't you feel pity for conservatives? They are continuously on the wrong side of history. As if one story by one ethnic group speaks for the entire populace.
Remember when Black History was a radical idea in the 1960's? As if American history was White History? Now, after a few generations, many people are comfortable viewing American history from the African-American and other ethnics point of view.
I must mention Native Americans. "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" is about 47 years old, and tells American History from a Native American point of view. Some of us landed on Plymouth Rock, but the rock landed on Native Americans. Real hard.
American history has many stories to tell, almost as many as all the people who have lived in this nation.
5
I find it amusing how many comments are from people who clearly haven’t bothered to read the article. Note the obsessive repetition of the word “erase” in these examples:
“It's simply wrong to try to erase history.” “We hopefully learn from the past. Erasing it does what?” “We hopefully learn from the past. Erasing it does what?”
Anyone who had actually read the article would see that no one is erasing anything. Nothing is being removed, no monuments relocated, or anything else “erased.” Princeton is *uncovering* and making public its history, not erasing it—quite the opposite. These commenters should read the article. They might learn something.
43
Next please write about Princeton's endemic sexism. Its eating clubs and its Triangle Club. No women allowed, women's parts were played by men in drag. This made sense when Princeton was all male but this continued long after women were admitted. And the eating clubs were elitist costing thousands more than the regular food program.
7
Triangle included women from the very first class of women admitted. The drag kickline has remained, and yes, the gender politics of that are complicated. The clubs are now completely mixed, a move that was under way when I was a student there over a quarter century ago, albeit one that was also clearly opposed by members of some of the three all-male clubs last at the time. The other 10 or so had also been co-ed since the early 1970s when women arrived on campus. Now this is not to say that Princeton didn’t, and doesn’t, have ongoing serious issues with sexism. But even the alma mater was changed from saying “her sons” to “we all” shall give three cheers for Old Nassau.
7
Beakthru against sexism AND racism with the admission & attendance of Justice SOTOMAYOR. Of course, you may say token or affirmative action, but, hey, she left her mark and is a great role model.
4
When I was a Princeton student in the 1970s, conservative alumni were up in arms about "moral relativism". Their point was that there are certain moral values that are eternal, and if you violate them - say, by engaging in premarital sex or liberal politics - then you are just wrong, no matter how societal attitudes are drifting. But now that we are faced with the bigotry of people like Woodrow Wilson, whose racism was far out of step even with that of his contemporaries, we get a condescending lecture about how we can't judge historical figures using present-day standards. The hypocrisy was and still is astonishing.
10
If you visit Princeton, you notice something really strange. Students and to some degree faculty are totally oblivious to what surrounds them. They cross the street without looking. They engage in esoteric discourse on subject of no consequence. When they graduate they do not create anything of value, they simply move money on ledger sheets on wall street.
Take the subject of slavery. Of course it is evil. If you agree, your first inclination should not be to re-name buildings and take down statues it should be to end the current 21st century practice of slavery spread in Africa, in territories controlled by ISIS, and sexual slavery in America, Europe and else where.
If you want to visit the past, you must also compare how slaves have fared out around the world, in past times. Americans bought a small percentage of the slaves sold by Arab merchants in east Africa. Where are the descendants of slaves in places like the middle east. Nowhere. Because they were treated in a way that has not allowed them to survive.
I suppose a certain degree of self-loathing may help some people's self esteem, but it will not change the past. If you think slavery is evil, then do something to stop it TODAY, and do not wast your time re-writing history.
7
It’s not re-writing history, it’s recognizing and stating accurately our American history. American slavery was a very important part of this nation’s economy, and the cotton industry affected the world at that time. Four million Americans were enslaved in 1860. You are uncomfortable with the topic and would feel better if it weren’t discussed, but it is just as important as the American Revolution.
13
The cotton was grown in the South but processed in the North, as was much of the actual slave trade and shipping ( see Brown University)
So when it comes to the scourge of slavery you could say that the South was the amunition while the North was the rifle...try separating them if you wish but the tragedy is owned by nearly all from that time.
26
The story of Alexander Hamilton shooting a cannon ball at Nassau Hall may well be apocryphal, perpetuated by the campus tour guides.
According to the Mudd Library, "Though almost all sources are in agreement that Hamilton commanded artillery at the battle [of Princeton], no contemporary accounts directly tie him to the cannonball that shot through Nassau Hall." and "The earliest available reference to Hamilton’s being behind the cannonball I have found is in Sir George Otto Trevelyan’s “The American Revolution” published in 1905."
https://blogs.princeton.edu/mudd/2008/01/alexander-hamilton-shooting-the...
4
There is no news here. America had slaves. We know this. In the North and the South. The North made it illegal in the 1804. We fought a civil war over Slavery in 1861. Are we really shocked about these findings. This is NOT news!
8
God these articles are watched for like buzzards by the likes of some of you passive-aggressive racists that try and shame people for looking at their own history; while hypocritically denouncing the removal of confederate statues.
We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Princeton should be lauded by everyone for looking at their past and finding meaning in what was a cruel history.
There are of course many that are visibly bothered by acknowledging this past, and acknowledging that cruelty. There are historical concentration camps, that have become museums to that cruelty. Americans make no such effort to be reminded of the cruelty of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Americans prefer to be blind deaf mute and dumb to 100 years of slavery, 100 years of government sanctioned discrimination. The sooner more institutions and the American people are willing to come to grips with that, the sooner we can heal the racial divide. It’s called empathy people.
10
What does the author mean, that as the institution became more populated from Mississippi, it became more "conservative". Racist? As though the terms are equivalent?
3
My son went to Princeton as a postgrad student and studied physics there. Now the division is by class. Princeton is a snobbish institution and it is both buttoned down and conservative. It has conveniently converted its racist past into a classist one. With its eating clubs and its rowdy, rich and privileged mostly white student body Princeton remains unreachable to most of the black students of America. And when you get there if you're from the poor side of life, you will feel the winds of privilege sequester you in a corner, blown by the sons of the plutocracy enrolled there. Remember there was this guy Fortgang, who had his article titled "Checking my white privilege" published in the Princeton Tory? That guy, a Princeton student, wrote about why he's not apologizing for his white privilege. His too was one of the diverse voices from the Princeton ivory tower. That Professor Sandweiss had to assure the administrators of Princeton her research would not besmirch Princeton speaks volumes to me. Give me a break. I am glad the truth is out. I shivered as I read about the black man who was beaten nearly to death as Princeton students watched. With white supremacy on the march now, in Virginia and in Tennessee and various other states and black students, Muslims and other immigrants being harassed and bullied in schools and on the streets and lives being threatened or extinguished for race, Princeton's past history has great relevance for today's America.
12
Anyone who is not rich is out of place, but this has been for some time. I remember it from my days of looking at colleges in the late '70s.
2
Cliche but true: Princeton student runs in. He is wearing a v-neck sweater, white shorts & argyle socks. "Anyone for tennis?" waving his wooden racket.
1
Slave to the past
This Day in History November 4
General Interest
2008 Barack Obama elected as America’s first black president "Late that night, the president-elect appeared before a huge crowd of supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park and delivered a speech in he which acknowledged the historic nature of his victory (which came 143 years after the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery): “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer… It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.”
Election of Barack Obama as the first black president in the history of the USA was truly historic. BHO, himself, acknowledged the historic nature of his elevation to the presidency, and called attention to the contribution, thereto, of "our founders" -- slave warts and all -- without acrimony, unlike many today (some at Princeton U) who continue to be "slave to the past" despite being free to choose to dwell on how far we've progressed as a nation toward being the home of the brave and the free—an America still striving to be a place where every resident is judged by content of character, not color of skin (as dreamed of by MLK in Atlanta, more recently).
1
What a complete waste of time, unconnected to anyone attending one of the most liberal, angst ridden schools in America. Not to mention both unactionable today, and irrelevant to those responsible who are now dead. Lovely scholarship though it is.
4
It is not a waste of time to research an institution's roots in relation to slavery. In fact, in the current political climate, when facts are discarded as irrelevant, it is vital that historians and voters know and disseminate those facts. Simply reading the comments on this page will let you know that there are many people who believe that the healthiest thing our society can do now is simply sweep our racist history under the rug. It is that attitude that should concern you, and which will cause more pain and angst in the future if it prevails. And yes, Princeton is one of those rarefied places where such research can occur, since it won't occur in many of the places (schools, churches, legislatures) where it was even more prominent. So, thank you Princeton.
5
New Jersey was the last northern state to move to abolish slavery and its gradual abolition law was so gradual that there were still some slaves in New Jersey who were only freed by the passage of the 13th amendment after the Civil War. In other words it was still a slave state as late as 1865. So it is hardly surprising that southern students found Princeton New Jersey far more comfortable than Harvard's Boston or Yale's New Haven.
4
I find this very interesting. My parents grew up in NJ in the '30s and '40s. They went to public schools and the schools were integrated. Was this accidental? Was it because my parents lived in a very, very poor city and the rich whites lived elsewhere and didn't care?
2
John C. Calhoun went to Yale from S.C. and became very prominent. Last time I visited Yale, I saw his name on a Residential House there. Judah P. Benjamin enrolled at Yale but left at age 16.
2
Americans, and particularly white Americans, need to study the many wrongs and cruelties our ancestors inflicted upon other races (as well as those our current citizens continue to practice).
It is uncomfortable and people don't like to contemplate such horrendous behavior of those who "built" our country often saying, it's the past; we aren't responsible for the actions of our ancestors; we should look to the future; things were different then; etc. This is all true. But.
We do have to own it; we do need to be able to empathize with these people who were treated so horrendously because of something so trivial as racial difference. Only by revisiting this underside of human behavior, and repeatedly if necessary, can we truly learn about it and recognize not only how wrong it was but how "normal" those people were who exercised such hideous behavior. It is not far beneath the surface of many modern, moral, Christian, caring, upstanding, good citizens in our "shining city upon a hill" of a country.
If we face it, maybe we can atone for it, and maybe if we can atone for it we can start to put it behind us and then, just maybe we will never do it again.
7
I and my family need to atone for nothing. Who has atoned for the past against us? Who has apologized for the pogroms, the famines, the violence against our ancestors? No one. We were forced to leave our homes, often with nothing, and come to a foreign place. We certainly had no part in slavery and, if in the US early enough, fought in the Union Army to end it. Not all in this country are Christian either.
1
Plenty of Jewish soldiers in the Union Army in the Civil War. Also chaplains, etc. Pres. Lincoln appreciated them and when advised of Grant's discriminatory order barring Jews from the Mississippi-Tennessee war zone (later infamous) immediately cancelled it. A few Jews were on the Rebel side, of course, including one in Jeff Davis' cabinet. Maryland was split, etc. Good book: Bertram W. Korn (go to ABEbooks).
2
Who is the "we" you are talking about? I know that I am not a part of it. I refuse to be found guilty by ancestry. Indeed, I don't even know whether any of my ancestors participated in the slave trade, either as an owner or as property. And I also don't care. Just like I don't care what the ancestors of my ancestors did.
This is not just a waste of time, it is counterproductive. We are teaching people that they are victims because of what happened to others. And this then gives them a built-in excuse for giving up. Instead, we should be telling everyone that they can succeed; that they can overcome their current circumstances. And we should then work to help them do so.
3
The concept of justice used to be that all, moving forward, would have the same opportunity.
But, having made progress on that, it now becomes clear that the agenda of academia and the contemporary "civil rights" movement is to de-legitimize America's institutions, ideals, and leaders.
We are suffering from the militancy of millennials with no historical literacy whatsoever infused with the DNA of 1960s radicals.
Way to go Princeton class of 1969.
2
In sum, Princeton has certainly been on the side of social justice. Exemplary in this regard was William H. Scheide, class of 1936. Mr. Scheide was the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund's "most generous individual donor" and longest-serving Board member who helped finance the landmark Brown v. Board of Education. But the fact that they are willing to honestly evaluate and report on their history shows the larger intent of the organization to own up and move forward.
http://www.naacpldf.org/press-release/ldf-deeply-mourns-passing-board-me...
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/24/arts/music/william-h-scheide-100-phil...
8
Wow! I am surprised at the level of vitriol being leveled at Princeton's effort to understand and shine a light on its past, good, bad and ugly.
Shouldn't we be applauding these efforts? Isn't this exactly what the campus protests around the country asked for a few years ago?
No one is trying to white-wash history, no one is trying to erase history, and from my visits to the new site, it certainly doesn't seem like anyone is trying to diminish the impact or role that slavery played in the university's history.
Examining History is always an exercise in discomfort, whether it's personal, institutional or national. Bravo to Princeton for taking an unflinching, unabashed look at its own for the sake of learning from it.
20
Every university is inherently racist. Look at the football stadiums each Saturday. 100,000 white kids watching 50 black kids hurt each other. Look at the fraternal orders which are all race based (white, balck, asian, etc.). It comes down to which race can out smart ( or in the case of Princeton and the other "ivy leaguers" - swindle) others. Higher thinking to this culture means taking advantage of others. And unfortunately it has spread over the past hundred years.
4
Caltech eliminated intercollegiate football after years of playing in the Rose Bowl to the most empty seats of any varsity team.
3
Certain parties like to argue that the Americans who owned slaves and supported slavery "didn't know that it was wrong."
But the violent attacks made against abolitionists prove that people did know it was wrong. They were just giving themselves the right to do wrong, that's all.
13
A few Southerners, mostly women, saw what was going on with slavery and were repulsed! I.e., Grimke sisters. One young lady saw her mom (?) apply the thumbscrew to a female house slave who had made some trivial sin such s breaking a plate. And there were a few Quakers in the South, as I recall, maybe in Virginia.
4
In describing the difference threetween Princeton, Yale and Harvard, perhaps nothing is more quintessential in that endeavor than indicating the way in which each differently honors its Civil War dead. Princeton, indeed as mentioned, lists all its dead w/o distinguishing on which side its students fought; Yale also lists all its dead but clearly distinguishes on which of the two sides they fought; and Harvard, finally, ONLY honors those of its dead who fought for the Union.
Quick! Someone tell White House Chief of Staff John Kelly that compromises don't work.
4
And the compromise?? Peace Tom
1
You invented a new word, "threetween," cute but clumsy and unnecessary. If "between" is literally only 2 parties, then for multiple parties use "among."
2
Right. It's unfortunate that basic grammar has become esoteric knowledge. Also worth noting in general: "twice" is preferable to "two times", like "once" is preferable to "one time".
1
I am curious if anyone has researched why Princeton drew so many students from the antebellum south?
Was it the furthest south of well established universities at that time, perhaps still significantly more well establsihed than UPenn, University of Virginia and William & Mary.
3
Try for starters they were accepted. Us humans do that Peace
Southerners did attend Southern schools. They may not have preferred Penn as it was founded by Quakers and Ben Franklin -- the Quakers were anti-slavery. Princeton was Ivy League, unlike Wm & Mary, Wash & Lee, Duke, Vanderbilt, UNC & Ole Miss -- all "well established" over a broad time period. E.G. Thomas Wolfe went to UNC, Chapel Hill.
2
There is an even greater injustice that was committed by Princeton University. They took land from the Delaware Indians. Now the Indians have no land, just a house address in Oklahoma for the ten thousand of them.
Princeton should demolish all their buildings, plant trees, and give the land back to the Indians so they can hunt squirrels.
2
Well, in that case then, every U.S. resident who is of European, Asian or African descent who owns any land in the 50 states plus territories has, ultimately, taken that land from the native occupants. We should therefore all pack up and leave?
1
“If you walk around campus, you see a lot of dead white men...”
A hateful fascist statement if I’ve ever heard one.
11
Suggest: Princeton can atone for rejecting (in 1934!) the Black H.S. grad after admitting him (I guess without a face-to-face interview), by naming a building after him, and putting up a fine statue.
2
Ebony & Ivy: https://www.amazon.com/Ebony-Ivy-Troubled-Americas-Universities/dp/15969... I read it before thanks to @nls and I was just listening to Wilder talk about his book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOwV8XTjciE
There is a whole series of Wilder talking about how the investments of Ivy colleges were dependent on the slave trade. The politics of North-South may have played out more,
but they were all dependent on slavery, in one way or another.
Growing up in nyc, I always thought of Princeton as a very Southern school.
10
Just reading through the news and commentaries of the past few months shows that as a country, we have yet to adequately address this aspect of our history. As seen here in Princeton and across America, the past is not gone, it continues to reverberate and create ever-widening ripples. On one side the argument is made that history must be taken in context of it's time, on the other is the frustration that not enough is being done to acknowledge the sins of the fathers that created such a system. The discourse must continue as it is at Princeton and across other academic institutions - all stories must be told and all blemishes that create the tapestry of our American history must be shown.
15
I note several comments saying that we should not "erase history". The purpose of a monument or the naming of an institution after someone is to honor that person. The honor should be undone if it is discovered that the individual no longer deserves that honor. Relegate that monument to a museum with an explanation of its history and relegate that naming to the history books of the institution. This is righting history rather than erasing it.
21
Ab-so-lutely. The assertion that we shouldn't reevaluate history is absurd. As if people from the past are beyond reproach. It's obvious that questioning our reverence for historical figures makes people uncomfortable because they also endorse the reprehensible beliefs of the past.
3
I agree, but I think more people are worried that these artifacts will go down the memory hole. Let's face it, history taught in American public schools is abysmal.
1
I grew up n Princeton. It was common knowledge that the section of town several blocks from Nassau Hall was the area where Southern students' "servants" had lived and then had raised families. That area was known as the "black section of town." To the town's credit, however, Princeton began busing students well before 1954.
10
Good for them.
The most recent edition of Princeton’s Alumni Weekly contains some interesting information.
It seems that “more than 50 years after the end of the civil war, a memorial to the Princeton alumni who lost their lives in the bloody conflict over slavery was carved into the marble walls of Nassau Hall’s atrium. Alone among American universities, Princeton choose to commingle the names of Union and Confederate dead, without noting which side they fought for.
That reticence, says Princeton history professor Martha A. Sandweiss, grew out of the University’s antebellum history, and the deep ties to slavery that shaped a Northern school long known for its affinity with the South.
For more than four years, Sandweiss and some three dozen undergraduates, graduate students, and established scholars have explored these connections in a group research effort now known as the Princeton & Slavery Project, whose findings will be officially unveiled this month on a website and at a Nov. 17-18 scholarly symposium on campus.”
The whole article can probably be found on Princeton’s website.
Yes, Princeton was the worst of the three Ivies when it came to the slavery issue, and it’s important that they acknowledge this.
We all know, and Princeton has addressed, about Woodrow Wilson’s deep racism, so I am glad that the University is dealing with this so publicly, and particularly that students are involved in the process—a wonderful learning experience I am sure.
22
Princeton Class of 1974 here. This work by the University makes me proud. You cannot forgive and forget if you are not aware of what you are forgiving or forgetting. No one can know the history of a place if they have not examined it. I admired my classmates, black, white and other, male, female and other. I admire the University more now than I did yesterday.
41
With respect to slavery, who should be doing the forgiving? And who needs to be forgiven? Both the perpetrators and the victims are long dead.
2
In this terrible Trump era of lies about our past and present times, it's critical for universities to conduct these kinds of projects.
To the issue of what to do with symbols of racism -- statues, stained glass windows, plaques -- I say put them together in one place and explain what they are, how they came to be etc. It's not destroying the past, but illuminating it.
And to the issue of using 21st century thinking as out of place in assessing actions of 150 - 250 years ago, I say look at the thousands and thousands --of people who opposed slavery and opposed it loudly from the beginning of our country. Then, of course, there's the Civil War.
What is truly moral and what makes us human have been understood by brave men and women in all times.
Racism dominates our history and we must face it head on.
14
Slavery is bad. Slavery is bad. Slavery is bad.
It's been 150 years. Let's stop with the virtue signalling. No one alive has ever owned a black person. No one wants to "put y'all back in chains" (Joe Biden). Grow up and take responsibility for your lives. Everyone... of all races, sexes, and interdimensional genders. We can never consider ourselves 'created equal' if some inherently owe something to others.
16
Utter nonsense.
12
How about owing acknowledgement, for starters?
2
Princeton is finally being honest and telling the truth about its history. So sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable.
2
I am curious about the historic relationship between Princeton U and Lincoln U in Lincoln U,PA which was often referred to as the black Princeton.
2
Excellent query. There is a great deal of history amongst the community surrounding theUniversity of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and Cheney and Lincoln, both HBCUs, miles outside of the city. All worthy of exploration..
2
I have yet to see so stark an example of the socio-cultural-racial divide as that which currently exists between the rich, majority-white suburbs of Princeton and the poor, majority-black city of Trenton. This is the true legacy of Princeton and other institutions which have, over several decades, continued to advance the educations and livelihoods of elites while ignoring the educations and livelihoods of their neighbors. That slavery once occurred in the university's history is no surprise to me at all, as segregation, degradation and white privilege are so clearly on display to this day -- with no signs of stopping.
23
I know Princeton tries, but it's not enough. It should be their mission for the whole university. The students and staff are so talented and Trenton has so many needs.
The university does mentor some students in the upper grades, but let them begin with younger kids. I've been in a classroom where the teacher has his/her hands full with younger children. Kids need a lot of attention.
2
"I have yet to see so stark an example of the socio-cultural-racial divide as that which currently exists between the rich, majority-white suburbs of Princeton and the poor, majority-black city of Trenton."
You are only part right. The way to rectify income inequality is to get young women to understand that starting to have babies at age 16 and keeping it up for the next ten years is a sure-fire way to ensure poverty into the next generation. As for the young men who impregnate girls and then live off their subsidies, there's nothing to say.
The same is true for poor whites in, say, Tennessee. The difference is that their poverty is largely out of sight, in the country, and we hear about them only when they get hold of guns and kill a load of people. Or when they vote for snake-oil salesmen pretending to be populists.
Birth control. And education. Oh wait, that's for the elites.
3
I wonder how Americans would react if a large portion of German citizens remembered world war II as a nostalgic time when Germany was heroically resisting the oppression of those nasty foreign powers, England, France, and Russia? Of course there were no atrocities. That is just "fake news". How would we feel if there were statues being erected to Hitler or Goebbels as brave defenders of the German way? The reality is that we would regard that as celebrating the Holocaust, and all the evil represented by that regime. Maybe this is extreme, but is our civil war any different? If we celebrate the brave heroes of the south, are we not celebrating what they stood for, i.e. slavery? And that is the problem. We are not willing to accept that the our history is one of slavery and genocide. Slavery in the US was officially abolished in 1865, but that didn't stop the abuse and discrimination against black. Instead, all that was glorified and hidden in the myth of the southern nobility. The only way to get past the warts in our history is to understand them, accept them, and eliminate the remaining traces of those institutions, and they do exist. Blacks and Native Americans do have legitimate grievances, and the United States flag is not necessarily a symbol of freedom, and equality. Unfortunately, this problem will be addressed only on the small scale of Princeton, and the bigger problems will be ignored.
67
Germany and Germans in large part DO celebrate and miss those times, as does Austria by electing Kurt Waldheim by a wide margin (96%) only AFTER he admitted his involvement with the Nazi reginme. I lived in Germany for 6 years, as recently as the early 90's and there is a hatred like no other of Jews, pervasive in even the youth. The BILLIONS in today's dollars of cash, art, personal items, real estate vanished into the hands of Germans, Polish, French, Austrians from Jews, gays, and others, and they still live with and off it their loot. No mention of Jews is made in school, and furthermore in Poland everywhere I went the people deny "dirty Jews" ever lived there! I have never met a German or a Pole in all my travels who wasn't thrilled the Jews were gone, who still walks on streets named Rommel Strasse, or Judenplatz, or worse, Synagogoue platz, when there is none and no one will admit there ever was!
5
I lived in Germany for many years and they have plenty of statues and plaques up commemorating their soldiers in both WWII and WWI. I worked at a kaserne (akin to a small military post) that was for a designated unit in WWII. They had a huge bronze plaque in the front of it and every year the survivors came to lay flowers for the dead soldiers. Read up on how the Japanese regard WWII and their part in it, I think you may be surprised.
1
Yes, and all the rapes were committed by Russian soldiers -- I don't think so.
1
Slavery predates written history. Civilization, itself, is slave based. Historians regard slavery as the ‘shortcut” humanity took between the hunter-gatherer stage of existence and “advanced civilization.” Slave labor produced the excess wealth that permitted advanced civilizations to evolve. This is not to say that advanced civilizations could have evolved without slavery. However, they would have evolved much more slowly without slavery. Today, everyone deplores slavery, but everyone enjoys the benefits. It’s like deploring the European conquest of the Americas while occupying the conquered territories.
13
So rapid development because of slavery is better than slower development without slavery. Strange reasoning, my friend.
As to enjoying living in a land stolen from Native Americans, I feel bad about that every day of my life, even though my ancestors were fleeing murderous Russian Cossacks at the time.
7
And sadly, let’s not forget that slavery continues around the world today.
3
"Everyone enjoys the benefits". Considering that slavery is still a modern-day issue in some parts of the world, I highly doubt that.
2
Mature societies admit their mistakes. Princeton, like Georgetown and others before them, is doing the right thing.
32
Why are we judging what Princeton did based on todays standards? You can't compare what happened then to now. We are supposed to learn from our mistakes. Tearing down statues and the like doesn't change history.
35
it seems clear that the article makes judgments and comparisons based on what other institutions were doing back in the day...
2
Judging by today's standards? You're wrong. From the time Princeton was founded, many American knew slavery was wrong, and acted to end it.
Many Southerners still think they were were on the right side of history. Decent people know they were wrong and are wrong.
8
It does if it restores the factual historical record and vanquishes romanticized nonsense in the process, such as the infamous "Lost Cause" mythology invented by post-Civil War Confederate apologists eager to re-write the history of the war and erect stautues to traitors and white supremacists whose racism is presently enjoying new support among the President of the U.S. and his base.
6
Wilson is buried in the National Cathedral in Washington. Perhaps, like his hero R.E.Lee, he should be removed to a less prominent place.
8
We hopefully learn from the past. Erasing it does what?
22
Who is erasing history? This is the opposite. Researchers shed more light. I have to wonder why you have that take.
9
Erasing it, as Princeton and the other Ivies have learned by doing so, leads to deep pain and anger and ignorance on the part of the perpetrators.
2
Nothing like a dose of self-loathing to correct mistakes committed by those long past. At some point, I hope we realize that the best way to ease racial tensions and move forward together as a nation is to "forgive and forget" and focus on the future. All digging at old wounds ever does is cause them to fester.
27
"Forgive and forget"?
I'm assume you're kidding. What is to forgive? Treating people worse than animals? Committing treason by fighting against your country solely to protect slavery?
Forget? That's great for white people; not so great for black people. We MUST remember every detail, so that, hopefully, history will not repeat itself.
Do we blame people today? Only if they still harbor racist ideas, i.e. trump, the "alt-right", white supremacists, etc.
8
Colin,
To "forgive and forget" we must first fully acknowledge what happened. Sadly, there are many who do not perceive such things as "wounds." Those wounds have long festered and have helped to stoke current fires in this country.
Some day the South will rise again...to shed that designation which is as deplorable as "Axis Powers."
2
You use the metaphor of "old wounds". They are not old, and anyway, wounds always benefit from sunshine. Why would you be arguing against uncovering these wounds if you truly wanted them to heal? Now, if you wanted to deny present harms rooted in past atrocities, I could unstained that stance. But, of course, that is not your intention, even if that would be the effect of denying these old wounds as you suggest.
1
I enrolled at Princeton in the fall of 1966. What stands out most in my mind during that first year was an incident during which white Princeton students threw urine from their dorm windows at Black Princeton students and their dates walking below. There was retaliation and publicity, and I can't remember how the particulars were resolved. However, it certainly appears as if the act itself - the launching of urine by white students - was in keeping with elements of Princeton's long history. This was, I admit, many years ago, and reports claim that things have changed; certainly the student body is more diverse that it was then. I think that the Princeton and Slavery Project will help ensure that change continues. Current events have shown that this is no time for anyone, anywhere in the country, to be complacent.
68
And what action did you take at the time? Why or why not?
If Wilson had been a Republican, his statues would be coming down and the Woodrow Wilson school at Princeton would have renamed. He eviscerated the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt and WH Taft, who actually did make some progress with race relations, and opportunity for blacks in the federal government.
When taking into consideration the era in which he served, Wilson is the most racist president in US history.
34
Yes it is ironic that the Democrats BEFORE 196? were part of the the filibuster that protected Slavery and then Jim Crow and all things having to do with "justice" for people whose skin color was not "white". And when LBJ a Texan (southerner?) joined the Northern Democrats and Republicans to sign the voter rights act the Democratic party became the party of inclusion and most unfortunately the Republican party took up the mantel. The Republicans of the 1970's who had never drunk the Kool Aid had a choice and for the sake of (power?) they drank the same Kool Aid that the Democrats had finally, after years of struggle, stopped drinking, Yes there was a long struggle inside the Democratic Party and so that Wilson was a Democrat is not the reason the Hall was not renamed.
1
Don't forget his anti-semitism either. Awful.
1
It's simply wrong to try to erase history. It's understandable to try to "right the wrongs of the past," but let's not try to kid ourselves that the past didn't happen. History needs to be considered in the context of the times when it happened.
23
Precisely why the University is delving into its slave-holding, racist history--as have other institutions in recent years. The question is why so many resist uncovering this history there and across the country while claiming not to want to "erase" it.
6
Who is erasing history? This is acknowledging history, not erasing it. That you think this is about "erasing" says a lot about you. History encompasses both permanence and fluidity.
3
Either you didn't bother to read the article or you read it and didn't understand it. The is nothing here about erasing history. This article is more about bringing history to light. The fact that so many people approved of your comment is troubling. Also, removing evil people from a place of honor is not erasing history.
2
We can't change our past but by working together to understand it we can do better going forward. I applaud Princeton for undertaking this project and really looking at their past history. I look forward to seeing what they do with the information so that it's not lost to the past again. Hopefully this turns into a history course to continue the dialogue.
28
Be sure to read "Ebony and Ivy" which has more detail about universities and slavery.
9
I don't see the point.
We know slavery was bad and that a lot of people had slave.
What happened at Princeton didn't only happen there.
If you look hard enough you will probably find some evidence that slavery and the the mistreatment of back people were approved by most institutions in this country and in others in some way.
Should we look at every institution and identify all of them that did something wrong one hundred and fifty years ago as slavery is just one of those things that can be identified that way.
I think this has to stop.
We should know our past in a way that helps us understand the present.
Knowing the detail of our past isn't being done for that reason.
It's being done to destroy the reputation people have who lived in the past and who can't defend themselves now and to malign institutions now for things done in the past.
10
No, we are studying the past here precisely to avoid the continuation of racist attitudes which, unfortunately are alive and well in trump's America.
6
@Stone. I'm sorry you don't see the point. I do, and most other people who live and work in Princeton do.
Ironically, you make a pretty good case for why we should do this kind of investigation when so many in our country deny our racist history when you write, "If you look hard enough you will probably find some evidence that slavery and the the mistreatment of back people were approved by most institutions in this country and in others in some way."
Well, what does that tell you if you look hard enough you'll find our racist roots in almost every institution? That our nation is indelibly racist in its origins. Did you learn that in school? I didn't. Has the country truly come to terms with this past that you point to? I don't see the evidence. Can you provide evidence that all of these flawed institutions have truly outgrown and rectified their racist foundations? I doubt it. When, precisely, did the US stop being a racist nation? 1865? 1965? The election of 2008? 2016 would suggest otherwise. If you accept that looking closely will reveal the racism of the past, then you should accept that looking closely at the present or recent past will indicate its removal. I don't believe it does and I don't think you can provide the evidence that it does. We continue to live in a racist nation. I know because I know we started out as one and I cannot find when it was when we stopped being one.
10
The Woodrow Wilson issue destroyed whatever credibility Princeton had.
3
This is history in service to the Nation - a liberal bastion examining its feet of clay. Such insight is appropriate to today and tomorrow - while we have somewhat subdued racist attitudes by exposure, ethics and kindergarten, Americans continue to justify routine classifications of others, by political party, religion, lifestyle and association, and still by race. While we readily bond and cooperate into teams and tribes and friendships, we still find it all too easy to mentally and ethically separate ourselves from all the Others we put outside our circle, forgetting the centrality of our shared humanity. The Princeton lesson is that we can all choose to do better. As John Steinbeck pointed out in East of Eden, and from the Hebrew Bible, timshel, or thou mayest. We may accept the humanity in all of mankind, and take care of each other, if we so choose.
11
My best friend in 1966 was of mixed race (half white, half from Barbados). He went to Princeton between 1966 and 1967, but he was required to have a "sponsor" living within the town of Princeton. Exactly what the function of the "sponsor" was I am not clear, but it sounds as though they expected my friend to "misbehave" in some way, so they needed to justify his acceptance by having someone "co-sign" as to his suitability. So as late as 1966, Princeton still had the massive illness that goes back to its beginnings.
19
Here is an institution the NYT should investigate: Goldman Sachs got started and built its business financing the transport and trading of slaves. They financed the slave trade to get started. Why doesn't anyone do an expose on that history?
27
Goldman Sachs was founded in 1869 after slavery was no longer permitted in the USA so could not financed slavery in any wäy
3
So did Brown Brothers. Excellent suggestion.
1
I walk Princeton's campus on a fairly regular basis and I honestly have to say I rarely see anyone actually looking at, and certainly not studying, the statues , whether they be "dead white men" or anyone else. There is beautiful art in terms of sculpture on the campus and in the university Art Museum, and those art sculptures certainly draw interest and involvement.
Princeton can and should acknowledge its history and it should educate students on its mistakes of the past and the university must ensure those mistake are not made again. Woodrow Wilson's student years at Princeton and the later years when he was President of the university can't be erased. They are a fact. That earlier Princeton presidents actually owned slaves is a fact that can't be erased now.
Many of us were led to believe we learn from studying the past. In learning from history we hope not to make the same mistakes. Erasing all of the past will simply ensure we learn nothing. We must strive not to glorify the past when that past goes against current thoughts, but we must remember it and learn from it.
Kudos to Princeton for stepping forward and acknowledging a history that we now consider unacceptable. Please don't bury that history. Learn from it and let's hope we do not make the same mistakes again.
27
Best Comment! Thank you
1
Princeton discriminates based on skin color.
That sentence was true 250 years ago, 150 years ago and it's true today.
2
Evidence?
2
In what way? Have any proof of this?
Examining Princeton's racism from hundreds of years ago is an admirable and worthy project.
But perhaps a worthier and more consequential project would be to examine its racist policies of today: https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/asians-very-familiar-profile...
2
This revisionist perspective that is being adopted is almost humorous if it weren't so serious.
Years ago slavery existed, each and every culture attempted to subjugate other cultures, it is part of the human experience. We didn't own slaves but people in the past did, perhaps they owned our ancestors, or perhaps our ancestors owned others, so.
It is not whom we are today and you can't judge me but what was done a hundred years ago by others. Neither can you apply todays mores to the past, if you did the Great Wall would have to be torn down, along with the pyramids, Parthenon and the White House. The temples of South America, Mexico all built with human slaves.
If Princeton choses to be ashamed of its past that is a choice they can make, or not.
13
Tom, a comment worthy of your proud profession. I see that you are parroting the fox news talking points on this almost accurately.
2
Don't let your relativism expand into total loss of moral judgment. Or ignorance. E.g., Arab slave trade in East Africa persisted much longer than European West Africa slave trade, was huge, the men slaves were mostly castrated, and the Arab slave trade was only stopped when Western nations fought against it. "Dar Es Salaam" means Gate of Peace, but was nexus of slave trade: How cruelly hypocritical!
1
Why can't we apply contemporary mores to the past?
People insist on applying historical mores to the present. Look at all the constitutional "originalists" and people who think the founding fathers wanted everyone to own AR15s.
2
It is interesting that we praise the Germans for their unvarnished teaching of their young about the Holocaust. We criticize the French, Hungarians and others for not doing so. But we are very squeamish about teaching ourselves about our long history of slavery and racism and really don't want to know about it or acknowledge its persistent, present effects. I just recently visited Gettysburg and was struck by the grandeur, proud tone, and size of the Confederate memorials contrasted with the generally more moderate Union ones. We have a lot of unfinished business as a nation.
31
Have you been to Paris lately? The city is covered with plaques commemorating locations and schools from which children and adults were deported to concentration camps. During my daily walks I would come across numerous thought-provoking plaques of this nature. In the past 10 years and more, France has made huge strides in acknowledging acts of collaboration with the Nazis. It is very discouraging to often read in the New York Times comments by fellow Americans who don't seem to be very aware of what's going on in France now re. coming to terms with their role in World War II. Once again, it makes Americans appear to be woefully uninformed about what goes on in other countries, in Europe in this instance. Have you been to the Holocaust Museum in Paris, in the Marais District which is the old Jewish quarter? Printed on the wall outside the museum are the names of the Just, French non-Jews who helped Jews during the terrible wartime years.
4
Rebel monuments most likely put up with private money.
1
As post-apartheid South Africa demonstrated, there can be no real reconciliation without truth. I'm glad my alma mater has done this work and is telling the truth about itself and its history. I was aware of the controversy surrounding Woodrow Wilson but didn't know the earlier history at all. Thanks to Professor Sandweiss and the students who got this project under way.
16
They should turn this into The African-American Culture Center! #Justice!
3
This is the history that needs to be told about America. How deep the evil root of slavery has been from the very outset of our nation. Even how it perpetrated in our Ivy League schools during the pre-Civil War period. Overall a great piece that truly enlightened me to the original sin of our country.
41
Why do you make this about your country when slavery existed in Europe before there was a America.
The people who settled your country brought the institutions of slavery with them when they came.
1
Please do not lump all schools together. New England was pretty strongly anti-slavery, partly as the land was not suitable for labor-intensive plantation farming, partly religious. Abolitionists in the North were outspoken at the risk of their lives or smashup of their printing presses, from New England to the Midwest, and Midwesterners fought slavery by "rescues" of Blacks caught by bounty-hunters employed by Southerners (after Dred Scott case) and of course, the Underground Railroad! Uncle Tom's Cabin was researched from actual runaway accounts.
Is it possible to erase every reference to injustice in these old universities? No. If in fact the bad out weighs the good, then students should find another school. Slavery of Africans was a terrible and ugly part of this country`s history. Changing the appearence of the structure is not going to change that history.
30
Your comment regarding “slavery of Africans” is incorrect. These black people were Americans most with roots deeper in America’s soil than your ancestors.
Straw man argument. No one is claiming that the changes will "change history". The point is that the changes recognize a cruel and terrible history. The very opposite of erasing or concealing it, as has been done for centuries by Princeton but also many other institutions. Or, is it your claim that you and most others knew of Princeton's relationship with slavery? I sincerely doubt that because the research was just recently undertaken.
1
What would have been a worthy project would have been to research the slaves and their descendents.
11
Check out The Princeton and Slavery Project web site princeton.slavery.edu and you will see the ongoing research.
3
Might come later. A la Georgetown. Again, pursue the story of the admittee whose admission was cruelly revoked the only cause being they saw his skin tone when he showed up to sign in (1934).
1
Looking forward to when Princeton will do a study about its quota based admissions system - the one that's still in effect under different names - the one that restricts the number of Asian Americans and holds them to a higher standard. Many would call that racism and it's not just in the deep past.
90
@older and wiser
What evidence do you have that Princeton has quota-based admissions? Admission to any college or university is not a prize that can be won. The university has criteria and majors to be satisfied. Should Princeton admit all Asian students regardless of major?
1
Asians were never enslaved. The. vast majority came to the U.S. after 1965. Very different history, very different experiences.
2
And how about the quotas on Jewish students? All the Ivy League schools had one.
14
The rest of the country should follow this example. Slavery is a horrific part of this country's history and should be discussed fully and honestly and taught in schools from a very young age. The wrongs that were done to other human beings based on the color of their skin need to be faced and acknowledged and instead of continuing to persecute people based on race, color, religion, gender etc we need to start seeing the beauty in our fellow human brothers and sisters. This country is in a turbulence not seen in decades because of the evils we have committed against our fellow human beings and until we are taught how wrong this was and still is we will never truly be a United States of America.
39
Human history is a history of savagery. There is nothing unique about the savage acts committed by our Founders - others throughout history, of all races and origins, have committed similar sins. What makes our Founders worth studying is what they got right, not what they got wrong. That is where we should be spending our time.
5
Studying what the founders got right is taught to American students every day of their lives.
They need to learn what was done wrong (3/5 compromise, etc.) so it won't happen again.
5
Until recently what the founders got right was the only thing taught. The wrong was ignored or diminished. We learn as much from the one as from the other.
4
"a black seminary graduate, Theodore Sedgwick Wright, was attacked by a white student. The university’s president later suggested Wright was to blame." The oldest and still current story line in American history. The black victim is almost always the cause of the attack, not the white attacker. In cases where the black person is actually the attacker, that transfer of blame (and its legal impact) never happens.
46
You cannot ascribe 21st century beliefs and morality to 19th century cultural norms and practices. Condemning people from the 1700's and 1800's for slave holding because it is abhorred today is an exercise in futility. Sure, it makes the self righteous people of Princeton feel better about themselves as they try to convince everyone that they would have stood up against slavery had they been there. But chances are that they would have done nothing since slave holding was an accepted fact of life. Princeton can perform this self flagellation to help the self righteous in their community to reconcile with their history, but they are simply wasting their time.
106
There were millions of people who opposed slavery way back then, especially the slaves. They never accepted it. And neither did abolitionists and other people with conscience. Just because some white predecessors were pro slavery still did not make it o.k. Even the slaveholders knew it was wrong. You just have to read Jefferson and Washington's characterization of slavery to know that. They were just to greedy and cowardly and racist to put a stop it.
9
Slave holding was NOT acceptable to the slaves, even in the 19th century. It was abhorred by the majority of the South, even in the 1700's and 1800's since that majority was black.
12
There were plenty of abolitionists in the 1700s and 1800s in England and America. The system of slavery was not inevitable. What makes it complicated, as with today's third-world sweatshops, farms, and factories (which on the spectrum of from fairly paid labor to slavery, verge toward the latter, even with equivalence) is that the global economy creates consumer demand for the products of slave labor: cotton, spices, sugar back then; computers, phones, sneakers and clothing now. Because the slaves are on the other side of the world (as they were for Britons in the 18th c), the immediacy of the conditions of labor slip from vibrant everyday consciousness. But abolitionist Britons in the 1790s refused sugar, and abolitionist factory workers in Manchester mills refused to work with imported cotton from slave plantations. There were options. To call historical research self-righteous serves only the interests of those who would sustain oppression as inevitable, natural.
10
I applaud Princeton University's efforts to acknowledge and explore the less admirable facets of its history. Those who would ignore this nation's history are doomed to perpetuate it. The only thing we can do about the injustices of the past is to live our future informed by it.
I'm cheered to learn that even a slave-owning, 18th century man like Samuel Stanhope Smith understood that 'race' isn't real; it's a social construct built around the inherited complexion of any member of the human race. We would all do well to look upon our fellow humans with that in mind, even as we understand that many of our fellows do not.
76
"If you walk around campus, you see a lot of dead white men". --- On a prestigious University Higher Education Campus, Students and Visitors (and Donors) should be walking around Campus seeing examples of, as well as in person, a lot of well-educated, highly intelligent, brilliant people. Clearly, Princeton, thus the Ivy League is "not there yet" and so, is over-rated. In this case, as well as History that needs to catch-up as Professor Sandweiss states, it is "the bigger picture" of Higher Education that also needs to catch-up. Education and The School System is not there yet, overall, since the Ivy League has not been put in its proper formal lower-rated place. This is very alerting, perhaps even criminal, considering all of the resources available at this time, near the year, 2018. High School Students who work hard on their Report Cards should receive the School that they think they are getting, that they have been told that they are getting (and paying tuition for, spending time on). Yet, it looks like they are only getting cheap, commercial, junky Brochure. Many of these Ivy League Professors have not even completed all 52 Grades of School, let alone have Brilliant IQs. They are merely Graduate Students still trying to get it together enough: To Finish School. This fact is not generally known. And, it should be. Since Students receive important Scholarship Reviews and Grades from these unfinished Professors who are only at the Graduate Student Level.
3
Actually, as a former member of the Princeton faculty, I can tell you that the undergraduates there have more contact with full-time faculty members than at most universities. I had graduate students who assisted with exam grading, but I supervised and made all the final decisions. PhD-holding faculty gave all the lectures, ran the laboratories and helped students directly with exam material and research projects. All scholarship reviews and grades came directly from faculty.
9
Absolutely true of Princeton. The previous poster obviously didn’t go to Princeton.
1
Elizabeth, my post emphasized the surprise fact that most Faculty members of any tier, have not actually completed all 52 Grades of School. So, they are really only Graduate Student Level, because they are still in School, trying to complete. There usually are huge differences between those that have completed and those that have not completed. Do you know what happens at the 52nd Grade Level? Have you completed School? Should those Professors who are really only Graduate Teaching Assistant Level because they have not completed School, be grading Freshman Students who might even be better/ahead of the not graduated Professor? What do you think? For me, I do not think they should have such serious grading review responsibilities. Note: I am not even talking about how well the not graduated Professor did in those Grades completed, such as on IQ Testing. I think all Students, especially in the Ivy League, would prefer to be taught by the Top Level, by real Professors who have finished all 52 Grades of School, finished with Highest Honors, and have Certified Brilliant IQ Scores (above Mensa). Elizabeth, do you have such a Top Level Resume? I see by your post, that you did not mention whether you have finished all 52 Grades of School. Was that on purpose?
I've always been told that idyllic and nationally ranked, Davidson College in North Carolina was The Princeton of The South! Obviously, now I see Princeton of the North was, and is more like Davidson of the South! Always good Basketball teams too! And Wilson had connections to both! Oh, those Prespreterians!!!
6
The "Princeton of the South" was (is?) Sewanee: The University of the South. It was where those Southern boys who were not accepted to Princeton went...
1
There is an easy solution to the "problem" that so many statues and memorials on campus of are dead white men. Instead of wasting time exploring the personal histories of these men who lived long ago, focus on today and the future. Learn something useful. Apply it. And achieve something. Then, in 20, 50 or 100 years, there will be a statue dedicated to you and whatever you contributed.
40
Wow! So you really think the issue is that only white men have achieved things of note in history? Tell me more about how there are no notable historical people worthy of statues except white men!
6
No. I think the problem is people who are wasting their time trying to figure out how they have been victimized by history rather than focusing on how to make tangible contributions to society today.
Sorry Amanda I didn’t pick that out of the comment?
I grew up near there and we always called Princeton the furthest point south in New Jersey.
26
I grew up in Hopewell, the next twp over. Some people called Princeton the "Charleston of the North".
1
"A lot of Dead White Men." I hear this refrain all of the time. From my 6th grade daughter who is studying ancient Greece and Rome, to my 17 year old son who is studying the founding fathers. While it is interesting to note, and important to understand and explore the histories of Blacks, Jews, women, others, it is impossible to do so without studying the history itself. The context of which, provides and informs the very exploration of the groups themselves, none of which existed in a bubble or can be studied about in isolation. Replacing the study of Ancient Greek/Roman "Democratic" societies, with "Modern Women," and ""the Jazz Age," is inherently flawed. It leaves out what led us to the emergence of Modern women and Jazz. History is a series of reactions and no one period can be understood without the knowledge of what proceeded it.
Furthermore, these "Dead White Men," (which is a very reductive term) provided us knowingly with a template that gave rise to civil rights, women's rights, and the very ability to voice our own opinions. As non-white woman, I can fairly and justly say that while I do not feel I owe a debt of gratitude to white men or even the founding fathers for providing these pathways, I can't pretend that their life's works didn't play a part in my current one.
98
What's this?! Again, I'm reading an implication that Jews aren't White! I thought most were?! If not, am I missing a shade?! Not that it really matters...
7
When I was a student at Cornell, the distinction "White" and "Jewish" was commonplace.
I was started when I first arrived to hear this. But I came to realize that both Jewish and non-Jewish students used these terms all the time.
Interestingly, the Black/White disctinction seldom arose. I am not sure we had even one African American in our class. We did have six black Africans, but they all spoke with posh British accents and seemed to be pretty much accepted in the "white" half of the student society.
Fraternities and Sororities freely described themselves as White (eg Theta Delt) or Jewish (eg Zeta Beta Tau).
That was a mere six decades ago.
3
the majority of Jews are White. they are included when we refer to "dead White men", and they are very well represented in history, at least in the last 100 years. the same can NOT be said about Blacks.