Racial Equality in America (The Paul Anthony Brick Lectures)

by John Hope Franklin

This is distinguished historian John Hope Franklin's eloquent and forceful meditation on the persistent disparity between the goal of racial equality in America and the facts of discrimination. In a searing critique of Thomas Jefferson, Franklin shows that this spokesman for democracy did not include African Americans among those "created equal." Franklin chronicles the events of the nineteenth century that solidified inequality in America and shows how emancipation dealt only with slavery, not with inequality. In the twentieth century, America finally confronted the fact that equality is it must not be divided so that it is extended to some at the expense of others. Once this indivisibility is accepted, Franklin charges, America faces the monumental task of overcoming its long heritage of inequality. Racial Equality in America is a powerful reminder that our history is more than a record of idealized democratic traditions and institutions. It is a dramatic message to all Americans, calling them to know their history and themselves.

Genres: History

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

John Hope Franklin, Ph.D. (History, Harvard University, 1941; M.A., History, Harvard U., 1936; B.A., Fisk University, 1935), was the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University. He also had served as President of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association, and the Southern Historical Association.

Reviews

[Zane Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, quick little overview of how America has, from the revolution to the bicentennial, made life unequal and unfair to black folks.

[Luis Quiros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Franklin examines a topic very few delve into because we address "race" with such a negative connotation. What Dr. Franklin can do as an historian is link the experiences we have with the historical events. Great book by an incredible scholar!