A little Known History of Paul Boesch

Paul Boesch

David Buie

HIST 4301:  US History from 1945

Dr. Christian

December 2, 2010

            For many people in Houston, Texas the name of Paul Boesch congers up specific images, whether those images are pro-wrestler Paul Boesch or wrestling announcer/promoter Paul Boesch or even if one was not a wrestling fan they may have known him from a popular commercial for a local jewelry store that ran for many years .  However, there are many aspects of Paul Boesch that do not get the acknowledgement that should.  Little known in the public eye is Paul Boesch the soldier or the philanthropist or father or poet or writer on such varied topics as World War II, women’s self defense, and wrestling.

                         Contentment

                        By Paul Boesch

            Contentment embraces the motionless sea

            Lulling the waves to peace

            Cloudless sky and the breeze agree

            It’s time for unrest to cease.

            Soaring sea birds, gracefully wing,

            Admiring reflections in lapis blue;

            Tawny sands welcome a gathering

            Of seaborne lovers in rendezvous…[1]

            Paul Boesch was born October 2, 1912 in Brooklyn, New York.  At age ten, the young Boesch moved to Long Beach, New York.  After two years of high school, Boesch left school to go to work.  He had been employed as a part-time lifeguard since the age of thirteen and by the age of fifteen he was a full-time member of the Long Beach Patrol.[2]

            After leaving high school Boesch also worked as a lathe man, gym instructor, and ditch digger.  However as a natural athlete Boesch played semi-professional and professional basketball where he was paid $5 per game.[3]  In 1932 Boesch placed third in the North Atlantic Coast Lifeguard Championship. It was Boesch’s notoriety as a life guard that put him in contact with on of the most controversial figures in professional wrestling, Jack Pfefer the match maker for Madison Square Garden.  That same year in October, Boesch wrestled in his first professional match.[4]  Boesch from that October day in 1932 was never very far from wrestling.  As a professional wrestler he was able to compete all over the United States and Canada and even in locales as far away as the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand against the top talent in the world.[5] During his career as a Wrestler Boesch wrestled some of the top wrestlers of the day such as former world champions Jim Londos and Dick Shikat, Boesch also faced the likes of Ted “King Kong” Cox, Earl McCready and later in his wrestling career Duke Keomuka and Leroy McGuirk.[6]

Wrestling opened a lot of doors for Paul Boesch.  One was broadcasting of a wrestling match in Portland, Oregon.  Though this was at the time more of an accident than a career.  When Rollie Truitt, the radio announcer in Portland, Oregon, was interviewing Boesch between falls of a match and in Boesch’s own words, “Rollie Truitt handed me the microphone when the wrestlers returned to the ring and said ‘you broadcast the next fall’ I stammered a protest, but he walked away and I became a radio announcer.”[7]  It did eventually become part of his career in 1948 when he began broadcasting wrestling on KLEE-radio, and a year later on KLEE channel two, which was the first television station in Houston, Texas, Boesch was one of the first telecaster of sports in Houston in January, 1949, of which Boesch said, “I hadn’t even seen televison and suddenly I was on it.”[8]  He also worked as a disc jockey on several radio stations that broadcasted throughout Texas.  In 1950 KLEE was bought out by the Houston Post and the Hobby Family, after the purchase compulsory network programming caused Paul Boesch’s show, Houston Wrestling, to move to channel thirteen, where the show was a fixture until the last few months of 1981.  However, Boesch was able to again move his show to the “new kid in town” when on January 1982 he began broadcasting on channel thirty-nine.[9]  Though broadcasting brought Boesch a measure of notoriety to the population in general to those that were fans of wrestling and those in the business his real contribution was made as a promoter. Paul Boesch, in 1937, was wrestling in Seattle, Washington when a back injury prevented him from wrestling for a full year.  Boesch was able to buy into the Seattle wrestling promotion.  It was during his time as a promoter in Seattle that Boesch had a bright idea that he wishes he had back.  Boesch described it this way, “I invented ‘mud wrestling’ and promoted the first one [match] in this country.  I meant it to be a ‘Hindu style’ match with India’s Harnem Singh and former world’s champion Gus Sonnenberg wrestling in a ring packed with dirt.  Someone forgot to turn off the water.”[10]  After a year of therapy, Paul’s back had healed sufficiently for Boesch to return to the ring where he continued his wrestling career.[11]  However this was not the last time Boesch would work as a wrestling promoter, but on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor thrusting the United States into World War II.  Paul Boesch had returned to Long Island after the war in Europe started where he was working as chief of lifeguards while wrestling around New York.  In 1942:

Across the river he lies in wait

This man I have sworn to kill

Carefully I’ve learned to hate

The enemy who’s blood I’ll spill…

-from The Enemy By Paul Boesch-[12]

            In 1942 Paul Boesch, much like Audie Murphy, tried to get into the military only to be turned down twice before finally landing in the army.  Boesch’s first attempt occurred when after a Judo demonstration a naval officer approached Boesch to teach hand combat at the naval pre-flight training schools.  However when it became known in Washington, D.C. that Boesch did not finish high school the offer was withdrawn.[13]  Next, Jack Dempsey, the former heavyweight boxer, who was commissioned as commander in the Coast Guard and responsible for developing a physical fitness program contacted Paul Boesch and promised to get him a rating of chief petty officer to work as a hand to hand combat instructor.[14]  This did not happen because the Coast Guard had decided that they were not taking any more athletes as chiefs and offered Boesch a job as an apprentice seaman which Boesch declined.  Boesch heard about the United States Army volunteer officer candidate program which offered the opportunity to become an officer to any civilian that was not draftable if they could pass a physical, army general classification test, an interview by a board of officers, and waive their deferment.  If the candidate made it they would be inducted into the army through normal channels.  If the candidate made it through basic training the candidate would go before a selection board.  Those who made it through boot camp would go before a selection board.  Those who made it through the selection board would go onto non-commissioned officer school.  Then those that survived non-commissioned officer school would ultimately go onto officer candidate school.  Paul Boesch made it through and left officer candidate school.  He was then assigned to the 63rd Infantry Division at Camp Blanding, Florida where he was assigned to the 255^th Infantry.  Second Lieutenant Boesch’s first assignment white at Camp Blanding was to teach “dirty fighting” and he was also assigned to Headquarters Company of the 3^rd Battalion.  Lieutenant Boesch’s self-defense class was a melding of judo with some wrestling.

            One morning the executive officer of the division, Brigadier General F.M. Fitch, observed Lieutenant Boesch’s class.  As the general watched Lieutenant Boesch brought an unsuspecting captain forward and placed him in an unconscious hold and in a few seconds the captain was out cold and to quote Lieutenant Boesch, “The general stared at him until I thought his eyes would pop out!”[15]  Lieutenant Boesch revived the captain and then Lieutenant Boesch moved onto a sergeant also taking class and applied a variation of the same hold with the same results.  Lieutenant Boesch described the generals reaction to the state of the second volunteer as, “I could see out of the corner of my eye that the general was about to go nuts with excitement!”[16]  Lieutenant Boesch then revived the sergeant and then called a break.  The general then sought out Lieutenant Boesch and enthusiastically questioned the self-defense instructor.  He ultimately asked Lieutenant Boesch, “That fellow was faking wasn’t he?  You rehearsed that as a part of your class, didn’t you?”[17]  To which Lieutenant Boesch slipped behind the general and put his arms around his neck and said, “I’d be glad to show you what happened, sir.”[18]  The general made the fastest move of the day and chuckled as he said, “I believe you.  Never mind the demonstration.”[19]  Not long after this incident Lieutenant Boesch shipped out of Europe where he served with the 121^st Infantry of the Eighth Division.  During his time in the service Lieutenant Boesch won the Silver Star with cluster, Bronze Star with cluster, a Purple Heart with cluster, Combat Infantrymen’s Badge, and three Battle Stars.  As part of the 121^st Infantry he received the Distinguished Unit Citation and from the French government the Croix de Guerre with star.  Lieutenant Boesch also won the admiration of those that served with him.  Major General William Weaver said of Lieutenant Boesch, “In decorating Lieutenant Boesch with the Silver Star for his work in the attached (his third award in less than two months), I wrote his wife that her husband was a brave and efficient soldier, whose action upheld the highest military traditions.”[20]  While Major General P.D. Ginder said, “…one unit Company ‘G’ of the 121^st Infantry had been able to take a small piece of the town and hang onto it.  This badly depleted company leady by Lieutenant [Paul] Boesch gave me the spring board to complete the capture of Huertgen.”[21]

            After Paul Boesch left the military he returned to wrestling, first in Texas then in New Zealand.  Then in 1947 Boesch returned to Texas to stay.  However, in 1947 Paul was wrestling in San Antonio, Texas and he decided to go to Corpus Christi but he never made it.  Paul Boesch was involved in automobile accident with an oil truck.  Paul Boesch said of the accident, “The automobile accident confronted me with a nightmare I had often experienced during the war.  What would I do if I couldn’t wrestle again?”[22]

             After the injury, Boesch went to work for W. Albert Lee broadcasting wrestling for him on the radio.  Then somewhat by accident Boesch was in Morris Sigel’s office and Sigel needed some newspaper articles changed. This led to Sigel offering Boesch a job, of Sigel’s offer Boesch said, “Doctors had said I should not wrestle again so I eagerly grabbed the chance to stay in wrestling.”[23]  Sigel took Boesch under his wing.  Boesch worked as a referee in several matches throughout 1948 and even was referee during Miguel Guzman’s defense of his Texas heavy weight wrestling title on March 9, 1948 against Sonny Myers at the sportatorium in Dallas.[24]

            In 1925 Julius Siegel started promoting wrestling in the old city auditorium.  Julius Sigel had top talent coming to wrestle in Houston, Texas on a regular basis.  Julius was joined by his brother Morris Sigel.  In 1929 Julius decided to move onto New Orleans and Shreveport, Louisiana which left Morris in charge of the Houston, Texas promoting.  Boesch recalls “Morris’ strength as a promoter lay in his ability to bring good business practices into the sports world.  He paid his bills promptly and had an unparalleled reputation for honesty.  Matchmaking was not his strong point, but he did surround himself with people who knew the mat game.”[25]  Paul Boesch credits one these people in mentoring him as a match make, Karl “Doc” Sarpolis who had wrestled in the early 1920s and was great at evaluating wrestlers.[26]

            Paul continued working for Sigel even after he decided to come out of retirement and again step into the squared circle on July 20, 1948 against Ray Clements.[27]  During that time Boesch helped to mentor several up and coming wrestlers like Tiger Conway, Cowboy Carlson, Hogan Wharton, and Boesch even helped Tiger Conway’s son ,Tiger Conway Junior win both the light heavyweight and heavyweight championships. Boesch did this by teaching Conway Junior the sleeper hold which had been Boesch’s own signature hold.[28]

            Early on in his career on television, Paul Boesch realized that television gave him the opportunity to do a lot of good for a lot of people.  One of Paul’s earliest causes was Elk’s Club anti-polio campaign, the Mile of Dimes.[29]  However Mr. Boesch’s charitable works do not end there.  Paul Boesch was a very civic minded and giving individual.  Among his various charitable contributions, Paul Boesch was a regular reader to Taping for the Blind, where he put more than twenty-five books on tape.  He also was a regular lecturer to convicts at the pre-release center of Texas Department of Corrections (TDC).[30]  Once while conducting his lecture, channel thirteen’s Marvin Zindler accompanied Mr. Boesch and the convicts asked Paul to demonstrate his signature move which was the sleeper hold and Paul asked who they wanted him to put the hold on.  The crowd at once started chanting Marvin.  Never one to disappoint, Boesch put Marvin in the sleeper hold, however; it worked better than he had anticipated.  Marvin not only passed out it took longer than usual to bring him around and although he never publicly acknowledged any worry he did later confide to his wife Valerie that he was glad when Marvin came too.  For his work with the TDC Paul Boesch was named an honorary convict.[31]  Mr. Boesch was also cited in a resolution by the Houston City Council thanking him for his civic work. In 1978 Mayor Jim McConn appointed Boesch to the Board of Directors of the Houston Public Library.[32]  Paul Boesch also worked extensively with veteran organizations, being a veteran these groups were close to his heart.  He worked with and was honored by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the United Service Organization (USO), Veterans of World War I, and the Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital, which in 1978 Paul Boesch conducted a blood drive for the VA Hospital and received more than 2,500 pints of blood that were donated strictly through his efforts.[33]

            The charity that received most of his time and was closest to his heart was the Boy’s Club.  Paul Boesch began working with the Boy’s Club through his affiliation with the Variety Club in 1952.  Paul’s work with the Boy’s Club/Variety Club spanned many years during which time Paul won many awards, such as the Boys Club Medallion in 1955, the Silver Keystone in 1958 and in 1973 Boesch won the Southwesterner Award for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the Boys’ Club movement in the southwest region.  Paul Boesch’s work with the Boy’s Club/Variety Club up until Houston’s Variety Club folded in 1974.  Paul was able to work out a deal with the Rotary Club of Houston to pick up the mantel of the Boys Club.  Mr. Boesch remained active with the Boys Club throughout his live.[34]

            In 1966 Morris Sigel died after a long illness.  Paul Boesch purchased the Gulf Athletic Club from Mrs. Sigel and in purchasing the Gulf Athletic Club Paul Boesch became the top promoter of professional wrestling in Houston, Texas.  Paul Boesch said, “I had long known the stress of promotion and was well aware of the possibilities and its promise for twenty years.  I had been training for my new position without knowing it.”[35]

            Paul Boesch took off as a promoter in Houston, Texas.  His many contacts he had made as both a wrestler and junior promoter along with Houston’s reputation as a wrestling city all aided Paul in being able to bring top talent to Houston.  This helped Paul Boesch to be named promoter of the year and Houston as “Wrestling City of the 70s.”[36]  Boesch continued to run the Houston wrestling promotion through the Gulf Athletic Club until he sold the promotion to Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation. Paul continued to work for McMahon for a few months but on August 28, 1987 Paul Boesch hosted his retirement show before 12000 fans, and many big names in wrestling such as: Ox Anderson, Cyclone Anaya, Red Bastien, Jim Casey, Tiger Conway Senior, Verne Gagne, Stu Hart, Danny McShane, Pat Patterson, Lou Thesz, Jose Lothario, Ernie Ladd, Vince McMahon Senior, and many others.  They all wished Boesch well.

            As important as wrestling was to Boesch it was not the only reason for notoriety.  Paul Boesch was an author that wrote a book about his time in Europe during World War II called Road to Huertgen: Forest in Hell.  Paul also wrote Rasslin Round Up a book about his career as a wrestler.  Mr. Boesch also wrote a book of poetry called Much of Me in Each of These.  He has also written a book on self-defense for women called The Womanly Art of Self Defense.  This led to a series of syndicated newspaper articles called Lady Protect Yourself.[37]  This series gained Mr. Boesch much notoriety.  So much so, one newspaper article in Dallas is quoted saying, “Boesch is also an author of Road to Huertgen, and Much of Me in Each of These.  He is best known however for his advice to women on the protection of their own lives, their children, and their homes.”[38]  Boesch a man who knows how to market a product taped The Lady Protect Yourself articles for a radio series that aired all around the world.[39]  Paul Boesch literary notoriety did not end with his self-defense articles and book.

Paul Boesch even shared the same page in the Dallas Morning News literary section with John Keats, not the ode to a Grecian urn John Keats, the New Romans John Keats.[40]  In the article they are announcing Boesch’s poetry reading at the Texas State Fair on October 15, 1967 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in observance of National Poetry Day.[41]  Paul even made the letters to the editors page on August 12, 1966 issue of Life Magazine, when Vic Green of Houston, Texas nominated him as least likeliest poet.  Paul Boesch also wrote Hey Boy Where’d You Get Them Ears: 55 Years of Pro Wrestling which was published posthumously and was edited by J. Michael Kenyon.[42]  Paul Boesch also wrote several articles for various newspapers and magazine articles about wrestling such as the 1981 article for The Wrestling News the Career of Paul Boesch: One Man, One Sport, One Lifetime 50 years on the Mat.

Joey

By Paul Boesch

Bundle of laughter, contagious joy,

Delightful, inquisitive, appealing

One hundred percent thoroughbred boy

Whose talented hands express his feelings

Warmly sympathetic, considerate, kind

Selected by Go to stand apart

Not realizing that he is blind,

He sees the world…with his heart.[43]

Paul Boesch on the outside was a rough and rugged individual but on the inside he was a tender compassionate man that cared deeply for his family.[44]  He married his first wife Eleanor in 1930 and they were married until her death in April 1982.  Later that same year, Boesch was married to long time friend Valerie Choate.  Then he adopted Valerie’s son Joey who took his adopted fathers last name.  Joey is a noted musician in his own right and was the reason that Valerie and Paul met.  Paul had booked Joey to play at a charity event and then Paul and Valerie became good friend.  After their marriage, Paul and Valerie traveled extensively especially to those countries Paul had visited as a wrestler and soldier.  Valerie said, ‘It meant a lot to Paul to show me [Valerie] where he had been.”[45]  It also seems that Paul’s philanthropic spirit was passed onto his adopted son Joey, according to Lauren Rowe, director of Houston Children’s Charity, “[Joey] He has done more pro-bono performances for non-profits than any other piano soloist in Houston…”[46]  Joey’s charitable works include a concert for Loving Hearts and Loving Hands and The Living Bank gala.  Joey also conducts a prison ministry through music.[47]

Paul Boesch touched the lives of people in all walks of life whether famous or regular people.  Former professional wrestler Terry Funk in his book Terry Funk: More Than Just Hardcore said, “I also loved working for Paul Boesch in Houston.”[48]  Boesch’s former business partner and former wrestler, Bill Watts, in his book said, “Boesch had become a bigger star to people in Houston than the wrestlers.”[49]  Perhaps the biggest reference Paul Boesch could have received was in the telegram that was sent to Paul and all Houston Wrestling fans and was reprinted on the program of Paul Boesch’s retirement show that reads:

To all Houston Wrestling Fans

I'm sorry to miss the gala event in honor of my friend Paul Boesch. Paul has made a fantastic contribution to American sports. Through his leadership and foresight, wrestling is now enjoyed by millions of Americans. I treasure my friendship with Paul Boesch. We have known each other for many years. He is a great guy and wrestling will never be quite the same without his firm, principled leadership.

Sincerely,

George Bush[50]

Paul Boesch was truly the definition of a Renaissance man, athlete, soldier, father, business man, philanthropist, writer, poet, and world traveler.  He lead a life that many people would dream to live but he never took his good fortune for granted.  He worked hard to give back to his adopted hometown and Houston was always grateful for all that he did, whether it was the wrestling fan that enjoyed a great Friday night, or veteran that received a life saving blood transfusion, a young person that was mentored or the blind person that was able to enjoy a good book, they all had Paul Max Boesch to thank.

Notes

            1.  Paul Boesch, Much of me in these (Houston: Premier Press, 1966), 44.

2.  Paul Boesch, “World War II: As One Soldier Knew It”, Houston Public Library, Texas Room, Houston, TX.

           

            3.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch: One man, one sport, one lifetime 50 years on the mat,” The Wrestling News, 1981, http://www.wrestling-titles.com/personalities/boesch_paul/career.html (accessed November 27, 2010).

4.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            5.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            6.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

7.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

9.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”. 

10.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

11.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

12. Paul Boesch, Much of me in these, 19.

            13.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            14.  New World Encyclopedia Online, s.v. “Jack Dempsey”, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jack_Dempsey (accessed November 27, 2010).

            15.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            16.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            17.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            18.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            19.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            20.  Paul Boesch, Road to Huertgen: forest in hell (Houston: Gulf Publishing Company, 1962), vi.

            21.  Paul Boesch, Road to Huertgen: forest in hell, vi. 

            22.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

            23.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

            24.  “Guzman keeps title by hair,” Dallas Morning News, March 10, 1948.

            25.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

            26.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

            27.  “Fems to Vie on Mat Card,” Dallas Morning News, July 20, 1948.

28.    Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

29.  Paul Boesch, “The career of Paul Boesch”.

30.  Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

            31.  Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

            32.  Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

            33.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            34.  Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

            35.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            36.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            37.  Carolyn Dunnigan, “The lock on your door, lady, is your best trouble preventative, says epxert,” Dallas Morning News, September 19, 1969.

38.  “Colorful personality set as craig class speaker,” Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1970.

            39.  Boesch, “World War II”.

            40.  Lon Tinkel, “America, arbiter of world order?,” Dallas Morning News, October 15, 1967.

            41.  Lon Tinkel, “America, arbiter of world order?”.

            42.  Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

            43.  Paul Boesch, Much of me in these, 55.

            44.  Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

            45.  Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

            46.  Daniel J. Vargas, “Spotlight on Joey Boesch / Blind pianist has forged a life filled with religion and music,” Houston Chronicle, September 17, 2000.

            47.  Cindy Ziervogel, “You have to hear it to believe it,” Fort Bend Lifestyle Magazine.

            48.  Bill Watts and Scott Williams, The Cowboy and the cross: The Bill Watts story: Rebellion, wrestling and redemption (Toronto, Canada: EWC Press, 2006), 88.

            49.  Bill Watts and Scott Williams, The Cowboy and the cross, 151.

            50.  “Paul Boesch, 1912-1989,” Wrestling Observer, March 20, 1989, http://www.wrestling-titles.com/personalities/boesch_paul/death.html (accessed November 27, 2010).

Bibliography

Boesch, Paul.  “The career of Paul Boesch: One man, one sport, one lifetime 50 years on the

            mat.” The Wrestling News, 1981.  http://www.wrestling-

            titles.com/personalities/boesch_paul/career.html (accessed November 27, 2010).

Boesch, Paul.  Much of me in these.  Houston: Premier Press, 1966.

Boesch, Paul.  Road to Huertgen: forest in hell.  Houston: Gulf Publishing Company, 1962.

Boesch, Paul.  “World War II: As One Soldier Knew It”.  Houston Public Library, Texas Room,

            Houston, TX.

           

“Colorful personality set as craig class speaker.” Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1970.

Dunnigan, Carolyn.  “The lock on your door, lady, is your best trouble preventative, says

            epxert.” Dallas Morning News, September 19, 1969.

“Fems to Vie on Mat Card.” Dallas Morning News, July 20, 1948.

“Guzman keeps title by hair.” Dallas Morning News, March 10, 1948.

“Paul Boesch, 1912-1989.”  Wrestling Observer, March 20, 1989.  http://www.wrestling-

            titles.com/personalities/boesch_paul/death.html (accessed November 27, 2010).

Tinkel, Long.  “America, arbiter of world order?” Dallas Morning News, October 15, 1967.

Valerie Boesch, interview by David Buie, Houston, TX, November 2010.

Vargas, Daniel J.  “Spotlight on Joey Boesch / Blind pianist has forged a life filled with religion

            and music.” Houston Chronicle, September 17, 2000.

Watts, Bill and Scott Williams.  The Cowboy and the cross: The Bill Watts story: Rebellion,

            wrestling and redemption.  Toronto, Canada: EWC Press, 2006.

Ziervogel, Cindy.  “You have to hear it to believe it.” Fort Bend Lifestyle Magazine.

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[1] Much of me

[2] WW II

[3] (wn)

[4] WW II

[5] WW II

[6] wn

[7] wn

[8] wn

[9] wn

[10] Paul Boesch

[11] Paul Boesch

[12]

[13] WW II

[14] NW

[15] WW II

[16] WW II

[17] WW II

[18] WW II

[19] WW II

[20] RTH

[21] RTH

[22] WN

[23] wn

[24] dmn

[25] WM

[26] wm

[27] dmn

[28] wn

[29] WN

[30] VBI

[31] VBI

[32] VBI

[33] WWII

[34] VBI

[35] WWII

[36] WWII

[37] DMN Cd

[38] DMN 3/1970

[39] WWII

[40] DMN 10/15/67

[41] DMN 10/15/67

[42] VBI

[43] Much of me

[44] VBI

[45] VBI

[46] D. Vargas Houston Chron

[47] Cindy Ziervogal, Fort Bend lifestyle mag.

[48] TF/SW 88

[49] Cowboy & The Cross, Bill Watts, Scott Williams

[50]

An Intellectual Historiography of Race and Race Science

An Intellectual Historiography of Race and Race Science

Today intellectuals in history and other disciplines examine the idea of race even though biologists and geneticists no longer believe in the biological existence of race.[1]  The question of race and the science of race are fertile ground for historians that seek to understand how our progenitors dealt with the question of race. Today it is a commonly held belief among scholars that race is a social construction. It is important to understand the historiography of race because by understanding the thought that led to large portions of this country’s population being subjugated for no other reason than the color of their skin we can as a country move beyond such prejudices.  By examining a sample of books published within the last fifty years, it is possible to compare how the author’s examination of the topic has changed over the last half-century.

One of the most important works in understanding race and racism is White Over Black: American Attitudes Towards the Negro, 1550 – 1812 by Winthrop Jordan. Written in 1968 it has stood the test of time and is still well received. Annette Gordon-Reed stated in a 2012 review of White Over Black that, “White Over Black remains a signal achievement in American historiography, a rich and analytical stylistic bequest to early American scholarship.”[2]  This mirrors the review it received soon after it was released in a 1968 review.  Historian Michael Kamen said of White Over Black, “it stands as one of the major achievements in American historical scholarship in our time.”[3]  The primary scholarly argument is that slavery did not cause racism or vice versa, rather they seem to generate each other.[4]  A view shared by James Campbell and James Oates, historians from Northwestern, in their review of White Over Black written in 1993, “Elizabethan attitudes toward African blacks did not constitute racism and cannot explain the origins of slavery in North America.”[5]  Prior to Jordan’s interpretation, the question of did slavery cause racism or did racism cause slavery was the subject of the Handlin-Degler debate, which Handlin believed that Africans were treated early on by the English as indentured servants and only after the economic pressures of the new world did Africans became associated with slavery.  It was that association that led to the ideology of black inferiority, whereas Degler argued that Africans were subjected to very discriminatory treatment from the beginning and economics may have given rise to slavery and racism developed later but prejudice was crucial in the decision to enslave Africans.[6]  By providing a powerful argument that rejected both Handlin and Degler’s theses, Jordan has remained relevant, as pointed out by Gordon-Reed, “the ‘origins debate’ continues,…But his [Jordan] treatment of the question of how slavery emerged from racial ideology in White Over Black was a powerful intervention that helped set the terms of the discussion and will likely continue to do so in the future.”[7]

Though White Over Black has retained its relevance over the decades since it was originally published it does not mean that it is not subject to criticism by historians.  One major point of contention was Jordan’s treatment of Thomas Jefferson, who Jordan used to illustrate the dilemma of North American slavery.[8]  Then on page 481 Jordan writes of Jefferson “the most intense, extensive and extreme formulation of anti-Negro ‘thought’ offered by any American in the thirty years after the Revolution.”[9]  As pointed out by Campbell and Oates, “the sheer density of evidence, combined with Jordan’s refusal to resort to simple explanations, imparts an almost Delphic quality to parts of the analysis.”[10]  Another point of contention is the lack of emphasis placed on Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings.[11]  A position that he backtracked on in the article “Hemings and Jefferson: Redux”.[12]  Campbell and Oates points out that Jefferson’s miscegenation would have been treated differently today.[13]  Though as Campbell and Oates elucidates, despite its shortcomings, White Over Black is still a masterpiece.[14]

On the heels of White Over Black came another book significant in the canon of American history on race, George Fredrickson’s The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 (1971).  The Black Image did not garner the attention upon its debut as White Over Black, which won both the Bancroft prize and a national book award.[15]  As stated by Mia Bay, the author of To Tell the Truth Freely: The Life of Ida B Wells, “[The Black Image] still stands alone as a detailed survey of nineteenth-century white racial thought. Untroubled by interpretative rivals, this book is still assigned and read as the definitive guidebook to the nineteenth century racial thought more than a quarter of a century after its initial publication.”[16]  Bay points out in her 1999 review of the Black Image that,

Unlike other classics of the early 70s, such as Eugene Genovese’s Roll Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made (1972), Fredrickson’s book did not generate voluminous and fruitful scholarly controversies, nor inspire monograph-length debates. Instead, it received respectful reviews and passed quietly into American historiography’s canon of graduate reading lists and frequently cited works.[17] 

One of the reasons that The Black Image was somewhat overlooked at the time it debuted was that by concentrating on the period between 1817-1914 Fredrickson, unlike Jordan, was not concerned with whether racism proceeded slavery or vice versa.  Because of this, Fredrickson did not address the Handlin-Degler debate. Though Bay points out that Fredrickson “was most interested in was the belief in the biological or genetic inferiority of black people—a form of racism which, he maintains, rarely appears in print prior to 1830.”[18]  This interpretation was also made in 1974 by Carnegie Mellon’s, David Fowler, who stated, “the book’s [The Black Image] version of the growth of white racism fits the accepted picture: egalitarianism, such as it was, peaked in the 1830s.”[19]

Another way Black Image distinguished itself from other historical works of the time was that Black Image was an intellectual history when most works published at the time were social history.[20]  A point also made by Fowler who opens his 1974 review by stating, “historians have needed a unified treatment of American white racist thought in the nineteenth century. This strong and lucid book goes far toward filling the need.”[21]  Bay demonstrates the nature of the book by stating, “Fredrickson’s book surveyed the racial views of few hundred prominent white Americans, almost all of whom were male. Moreover, it focused on racial ideas instead of analyzing the economic and social forces that produced racial opposition.”[22]

Even though The Black Image is a study of elites the book does not delineate a variety of investments in whiteness and demonstrates they extended across class boundaries. This puts Fredrickson in opposition to Fitzhugh’s characterization of the antebellum South as a “seigneurial” society because in Fredrickson’s view the South was a “Herrenvolk democracy” or a society that was Democratic to the master race, but tyrannical for subordinate groups.[23]

Another area that Fredrickson covers is the complex interplay of racist ideas in class interests, and how the rise of the American school of ethnology coincided with the popularization of the idea of Afro-Americans being biologically inferior. Fredrickson also revises the interpretations of several historians. For instance, Robert McColley wrote in his work Slavery in Jeffersonian Virginia that Virginians relied significantly on a racial argument and handed down the model theory of American racism.  Fredrickson points out this is misleading because it is taken almost entirely from Jefferson’s tentative statements about black inferiority and taken in its entirety demonstrates that anti-slavery forces are so weak there was no need to develop racism in order to sustain the institution of slavery.[24] Another case for that could be made for the revisionism of Fredrickson as pointed out by Fowler who stated, “He [Fredrickson] offers brief revisions of interpretations by… [William] Stanton (Nott was more racist than scientist).”[25]  More than forty years after it was written The Black Image in the White Mind remains a foil to any work that attempts to reduce racial thought to a subject described wholly based on class by demonstrating the importance of ideas, anxieties and economics.[26]

In 1979, Ronald Takaki perhaps took up the gauntlet thrown down by Fredrickson. Takaki’s work Iron Cages:  Race and Culture in the Nineteenth-Century America, “utilizing Marx’s concept of bourgeois ideology as maximizing self-denial and estrangement, Takaki also draws upon their Gramscian model of cultural hegemony.”[27]  Takaki’s ambitious work differs from most in that he has chosen to analyze white racial thought towards African-Americans, American Indians, and Chinese all in the same work, which draws accolades from John Haller the author of Eugenics:  Hereditary and Attitudes in American Thought.[28]  Takaki also provides insight into the role of racism in maintaining racial and class subordination especially during the antebellum period.[29]

            However, Takaki is criticized by his reviewers on numerous points, “had Takaki read more in the medical and scientific literature of the era, he probably would have expanded his theme to encompass the self-images of Western culture opposed to simply American society.”[30]  Herbert Shapiro of the University of Cincinnati states, “there is a tendency to see northern white society in relation to racism as a monolith, a conclusion assumed rather than demonstrated...”[31]  Shapiro also points out that, “in seeking to explore the racist aspects republicanism, Takaki omits from the picture the other side of the coin, the link of republicanism to abolitionism and the advocacy of racial equality.”[32]  In a review published in the Journal of Southern History it is stated, “Certainly the most objectionable aspect of the book is its unremitting denunciations of industrialization and loss of craftsmanship and creativity.”[33]  The review goes on to say, “Perhaps the old American Studies school overdid the praise of American democratic advance; Takaki, however, swings too far the other way.”[34]  By providing a Marxist view of the problem of racism Takaki adds much to the debate of white races constructed, by those who created society.

Three years later Nancy Stepan wrote the first book to examine the relationship between race and science over an extended period of time.[35]  Though the main thrust of this book is based on race science as it developed in Great Britain, Stepan demonstrates that there is a great deal of exchange of ideas among practitioners of race science across the Atlantic. For instance, Samuel Morton appears throughout Stepan’s text.[36]   Though Stepan’s work is widely well received, it was not without criticism.

Perhaps the most vocal critic was Frank Spencer. Spencer accused Stepan of presentism.[37]  Spencer also seems to disagree with Stepan on the amount of influence that the United States had on their British counterparts.  This can be seen in the article published in “Brill” where Spencer states, “… it is evident that this approach has led Stepan to suggest that the emergence of racism and racial theory in Europe was due in large part to slavery in the New World, rather than stemming principally from the intellectual concerns of 18th-century natural science.”[38]  Though perhaps the biggest criticism of Stepan’s work by both Spencer and Greta Jones is that Stepan implies that she will concentrate initially on science and not involve social or political context.[39] [40]

However, Stepan answers this criticism in an article published in “Brill” where she states, “I believe Spencer means to associate me with those in the history of science to view science not as a uniquely distinctive form of knowledge but as a cultural product.  Indeed, I do view science in this way, and believe by placing natural knowledge in its ‘cultural context’ we gain a more accurate sense of how science is made.”[41]  It is corroborated by the passage in her book that reads,

Scientists who studied race in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were not isolated then any more than they are today, in a ‘Scientific Republic’ of their own, but with participants in the larger society in which they lived and worked. They inherited from this larger society distinct social, philosophical, metaphysical, theological, political and aesthetic traditions, as well as scientific ones.[42]

Despite their criticism, both Jones and Spencer state that The Idea of Race and Science is a work that would be helpful to those who taught the history of race. In fact, Spencer stated that Stepan, “does provide an overview which hitherto has not been available.”[43]  He goes on to say, “…I intend to use this book but will recommend to my students that they read it in conjunction with texts of Jordan (1968) [White Over Black], Stocking (1968) [Race, Culture and Evolution], Stanton (1960) [Leopards Spots], and Haller (1971) [Outcasts From Evolution].”[44]

In 1994, Audrey Smedley wrote Race in North America: Origins and Evolution of a Worldview. In this work, Smedley, who is professor emerita of anthropology and African-American studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, wrote an ambitious synthesis of work that traces the beginnings of the concept of race. Smedley although, not a historian, receives high praise on her work.  Carl Degler writes of Racism in North America, “whence emerges the concept of race in American society? That is the central concern of this lucid book by an anthropologist, who writes good analytic history.”[45]  Smedley states that this book is an analytical study and should not be read as a “conventional” history.[46]  Smedley’s purpose is to specify and analyze the ideological “ingredients of which the idea of race was composed and to identify the cultural context that nourishes them.[47]  Degler supports this when he writes, “Audrey Smedley opens appropriately with the etymology of the term ‘race’ and ends with a sophisticated analysis of where the idea fits into modern scientific analysis.”[48]  Degler’s assessment is shared with Vernon Williams Junior from the University of Indiana who wrote, “Tracing the origin and transmogrifications of the idea of race from early modern Europe through the twentieth century, Smedley succeeds in demonstrating how and why the nagging and seemingly perennial idea of race has such an obdurate persistence.”[49]

Smedley’s work is well received by historians.  It is not universally so, as Jordan writes of Smedley’s work, “it lacks the sense of feel for the past that comes from intimate acquaintance with original materials.”[50]  Jordan is also critical of Smedley’s overemphasis on the English and her omission of the Dutch when discussing the racial attitudes of European countries.[51] The fact that Jordan was so critical of Smedley’s work does not completely exclude Smedley from historical relevance.  Smedley draws heavily from Fredrickson and even more so from Jordan, so it seems that she is well acquainted with the secondary research.

In 1999, Mia Bay wrote The White Image in the Black Mind: African-American Ideas About White People, 1830-1925. In this work of intellectual history, Bay “addresses the efforts of African Americans to come to terms with race and the role of blacks within the race based ethnology of nineteenth and early twentieth-century America.”[52]  This work of scholarship fills a void in the current canon of race scholarship.[53]  This sentiment is echoed by Wilson Moses in his review of The White Image in the Journal of American History when he writes, “this work will stand among the most authoritative in the field… it will be added to the select list of indispensable works in the history of African American thought.”[54]

Bay’s thesis “that during the nineteenth century African American intellectuals increasingly accepted and rationalized race.”[55]  This is supported by Waldo Martin who writes, “Bay proposes that race rather than nation/class is the primary conceptual and analytical tool for blacks in this period working through the problems of whiteness.”[56]  As one might garner from the title, Bay’s work parallels that of Fredrickson, especially in what Fredrickson called “romantic radicalism”[57]  Which Fredrickson defines as, “the Negro as a pathetically inept creature who was a slave to his emotions.”[58]  Fredrickson goes on to say, “whereas scientists and other ‘practical’ men saw only weakness, others discovered redeeming virtues and even evidence of black superiority.”[59]

Though Bay’s work has been well received, it has also garnered some criticism.  Cary Wintz writes, “In section two Bay attempts to analyze the racial thoughts of African American slaves… and it is not entirely successful.”[60]  The reason he attributes this lack of success is weakness of Bay’s sources, specifically slave narratives and WPA oral history interviews.[61]  Other criticisms include Dain stating, “…several historians have recently shown.  A growing body of work on nineteenth-century African-American thought attests that figures like Easton, Frederick Douglas…or James McCune Smith were more self-conscious about the absurdities and paradoxes of race thinking than Bay allows.”[62]

Yet as Wintz states, “these shortcomings, however, do not detract significantly from the importance or value of this well-researched, well-documented book.”[63]  This is a sentiment that is echoed by Martin who states, “This fine intellectual history deftly explores the paradox of using their inherently hierarchical and contested concept of race to argue for a common humanity… Bay’s study thus succeeds admirably.”[64]

Three years later (2002) Bruce Dain wrote A Hideous Monster of the Mind: American Race Theory and the Early Republic, in which he states that he is expanding on the work of George Fredrickson.[65]  T. Stephen Whitman corroborates this statement, “Bruce Dain builds from Winthrop Jordan’s and George Fredrickson’s interpretations of white conceptions of blackness and black images.”[66]  However, Dain argues that, “black people’s own sense of blackness may be seen as a new thing… in the eighteenth-century Atlantic world.”[67]  As Whitman argues, “tracing and connecting these evolutions and black thought are a Hideous Monster of the Mind’s most significant achievement.”[68]

Unfortunately, A Hideous Monster of the Mind travels very well-traveled ground. An assessment supported by Clarence Walker who wrote, “A welcome addition to an impressive list of books dealing with race and colonial, early national, and antebellum periods of American history.”[69]  This rehashing of many white elites also feels familiar to those who have read Stanton, Jordan, and Fredrickson. But more interesting and informative is Dain’s treatment of members of the African-American elite such as James McCune Smith and Hosea Easton. Walker corroborates this feeling when he states, “readers will be familiar with the thought of Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Stanhope Smith, Samuel G Morton, and Josiah Nott.”[70]  Whitman also writes, “In comparison, the chapters on white thinkers are less provocative.”[71]

Perhaps Dain’s biggest shortcoming is that he does not stray far enough outside of the shadow of Jordan and Fredrickson. Though for readers that have not read Jordan or Fredrickson, A Hideous Monster will be very relevant not only because Dain is standing on the shoulders of the giants but because as Duncan Faherty states in reference to Dain’s work, “he crafts an ‘integrated’ intellectual history of race, linking categorization not just to emergence of pseudo-scientific racism but to a broader systems of classification as well.”[72]

In the 2010 work The History of White People, Nell Irvin Painter writes a work that covers the “confused and flexible discourses on the white races.”[73]  In this detailed survey of racial whiteness as a political rather than biological category, Painter shows that the category of white people has been comprised of ever-changing political groups of dis-separate peoples.[74]  While, “The History of White People is not groundbreaking in the manner of Du Bois’ Black Reconstruction (1935) or David Roediger’s The Wages of Whiteness (1991)… [It is] a thorough… comprehensive study of American whiteness.”[75]  As Matt Wray points out, Painter’s main goal is to demonstrate that race is an idea not a fact.[76]

Though well-received, Painter’s audience is decidedly non-scholarly and as such this synthesis is not going to cause much controversy among historians. As Wray writes, “readers looking for a comprehensive overview of the best of whiteness studies will not find it in this book.”[77]  However, the book’s strengths are many.[78]  Perhaps its greatest strength is that as a first book on the subject it is a good choice.

“During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, scientific racism formed a vital link in the oppression of American blacks.”[79]   Yet as we know today much of the scientific theories of men, like Josiah Nott and Samuel Morton, are not valid and just as invalid is the racial ideas of men such as Thomas Jefferson or Ralph Waldo Emerson.  We know this today because of historians such as Jordan, Fredrickson, and Takaki whose research in the thoughts and ideas of men shaped the thought of in an inherently racist society though intellectual histories have fallen somewhat out of fashion.  They are crucial to understanding society’s role in the creation of racism.

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[1] Nell Irvin Painter, The History of White People (New York:  W. W. Norton & Company, 2010), xii.

[2] Annette Gordon-Reed, “Reading White Over Black,” The William and Mary Quarterly 69 (October 2012):  853.

[3] Michael G. Kamen, “White over Black:  American Attitudes toward the Negro, 1550-1812 by Winthrop Jordan,” The Florida Historical Quarterly 47 (October 1968):  198.

[4] Annette Gordon-Reed, “Reading White Over Black,” The William and Mary Quarterly 69 (October 2012):  855.

[5] James Campbell and James Oakes, “The Invention of Races:  Rereading White Over Black,” Reviews in American History 21 (March 1993):  174.

[6] Ibid, 173.

[7] Annette Gordon-Reed, “Reading White Over Black,” The William and Mary Quarterly 69 (October 2012):  855.

[8] Winthrop D. Jordan, White Over Black:  American Attitudes Towards the Negro, 1550-1812 (Baltimore:  Penguin Books, 1968), 429.

[9] Ibid, 481.

[10] James Campbell and James Oakes, “The Invention of Races:  Rereading White Over Black,” Reviews in American History 21 (March 1993):  182.

[11] Annette Gordon-Reed, “Reading White Over Black,” The William and Mary Quarterly 69 (October 2012):  857.

[12] Ibid, 857.

[13] James Campbell and James Oakes, “The Invention of Races:  Rereading White Over Black,” Reviews in American History 21 (March 1993):  182.

[14] Ibid, 183.

[15] Mia Bay, “Remembering Racism:  Rereading the Black Image in the White Mind,” Reviews in American History 27 (December 1999):  647.

[16] Ibid, 647.

[17] Ibid, 647.

[18] Mia Bay, “Remembering Racism:  Rereading the Black Image in the White Mind,” Reviews in American History 27 (December 1999):  647.

[19] David H. Fowler, “The Black Image in the White Mind:  The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 by George M. Fredrickson,” The Journal of American History 61 (September 1974):  476.

[20] Mia Bay, “Remembering Racism:  Rereading the Black Image in the White Mind,” Reviews in American History 27 (December 1999):  647.

[21] David H. Fowler, “The Black Image in the White Mind:  The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 by George M. Fredrickson,” The Journal of American History 61 (September 1974):  476.

[22] Mia Bay, “Remembering Racism:  Rereading the Black Image in the White Mind,” Reviews in American History 27 (December 1999):  648.

[23] George M. Fredrickson, The Black Image in the White Mind:  the Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 (New York:  Harper & Row, 1971), 61.

[24] Ibid, 3.

[25] David H. Fowler, “The Black Image in the White Mind:  The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 by George M. Fredrickson,” The Journal of American History 61 (September 1974):  476.

[26] Mia Bay, “Remembering Racism:  Rereading the Black Image in the White Mind,” Reviews in American History 27 (December 1999):  655.

[27] Herbert Shapiro, “Iron Cages:  Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America by Ronald T. Takaki,” Pacific Historical Review 50 (November 1981), 537.

[28] John S Haller, Jr, “Iron Cages:  Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America by Ronald T. Takaki,” The American Historical Review 85 (October 1980), 991.

[29] Herbert Shapiro, “Iron Cages:  Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America by Ronald T. Takaki,” Pacific Historical Review 50 (November 1981), 537.

[30] John S Haller, Jr, “Iron Cages:  Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America by Ronald T. Takaki,” The American Historical Review 85 (October 1980), 992.

[31] Herbert Shapiro, “Iron Cages:  Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America by Ronald T. Takaki,” Pacific Historical Review 50 (November 1981), 537.

[32] Ibid, 537.

[33] Bertram Wyatt-Brown, “Iron Cages:  Race and Culture in Nineteenth-Century America by Ronald. T. Takaki,” The Journal of Southern History 46 (November 1980), 624.

[34] Ibid, 624.

[35] Greta Jones, “The Idea of Race in Science:  Great Britain, 1800-1960 by Nancy Stepan,” Isi 75 (June 1984):  407.

[36] Nancy Stepan, The Idea of Race in Science (Hamden, CT:  Archon Books, 1982), 17, 27, 40, 72, 187.

[37] Frank Spencer, “The Idea of Race in Science:  Great Britain, 1800-1960 by Nancy Stepan,” Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide 57 (1983):  253.

[38] Ibid, 253.

[39] Greta Jones, “The Idea of Race in Science:  Great Britain, 1800-1960 by Nancy Stepan,” Isi 75 (June 1984):  407.

[40] Frank Spencer, “The Idea of Race in Science:  Great Britain, 1800-1960 by Nancy Stepan,” Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide 57 (1983):  253.

[41] Nancy Stepan, “A Reply from Stepan,” Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide 58 (1984):  142-143.

[42] Nancy Stepan, The Idea of Race in Science (Hamden, CT:  Archon Books, 1982), xiv-xv.

[43] Frank Spencer, “The Idea of Race in Science:  Great Britain, 1800-1960 by Nancy Stepan,” Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide 57 (1983):  254.

[44] Ibid, 254.

[45] Carl N. Degler, “Race in North America:  Origin and Evolution of a Worldview by Audrey Smedley,” The Journal of American History 81 (September 1994):  634.

[46] Audrey Smedley, Race in North America:  Origin and Evolution of a Worldview (Boulder, CO:  Westview Press, 2007), 13.

[47] Ibid, 17.

[48] Carl N. Degler, “Race in North America:  Origin and Evolution of a Worldview by Audrey Smedley,” The Journal of American History 81 (September 1994):  634.

[49] Vernon J. Williams, Jr., “Race in North America:  Origin and Evolution of a Worldview by Audrey Smedley,” The American Historical Review 99 (June 1994):  961.

[50] Winthrop D. Jordan, “Race in North America:  Origin and Evolution of a Worldview by Audrey Smedley,” The International History Review 17 (February 1995):  125.

[51] Winthrop D. Jordan, “Race in North America:  Origin and Evolution of a Worldview by Audrey Smedley,” The International History Review 17 (February 1995):  124-125.

[52] Cary D. Wintz, “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” Journal of American Ethnic History 21 (Fall 2001):  142.

[53] Ibid, 142.

[54] Wilson J. Moses, “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” The Journal of American History 88 (September 2001:  617.

[55] Bruce Dain, “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” The Journal of Southern History 68 (February 2002):  165.

[56] Waldo E. Martin, Jr., “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” Callaloo 23 (Summer 2000):  1154.

[57] Bruce Dain, “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” The Journal of Southern History 68 (February 2002):  166.

[58] George M. Fredrickson, The Black Image in the White Mind:  the Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 (New York:  Harper & Row, 1971), 101.

[59] Ibid, 101.

[60] Cary D. Wintz, “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” Journal of American Ethnic History 21 (Fall 2001):  143.

[61] Ibid, 143.

[62] Bruce Dain, “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” The Journal of Southern History 68 (February 2002):  166.

[63] Cary D. Wintz, “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African-American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” Journal of American Ethnic History 21 (Fall 2001):  144.

[64] Waldo E. Martin, Jr., “The White Image in the Black Mind:  African American Ideas about White People, 1830-1925 by Mia Bay,” Callaloo 23 (Summer 2000):  1155.

[65] Bruce Dain, A Hideous Monster of the Mind:  American Race Theory in the Early Republic (Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press, 2002), ix.

[66] T. Stephen Whitman, “A Hideous Monster of the Mind:  American Race Theory in the Early Republic by Bruce Dain,” The Journal of American History 90 (March 2004):  1433.

[67] Bruce Dain, A Hideous Monster of the Mind:  American Race Theory in the Early Republic (Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press, 2002), ix.

[68] T. Stephen Whitman, “A Hideous Monster of the Mind:  American Race Theory in the Early Republic by Bruce Dain,” The Journal of American History 90 (March 2004):  1433.

[69] Clarence E. Walker, “A Hideous Monster of the Mind:  American Race Theory in the Early Republic by Bruce Dain,” The Journal of Southern History 71 (February 2005):  145.

[70] Ibid, 146.

[71] T. Stephen Whitman, “A Hideous Monster of the Mind:  American Race Theory in the Early Republic by Bruce Dain,” The Journal of American History 90 (March 2004):  1433.

[72] Duncan Faherty, “’A Condition Perpetuated in America’:  Race, Benevolence and Antebellum Culture,” Reviews in American History 32 (March 2004):  28.

[73] Nell Irvin Painter, The History of White People (New York:  W. W. Norton & Company, 2010), ix.

[74] Bruce Baum, “On the History of American Whiteness,” Reviews in American History 39 (September 2011):  488.

[75] Ibid, 488.

[76] Matt Wray, “The History of White People by Nell Painter,” The Journal of American History 97 (September 2010):  475.

[77] Ibid, 475.

[78] Ibid, 474.

[79] Carol M. Taylor, “W.E.B. DuBois’s Challenger to Scientific Racism,” Journal of Black Studies 11 (June 1981):  450.