Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual - Softcover

Janken, Kenneth Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1558490698 ISBN 13: 9781558490697

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press, 1997

Synopsis

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About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Scrupulously fair and intellectually astute, Janken's (African-American Studies/Univ. of North Carolina) portrait of a lesser-known member of the black scholarly elite in the mid-20th century provides a valuable look at the man, as well as at his milieu. Although race relations in the US had been at their nadir for decades, Rayford Logan rose above his humble origins in part because his father was on the household staff of a prominent US senator--a position that protected the young Logan from the most brutal realities of a divided society. But attending Williams College in 1914 proved an eye-opener as the implications of segregation sank in, and a stint as one of Uncle Sam's segregated soldiers in WW I convinced Logan that there was a war to be waged at home. After a few congenial years in postwar Europe, he returned to America, taking up the cause of racial equality as an academic; eventually, he came to Howard University, where his reputation as a specialist in colonialism and Latin American affairs flourished. Tireless in his desegregation efforts--both as a public speaker and as chairman of the Committee for the Participation of Negroes in the National Defense Program--Logan also edited the controversial but timely What the Negro Wants (1944), a group of essays by prominent black liberals and conservatives who unanimously demanded an end to Jim Crow society. In time, however, Logan's star began to wane, and, in subsequent decades, his inability to accept the term ``black'' as a replacement for his preferred ``Negro'' hastened his isolation. A frank, well-founded assessment not only of personalities but also of agendas and the dynamics of power in the top tier of black America at midcentury. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

This interesting academic biography portrays Rayford W. Logan (1897-1982) as a scholar and "diligent second-tier leader" in the civil rights struggle. Janken, who teaches African American studies at the University of North Carolina, traces his subject's background as a member of Washington, D.C.'s so-called light-skinned black elite, and his embrace of Pan-Africanism after his service in WW II brought him wider experience of racism. Logan worked early for voter registration and for a stronger relationship between organized labor and civil rights groups and he also edited What the Negro Wants (1944), a collection of essays by prominent African Americans. But he was also a history professor, teaching at Howard University from 1938 to 1968, and hence equally involved in academic projects: he briefly edited the Journal of Negro History and wrote The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877-1901 . Unfortunately, Logan's earlier achievements were to be overshadowed by his vituperative campaign of his later years criticizing African Americans for identifying themselves as "black," a term he considered separatist. Photos not seen by PW .
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1558490698
• ISBN 13: 9781558490697
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336