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Nothing Special to Offer the Negro”

Revisiting the “‘Debsian View’ of the Negro Question”

Bibliographic Data

ID11212927
AuthorsWilliam P Jones (0000-0001-9295-866X, University of Wisconsin–Madison, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume74
Issue1
Pages212-224
Publication date2008-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Labor and Working-Class History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0147-5479 • E-ISSN: 1471-6445
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0147547908000252
OpenAlexW2122432225
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited43

Since the early twentieth century Eugene V. Debs and his essay “The Negro in the Class Struggle” have been cited repeatedly as examples of an alleged indifference among white radicals to African Americans and the historical significance of racism in the United States. A close reading of the essay reveals just the opposite. Not only did Debs support African Americans' struggle for equality, he believed that it was critical to the realization of America's democratic promise. That position alienated him from other white Socialists, but it won the admiration of African American radicals including W.E.B. Du Bois and A. Philip Randolph. This essay examines how Debs's essay came to be interpreted as a capitulation to racism and, over time, alleged indifference to African Americans and the significance of racism in the history of the United States

Admiration · Art · Democracy · Epistemology · Literature · Nothing · Political science · Politics · Racism · Reading (process · Sociology · White (mutation · Academic Freedom and Politics · American History and Culture · Gender Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society · Religious studies

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Unique citing works6
Citations per year0,4
Citation span2011 - 2026 (16)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 6
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