I would like to reply to Dr. Marcus and his concern that Phillip
Curtin's article in the Chronicle might go unanswered.
I am trained as an historian of education, so I know where that places me among
real historians, but I was also trained in West African and African American
history by Cyril E. Griffith who may or may not be a familiar name to some of
you.
Dr. Griffith's autobiography is replete with stories of graduate faculty who
subtly and not-so-subtly displayed their suspicions of a not-so-young
black Bermudian who wanted to learn and teach African history. There were
those who thought that his notion of the African connection via Delany and
other African Americans was contrived. They said as much to him. He was there
in Montreal when the African Heritage Studies Association was born. He stayed
with the ASA folk and bent his professional life to establishing his
credibility as a bonifide member of the history profession. He was a peer of
Stanlake Simkange, Joseph Harris, Tony Martin, and others. He shed tears
over Hooker [ed. note: Prof. James Hooker of Michigan State Univ.
who died tragically in the 1970s] till the day he himself breathed
his last.
I watched him for 13 years work to convince his immediate colleagues
that there is such a thing as African History. He was less successful
convincing them that there is such a thing as an African perspective.
He never complained but he was well aware of the many attitudes
toward aspiring black scholars in the discipline. He chose his
teaching and his missionary research over politicking the profession.
For that my first introduction to him was as Penn State's 'Tom'
historian. The odds were never quite even, the field always lumpy.
When I look at the shelves in the library and run through some of
the anecdotal stories of the discipline, I cannot imagine anyone in
the profession feeling threatened by a handful of black folk on this
side of the Atlantic taking all the plumbs. It just seems silly and
unnecessarily self-serving to me. It would indeed be marvelous if all
the flowers were equally well cultivated.
Please do not accuse me of speaking for Dr. Griffith. The perspectives herein
are my own.