Kelly Miller was the first black admitted to Johns Hopkins. He became a professor of mathematics at Howard in 1890. In 1895, he introduced sociology to the curriculum and became a sociology professor. One of his essays, “The Negro and Capitalism,” (1924) appears in Race and Liberty in America. It’s very good. Highlights:
If the capitalist shows race prejudice in his operation, it is merely the reflected attitude of the white workman. The colored man who applies at the office for skilled employment meets with one unvarying response from the employer: “I have no objection, but all of my white workmen will quit if I assign you a place among them.”
And:
[T]he capitalistic element at present possesses the culture and moral restraint in dealing with the Negro which the white workman misses. There is nothing in the white working class to which the Negro can appeal. They are the ones who lynch, and burn and torture him. He looks to the upper elements for respect of law and order and the appeal to conscience.
However:
[T]he laborers outnumber the capitalists more than ten to one, and under spur of the democratic ideal must in the long run gain the essential ends for which they strive. White labor in the South has already asserted its political power. Will it not also shortly assert its dominance in the North and West, and indeed, in the nation? If the colored race aligns itself with capital, and refuses to help win the common battle of labor, how will it fare with him in the hour of triumph?
The key factor Miller failed to anticipate: Elite tolerance trickled down to the masses quickly enough to outweigh the rise of populism.
READER COMMENTS
Ed
Jun 29 2013 at 10:11pm
Kelly Miller is also wise on woman suffrage:
“As part of her equipment for motherhood, woman has been endowed with finer feelings and a more highly emotional nature than man. She shows tender devotion and self sacrifice for those close to her by ties of blood or bonds of endearment. But by the universal law of compensation, she loses in extension what is gained in intensity. She lacks the sharp sense of public justice and the common good, if they seem to run counter to her personal feeling and interest. She is far superior to man in purely personal and private virtue, but is his inferior in public qualities and character. Suffrage is not a natural right, like life and liberty. The common sense of mankind has always limited it by age, sex, possession, attainment and moral character. It is merely a convenient agency through which to secure the best result of government, and to make secure life, liberty and happiness to all. It cannot be maintained that woman is deprived of any of these objects under male suffrage. It is inconceivable that man would legislate against his wife and daughter, who are dearer to him than life itself, and who, he knows, must fall back upon his strong arm for protection, whether they be given the suffrage or not.”
Himanshu Sanguri
Jun 30 2013 at 1:48am
My mind is now resonating on the lines
“She lacks the sharp sense of public justice and the common good, if they seem to run counter to her personal feeling and interest. She is far superior to man in purely personal and private virtue, but is his inferior in public qualities and character.”
Is it true? There has been so many lively examples of great women figures across the globe doing commendable jobs in social, personal and international front. Their choices, judgement skills, governing the masses and policy making has been exemplary. The only regions, where it is not evident, are the places where they have been deprived of, suppressed and dominated. I think it is purely a matter of cognitive skills, rational, logic and critical thinking to be honed up, and barriers like sex, demography and likes can not play any role.
jseliger
Jun 30 2013 at 10:06am
This is surprisingly close to Albert Hirschman’s argument in The Passions and the Interests, in which he says that early theories of capitalism emphasized the extent to which capitalism and markets restrain the cruelty and excess of the aristocracy.
Jacob A. Geller
Jun 30 2013 at 11:32am
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Tom West
Jun 30 2013 at 11:53am
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Jacob A. Geller
Jun 30 2013 at 9:22pm
Professional sports leagues are tolerant ahead of their time for a similar reason: if the most important thing is winning, then race doesn’t matter so much as talent.
The whole elite-tolerance-trickling-down thing is also there in pro sports. So is the capitalism angle!
One example: When a couple of white Brooklyn Dodgers players threatened to sit out rather than play with Jackie Robinson, Dodgers Manager Leo Durocher was quoted as saying to them, “I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a zebra. I’m the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What’s more, I say he can make us all rich. And if any of you cannot use the money, I will see that you are all traded.”
Patrick R. Sullivan
Jul 1 2013 at 12:46pm
In ‘Black Rednecks and White Liberals’, Thomas Sowell points out that prior to the Civil War, most victims of lynchings were white. It was behavior that was carried over from Scotland, Ulster, and Wales, which is where most of the inhabitants of the South had their roots. Even the KKK’s burning cross was a device used by feuding clans in Scotland.
Violence was a way of life in the ‘Celtic Fringe’ of Britain, and it was repeated in the Southern colonies to which these people emigrated.
Floccina
Jul 1 2013 at 4:06pm
Brings to mind Marge Schott, she may not have liked Blacks but that did not keep her from hiring blacks.
Clay
Jul 1 2013 at 7:00pm
The views of the masses outweighed populism? I don’t think you understand what populism is.
F. Lynx Pardinus
Jul 2 2013 at 7:14am
In Taylor Branch’s “At Canaan’s Edge”, he writes:
Arthur_500
Jul 2 2013 at 7:18pm
I would suggest it was not elite tolerance that saved the day.
World Wars created a need for human cannon fodder and blacks were acceptable for this purpose. As they fought and died many a non-black gained respect for their fellow, black, man. This laid the groundwork for integrating the Military.
Racism is a foolish discrimination yet people will do business with those necessary to benefit themselves. We purchased train brakes from a black inventor. We utilized black labor in our factories, farms and construction industries because it was cost effective. By the time it became illegal to discriminate based on race there was a good foundation for the end of politically acceptable racism.
If anything the elite who instituted the laws may have stalled the acceptance of blacks. I have observed a clear cycle with regards to Chinese, Irish, Blacks and Women and how they have been assimilated into society. It is difficult to determine if the laws have slowed the progress or are simply a necessary part of the assimilation process that brings predicable push-back.
At the end of the day I would say that capitalism and greed are blind and these forces overcome any objection based on racism.
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