The Dunning School’s Portrayal of Reconstruction Helped Give Racial Discrimination False Intellectual and Moral Legitimacy
W.E.B. Du Bois, a well-studied Black scholar, mentioned the fact that racist historians twisted the facts in his 1935 writing, Black Reconstruction in America. In his final chapter, “The Propaganda of History,” he confronted the numerous lies about the history of Reconstruction lied about by bigoted historians. His groundbreaking book, was published against the backdrop of a surge of Black radical movements during the Great Depression. He directly disproved the lies that were being presented by White scholars of the Dunning School, which was named after Columbia University professor William Archibald Dunning.
Dubois explained that Dunning School students had portrayed the South, and the slave owner Confederacy as victims and the North as having committed a “grievous wrong” by giving Blacks civil rights.
The plantation class of bigots sought to extend racist ideas Reconstruction gave Blacks some civil rights but was overthrown by Jim Crow law after about ten years. In addition, they pushed racial stereotypes and inaccurate assessments of Black intellectual ability.
History Used to Justify Segregation
They used their writings about the past, and the present, to justify the mistreatment of African Americans and give it false moral legitimacy. These historians’ research bolstered racial segregation in the United States in the early 20th century. Racist interpretations of the Dunning School were used by White policymakers, educators, and others to restrict Black access to the public sphere. It was a tool to deny Black people full citizenship. Segregation, emphasis on vocational education, and false history was the replacement for slavery which is a horror story itself.
How the Past Shapes the Present
According to Edward Said (1993), “. . . there is no just way in which the past can be quarantined from the present. Past and present inform each other, each implies the other . . .” We are heirs to racist mythical understandings and all of the negative effects that came with it. The past is never complete, for powerful social forces from long-ago shape the present.
Political scientists and historians live in the present, and our work will always reflect current events, either explicitly or implicitly. There is no universal or “neutral” interpretation of the past, contrary to popular belief or even totally “objective” truth in history.
The question always remains “Whose truth?” For instance, the standard historical account of the United States is frequently distorted into narratives that reinforce falsehoods, like we were founded as a “Christian Nation.” We were not, as the so-called founding fathers were Deists and not Christians. In the United States, this keeps a significant hold on mythical thinking that is still accepted as fact. Foundation myth is used to broadcast racism and conceal the racism of powerful bigots.
Foundational Myths and Cultural Power
The story of the conqueror in the establishment of a cultural power regime is part of the foundation myth story. It tells history in a fictitious way, showing how a government, people, or movement got their start in a good light. Denial and hero worship are involved in foundational myths that emerged in the southern states and has been passed down for centuries. In parks, monuments, with place names, and in numerous books and media, the glorification of racial thought has been enshrined through overt actions or words, or through coded script and innuendo.
Becoming Aware of Who We Are
We all need to become aware of who we are and what we want to be, and to distinguish ourselves as more than what political structures have said we are. Social and political structures have always deposited people in boxes or mazes, especially the poor, women, people of color, and other minorities, but no one is excluded. Even the wise have been deceived.
