The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992 Page: 427
598 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews
argument for denying blacks equal rights that whites used for almost two hun-
dred years. Without question, Franklin's early essays regarding the Afro-
American experience brought further credibility to the field and set the tone
for much of the scholarship that followed over the next two generations. Also,
long before it became fashionable, Franklin discussed the concept of multi-
culturalism, pointing out the contributions that Native Americans, Afro-
Americans, Orientals, and Hispanics made to the growth of the nation.
Franklin's scholarship is all the more remarkable when considering that al-
most half of his career occurred in the context of Afro-Americans being denied
many basic rights, and that as a scholar, he faced proscriptions that white histo-
rians never encountered. In other words, while many scholars have written
moving accounts of America's mistreatment of minorities and the hardships
racism cause, Franklin lived this horrible experience; yet he was able to write
well-researched monographs free of emotionalism and comment on the plight
of contemporary blacks in an unusual reasoned and scholarly manner.
The essays show Franklin's strong commitment to being a scholar. In "The
Dilemma of the American Negro Scholar," he points out that black scholars
must understand the difference between "scholarship and advocacy," noting
that the Negro scholar must use his research to dispute and correct the findings
of "pseudo-psychologists and sociologists" regarding black history and culture.
There is also a place for advocacy, a position he fully embraced during the Civil
Rights Movement when he conducted research and wrote memorandums for
the NAACP when that organization needed background information on the
Fourteenth Amendment to argue the Brown case.
With his strong commitment to teaching and research, Franklin consistently
declined numerous attractive opportunities to become a dean or president.
Also, his interest in numerous aspects of American history led to his supervis-
ing more than thirty dissertations, resulting in dozens of books and articles.
Not surprisingly, as Race and History shows, Franklin's influence in American
history will be long lasting, not only because of his own outstanding work but
the works of his many students as well.
University of Texas at Austin GEORGE C. WRIGHT
Black, White, and Southern: Race Relations and Southern Culture, 1940 to the Present.
By David R. Goldfield. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press,
1990. Pp. xviii+321. Preface, acknowledgments, bibliographical essay, in-
dex, illustrations, map. $24.95.)
Coming to a mid-sized southern college to teach after being born, raised, and
educated in Ohio was somewhat of an unnerving experience. As a student I
had read the leading Civil Rights histories-Carson, Sitkoff, Myrdal, and so
on-and I was well aware that the South and Civil Rights were inseparable. I
wondered how I, as a northerner (a regional identification the students placed
upon me), would handle the Civil Rights movement as history to these students
whose parents lived, influenced, and fought over the issue.
I had nothing to worry about for, as David Goldfield also observed in his un-
dergraduate classes at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, these south-427
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 95, July 1991 - April, 1992, periodical, 1992; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117153/m1/487/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.