tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post3380969843471695899..comments2024-03-22T15:55:34.030-04:00Comments on Evo and Proud: More on the younger Franz BoasPeter Frosthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04303172060029254340noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-54468866840461688222015-04-22T21:05:25.025-04:002015-04-22T21:05:25.025-04:00Luke,
No, this is not a "nice article"...Luke, <br /><br />No, this <a href="http://racehist.blogspot.com/search?q=%22reply+to+peter+frost%22+part" rel="nofollow">is not</a> a "nice article".n/ahttp://racehist.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-24107874125454330932015-04-19T22:42:24.963-04:002015-04-19T22:42:24.963-04:00Nice article. I was aware of his earlier views an...Nice article. I was aware of his earlier views and just assumed that the rise of the Nazi's was the reason he moderated them.Luke Leahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11290760894780619646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3734925856292601239.post-43491809421486163112015-04-19T00:09:39.501-04:002015-04-19T00:09:39.501-04:00It's an outrageous distortion of history to su...It's an outrageous distortion of history to suggest Jews supported antiracism "out of a desire to assimilate into northeastern WASP culture".<br /><br />Most northeasterners, of any class, were never abolitionists (antislavery does not equal abolitionist), and even most abolitionists did not advocate anything approaching modern anti-racism.<br /><br />No major constituency in America denied the existence of biological differences between blacks and whites when Boas immigrated, and advocating such views provided no quick path to social advancement (though obviously at a deeper level, Boas wished to target "anti-semitism"). <br /><br />As I replied to someone who picked this line up from you last time you tried peddling it: It would have been very strange indeed for a physical anthropologist in the 1890s to outright deny the existence of race or obvious racial differences. The important thing is the direction in which [Boas] differed from his contemporaries and his motivations for taking the stances he did. And, as Frost acknowledges, Boas's race-denialism grew more extreme over time. The continuation of this trend among his students after his death hardly gainsays the fundamental influence of Boas on the school of anthropology he founded.<br /><br />Nor is there any indication Boas was eager to assimilate into American culture. According to Boas himself: "The background of my early thinking was a German home in which the ideals of the revolution of 1848 were a living force". Beyond his identity as a Jew, he continued to identify with Germany at least through World War I, writing letters to the editor that were hardly calculated to endear him to Americans and banning a returning soldier in uniform from his classroom. <br /><br />After Boas retired, Columbia administrators appointed an outsider as his replacement: "Linton's appointment was a deliberate attempt to counteract the influence of Boas and his students in the department, who were seen by the conservative [Columbia president] Nicholas Murray Butler as dangerous radicals."n/ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02378473351485233448noreply@blogger.com