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Jeffrey B. Perry Blog

“Letter of Support” from Jeffrey B. Perry and Gene Bruskin sent to the “New York Times” on the Princeton Protests and Woodrow Wilson



[This “Letter of Support” from Jeffrey B. Perry and Gene Bruskin was sent to the “New York Times” regarding the Princeton University Student Protests and Woodrow Wilson. The “Times” indicated that they were preparing to publish a shortened version of the letter (probably in the November 24, 2015 issue).
The November 24, 2015, issue of the “New York Times” (under the headline “Erase Wilson’s Name at Princeton?”) did not publish the shortened form of this letter, but did publish other letters by Howard Schneiderman, Herb Boyd, Michael A. Feirstein, and Daniel Wolf.]

November 20, 2015

To: The “New York Times”

Dear Editor:

In 1964 as Princeton freshmen we were told that Woodrow Wilson had been a leading Progressive, a proponent of “Democracy,” and a champion of self-determination abroad. It is good to see students today challenging that picture (“Students Want Woodrow Wilson’s Name Removed From Princeton,” November 19, 2015).

Wilson’s record was deplorable on the “race question.” He cut back federal appointments of African Americans; supported showings of the white-supremacist film "The Birth of a Nation" for himself, his Cabinet, Congress, and the Supreme Court; stood by silently as segregation was formalized in the Post Office, Treasury, Interior, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and Navy; did nothing as almost two dozen segregation-supporting legislative attempts including exclusion of Black immigrants, segregation of streetcars, and a ban on inter-racial marriages in the District of Columbia were introduced in the House and Senate; and declined to use any significant power of office to address lynching, segregation, and disfranchisement (which marred the land) and the vicious white-supremacist attacks on twenty-six African American communities including Washington, DC, Chicago, and East St. Louis that occurred during his administration.

Under Wilson the U.S. not only implemented the Espionage Act of 1917, the Sedition Act of 1918, and the Palmer Raids of 1919-1920, it also occupied Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Nicaragua and intervened in Panama, Honduras, and Mexico. Nevertheless, Wilson ran for President in 1916 on a campaign slogan “he kept us out of war,” posed before the world as a champion of democracy, and prated of “the rights of small nationalities,” of “self-determination,” and of “the right of all who submit to authority to have a voice in their own government.” In addition to the awful horrors let loose on small countries pre-war, in the postwar period he also helped to pave the way for partition, occupation, and conquest in the Middle East and Africa and for future wars.

There were contemporaries of Wilson, people like the intellectual/activist Hubert Harrison, the founder of the first organization (the Liberty League) and first newspaper (“The Voice”) of the militant “New Negro Movement,” who saw through the misleading portrait of Wilson so often found in the media and history books. Harrison understood that while lynching, segregation, and disfranchisement marred this land, and while the U.S. brazenly attacked smaller countries, “Wilson's protestations of democ­racy were lying protestations, consciously, and deliberately designed to deceive.” At the founding meeting of the Liberty League in June 1917, Harrison posed a direct challenge to Wilson who had claimed the U.S. was entering World War I in order to “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” Harrison’s mass meeting was called, as its organizational flyer headlined, to "Stop Lynching and Disfranchisement in the Land Which We Love and Make the South 'Safe For Democracy.'" A month later Harrison led a second major Harlem rally to protest the white supremacist “pogrom” (his word) in East St. Louis, Illinois (15 miles from Ferguson, Missouri).

We are glad that the Black Justice League is raising some of these issues, opening the eyes of many, and helping to point the way forward in the 21st century.

Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry ‘68
Author of “Hubert Harrison, The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918” (Columbia University Press) and editor of the new expanded edition of Hubert H. Harrison, “When Africa Awakes: The ‘Inside Story’ of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World” (Diasporic Africa Press)

Gene Bruskin ‘68
Founder, U.S. Labor Against the War
Trade Unionist

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Mark The Date! Saturday, November 28, 2015 at 10 AM WBAI 99.5 FM "City Watch" with Bill DiFazio and Jeffrey B. Perry on Hubert Harrison and Theodore W. Allen

November 28, 2015
Saturday morning 10 AM
Host Bill DiFazio will interview guest Jeffrey B. Perry on "City Watch" on WBAI 99.5 FM New York City. The discussion will be on the life and work of Hubert Harrison (“The Father of Harlem Radicalism"), on the work of Theodore W. Allen (author of “The Invention of the White Race”), and on the centrality of the struggle against white supremacy. People can listen live at HERE
[Note -- The recorded interview begins at 33:26 in the hour-long November 28, 2015 "City Watch" show. To listen to it CLICK HERE]
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"Princeton Students Right About Wilson" by Jeffrey B. Perry and Gene Bruskin "The Record" November 23, 2015--

"Princeton Students Right About Wilson" by Jeffrey B. Perry and Gene Bruskin in "The Record," November 23, 2015. The title came from the newspaper. The article appears after the paper's photograph of Chris Christie. To read the letter CLICKK HERE>
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A Letter of Support Re: Student Protests at Princeton by Jeffrey B. Perry and Gene Bruskin "Daily Princetonian" November 23, 2015--

This letter by Jeffrey B. Perry and Gene Bruskin appeared in "The Daily Princetonian," November 23, 2015. In the print edition the article is incorrectly attributed to Brandon Bark '13. In the online edition CLICK HERE the correct authors are listed.
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A Letter of Support Re: The Black Justice League Protests at Princeton by Jeffrey B. Perry and Gene Bruskin--

In 1964, as Princeton freshmen we were told that Woodrow Wilson had been a leading Progressive, a proponent of “Democracy,” and a champion of self-determination abroad. It is good to see students today challenging that picture.

Wilson’s record was deplorable on the “race question.” He cut back federal appointments of African Americans; supported showings of the white-supremacist film "The Birth of a Nation" for himself, his Cabinet, Congress, and the Supreme Court; stood by silently as segregation was formalized in the Post Office, Treasury, Interior, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and Navy; did nothing as almost two dozen segregation-supporting legislative attempts including exclusion of Black immigrants, segregation of streetcars, and a ban on inter-racial marriages in the District of Columbia were introduced in the House and Senate; and declined to use any significant power of office to address lynching, segregation, and disfranchisement and the vicious white-supremacist attacks on twenty-six African American communities including Washington, DC, Chicago, and East St. Louis that occurred during his administration.

Under Wilson the U.S. not only implemented the Espionage Act of 1917, the Sedition Act of 1918, and the Palmer Raids of 1919-1920, it also occupied Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Nicaragua and intervened in Panama, Honduras, and Mexico. Nevertheless, Wilson ran for President in 1916 on a campaign slogan “he kept us out of war,” posed before the world as a champion of democracy, and prated of “the rights of small nationalities,” of “self-determination,” and of “the right of all who submit to authority to have a voice in their own government.” In addition to the awful horrors let loose on small countries pre-war, in the postwar period he also helped to pave the way for partition, occupation, and conquest in the Middle East and Africa and for future wars.

There were contemporaries of Wilson, people like the intellectual/activist Hubert Harrison, the founder of the first organization (the Liberty League) and first newspaper (The Voice) of the militant “New Negro Movement,” who saw through the misleading portrait of Wilson so often found in the media and history books. Harrison understood that while lynching, segregation, and disfranchisement marred this land, and while the U.S. brazenly attacked smaller countries, “Wilson's protestations of democracy were lying protestations, consciously, and deliberately designed to deceive.” At the founding meeting of the Liberty League in June 1917, Harrison posed a direct challenge to Wilson who had claimed the U.S. was entering World War I in order to “Make the World Safe for Democracy.” Harrison’s mass meeting was called, as its organizational flyer headlined, to "Stop Lynching and Disfranchisement in the Land Which We Love and Make the South 'Safe For Democracy.'" A month later Harrison led a second major Harlem rally to protest the white supremacist “pogrom” (his word) in East St. Louis, Illinois (15 miles from Ferguson, Missouri).

We are glad that the Black Justice League is raising some of these issues, opening the eyes of many, and helping to point the way forward in the 21st century.

Dr. Jeffrey B. Perry ‘68
jeffreybperry@gmail.com
Editor of the new expanded edition of Hubert H. Harrison, When Africa Awakes: The "Inside Story" of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World and author of Hubert Harrison, The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918 (Columbia University Press)

Gene Bruskin ‘68
genebruskin@gmail.com
Founder, U.S. Labor Against the War
Trade Unionist

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When Africa Awakes: The "Inside Story" of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World by Hubert H. Harrison Introductions and Notes by Jeffrey B. Perry at Book Culture

Diasporic Africa Press has just published a New (and greatly expanded) Edition of Hubert H. Harrison, “When Africa Awakes: The ‘Inside Story’ of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World” with Introductions and Notes by Jeffrey B. Perry. (ISBN 9781937306274).
The Book Can Be Bought at Book Culture, 536 W. 112th St., New York, NY, 212-865-1588 (near Columbia University.)
Click Here

The book is quite inexpensive in paperback and E-Book formats and with over 50 primary articles by Harrison and very important supplemental notes it is excellent for course use and study groups.

Virgin Islands-born, Harlem-based, Hubert H. Harrison's "When Africa Awakes: The "Inside Story" of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World" is a collection of over fifty articles that detail his pioneering theoretical, educational, and organizational role in the founding and development of the militant, World War I era "New Negro Movement."

Harrison was a brilliant, class and race conscious, writer, educator, orator, editor, book reviewer, political activist, and radical internationalist who was described by J. A. Rogers as "perhaps the foremost Aframerican intellect of his time" and by A. Philip Randolph as "the father of Harlem Radicalism." He was a major radical influence on Randolph, Marcus Garvey, and a generation of "New Negro" activists.

This new Diasporic Africa Press edition includes the COMPLETE TEXT (including his “Introductory”) of Harrison's original 1920 volume; contains essays from publications Harrison edited in the 1917-1920 period including “The Voice” (the first newspaper of the "New Negro Movement"), “The New Negro,” and the Garvey movement's “Negro World”; and offers a new introduction, biographical sketch, and supplementary notes by Harrison's biographer, Jeffrey B. Perry.

Look inside the book HERE

It sells for $13.50, has an IBSN of 9781937306274, and can be ordered in paperback format at Amazon by CLICKING HERE

It has an ASIN of B0164QH0EW and can be ordered for $6.99 in KINDLE format from Amazon by CLICKING HERE.

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YOU CAN HELP -- Have your Library get “WHEN AFRICA AWAKES: THE ‘INSIDE STORY’ OF THE STIRRINGS AND STRIVINGS OF THE NEW NEGRO IN THE WESTERN WORLD" -- ISBN 9781937306274

YOU CAN HELP –
Please encourage your Public Library, School Library, and/or University Library to obtain the New (DIASPORIC AFRICA PRESS) Expanded Edition of
HUBERT H. HARRISON’S “WHEN AFRICA AWAKES: THE ‘INSIDE STORY’ OF THE STIRRINGS AND STRIVINGS OF THE NEW NEGRO IN THE WESTERN WORLD” –
ISBN 9781937306274
HELP TO BRING IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT HUBERT HARRISON AND “THE NEW NEGRO MOVEMENT” TO CURRENT and FUTURE GENERATIONS.
Feel free to contact the Ingram Book Company Customer Service Department (800-937-0152) if you need assistance.
Alternatively, Diasporic Africa Press has a dedicated phone line at IBC for questions, order placement, order tracking and additional inquiries. Again, the ISBN is 9781937306274
Phone: 800-937-8000
Email: orders@ingrambook.com
Look inside the book CLICK HERE Read More 
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When Africa Awakes: The "Inside Story" of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World by Hubert H. Harrison



Brand New Expanded Edition of Hubert Harrison’s
When Africa Awakes:
The ‘Inside Story’ of the Stirrings and Strivings
of the New Negro in the Western World

with a new introduction, biographical sketch,
and supplementary notes
by Jeffrey B. Perry
(Diasporic Africa Press)


Virgin Islands-born, Harlem-based, Hubert H. Harrison's When Africa Awakes: The "Inside Story" of the Stirrings and Strivings of the New Negro in the Western World is a collection of over fifty articles that detail his pioneering theoretical, educational, and organizational role in the founding and development of the militant, World War I era "New Negro Movement." Harrison was a brilliant, class and race conscious, writer, educator, orator, editor, book reviewer, political activist, and radical internationalist who was described by J. A. Rogers as "perhaps the foremost Aframerican intellect of his time" and by A. Philip Randolph as "the father of Harlem Radicalism." He was a major radical influence on Randolph, Marcus Garvey, and a generation of "New Negro" activists. This new Diasporic Africa Press edition includes the complete text of Harrison's original 1920 volume; contains essays from publications Harrison edited in the 1917-1920 period including The Voice (the first newspaper of the "New Negro Movement"), The New Negro, and the Garvey movement's Negro World; and offers a new introduction, biographical sketch, and supplementary notes by Harrison's biographer, Jeffrey B. Perry.

It sells for $13.50, has an IBSN of 9781937306274, and can be ordered in paperback format at Amazon by CLICKING HERE

It has an ASIN of B0164QH0EW and can be ordered for $6.99 in KINDLE format from Amazon by CLICKING HERE.

 Read More 
Be the first to comment