Blacks and Whites Meeting in America

“In white memory, which has been the dominant memory, blacks are usually absent. They just do not figure in the American story, except as slaves, as reminders of guilt. And nobody likes to be reminded of guilt”—David K. Shipler, A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America.
On September 14, 2001, Kent State University’s Ashtabula Campus sponsored its colloquium on race based on David K. Shipler’s A Country of Strangers by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Arab and Jew. This collection of 18 papers explores such topics as blacks and whites in the performing arts; racial profiling; racism in American baseball; race, work and wholeness; musical style as a symbol of black cultural identity; the early Newberry Library in Chicago; the use of the body by artists to reveal the mind; Southern white ministers at mid-century; building a diverse and respectful campus community; organizational changes creating a new climate for racial equality; the missing voice of the Spanish–speaking in the black-white dialogue; the concept of equality of educational opportunity for African Americans; and praises, criticism and comments for A Country of Strangers: Blacks and Whites in America.

Terry White is the interim assistant dean of Kent State University’s Ashtabula Campus in Ohio.

Edited by Terry White
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 251
Bibliographic Info: photos, references, index
Copyright Date: 2003
pISBN: 978-0-7864-1541-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1172-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Preface      1

Opening Remarks of the David K. Shipler Colloquium on Race     5

PART I: RACE, THE UNIVERSITY, AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

1. Ideology versus Historic Truth: The Concept of Equality of Educational Opportunity for African Americans    7

2. Building a Diverse and Respectful Campus Community: A Systematic Approach Model    26

3. Veiled Diversity: A New Look at What Diversity Means Within the Academy    46

PART II: RACE AND IDENTITY IN THE ARTS, POPULAR CULTURE, AND SPORTS

4. From Jackie Robinson to Sammy Sosa: Baseball and Race in America     51

5. Two Contemporary African-American Artists      68

6. Musical Style as a Symbol of Black Cultural Identity      81

7. When Whites and Blacks Met: Performing Artists on Stage and in Film     92

8. Looking for Jackie and Mike: Race, Sport, and Contemporary American Culture   101

PART III: THE PAST AS PROLOGUE: RACE IN THE MINISTRY, THE LIBRARY, THE ACADEMY, AND ON THE CAMPUS

9. Southern White Ministers at Mid-Century      111

10. The Founding and Early History of Chicago’s Newberry Library: Free to Whom?    120

11. From Myrdal to Shipler: The Academy’s View of Blacks and Whites in America    126

12. What’s in a Name? Politically Correct Language On and Off Campus    137

PART IV: BUILDING AN ECONOMIC BRIDGE ACROSS THE RACIAL DIVIDE

13. Organizational Changes Create a New Climate for Racial Equality      145

14. Dreaming Beyond the Number Two: Race, Work, and Wholeness     162

PART V: THE EXPANDING AND CONTRACTING KINSHIP OF RACE

15. The Strangest of Kin: Blacks and White in America Viewed from the Borderlands    175

16. Let the Dialogue Begin      185

17. Racial Profiling: Good Policing or Discriminatory Policy? A Look at the Existing Literature    199

Part VI: DAVID K. SHIPLER ADDRESS

18. Introduction     211

19. “When I Go to Work, I Have to Leave My Culture at the Door…”     213

About the Contributors      231

Index      235