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Racial Equality in America is the published lecture series that John Hope Franklin presented in 1976 for the Jefferson Lecture. The book was reviewed by The Journal of Southern History in August of 1977.[1] The book divides into three lectures chronicling the history of race in the United States from revolutionary times to 1976. These lectures explore the differences between some of the beliefs related to race with the reality documented in various historical and government texts as well as data gathered from census, property, and literary sources. The book contains the three lectures that JHF gave for the National Endowment for Humanities Jefferson Lecture in 1976. He chose to give 3 lectures in 3 different cities. The first lecture is titled “The Dream Deferred” and discusses the period from the revolution to 1820. The second lecture is titled “The Old Order Changeth Not” and discusses the rest of the 19th century. The third lecture is titled “Equality Indivisible” and discusses the 20th century.[2]
Jefferson Lecture[edit]
The Jefferson Lecture is an annual program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. These lectures provided John Hope Franklin with the opportunity to discuss his version of the racial inequity pervading the history of the United States. He gave the lectures in three cities: Chicago, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.[3]
Format of the Book[edit]
The book encompasses the three lectures, which are based on three periods in United States history. The first lecture covers from revolutionary times to 1820. The second lecture covers from the Missouri Compromise of 1820 to the end of the 19th century. The third lecture covers the 20th century to the time of the lecture.
"The Dream Deferred"[edit]
The first lecture is titled "The Dream Deferred". Franklin compares the lofty wording of the Declaration of Independence with Thomas Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, where the former president explains that "(w)hether the black of the negro resides in the reticular membrane between the skin and scarf-skin, or in the scarf-skin itself; whether it proceeds from the colour of the blood, the colour of the bile, or from that of some other secretion, the difference is fixed in nature, and is as real as if its seat and cause were better known to us." [4] According to Jefferson, the color of the black's skin alone prevents any real equality to ever be possible. Franklin establishes the dilemma at the heart of American race relations. All groups in America aspire to the goal of “equity and justice” although each group disagrees on the scope of the goal and on the method to achieve this goal. From the revolutionary times where equality and justice for black slaves were set aside to not “jeopardize the unity of the colonies” to Jefferson’s thoughts on the pending Missouri Compromise, the “time was not yet ripe.” Franklin ends the lecture with the Langston Hughes poem, "A Dream Deferred", summarizing the wait until later attitude of the Revolutionary generation toward ending slavery and living up to the premise that "All men are created equal."[2]
"The Old Order Changeth Not"[edit]
The second lecture is titled "The Old Order Changeth Not". Franklin details the history of the 19th century beginning with the Missouri Compromise. He discusses the abolitionist movement, the Reconstruction era, and the gilded age.
"Equality Indivisible"[edit]
The third lecture is titled "Equality Indivisible". Franklin covers the history of the 20th century up until the time of the lecture. He points to the inevitable understanding that equality can only exist where no division between groups denying one group equality given to others.
Public Response to the Lectures[edit]
* http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/030639687801900313