When, at the turn of the 20th century, a reader scribbled “No” next to the headline “Is the Negro a Beast?” – William G. Schell’s rebuttal to “The Negro A Beast?” by Chas Carroll (1900) – the reader could not have foreseen that the note would go down in the annals of scientific research. But it is. This response, written in ink on a yellowed page, is included in the exhibit Confronting Hate: Anti-Semitism, Racism and Resistance at the O’Hare Special Collections at Fordham University’s Walsh Library in the Bronx. The show shines a light on centuries of hierarchical structures designed to dehumanize blacks and Jews and challenge their right to be considered equal citizens.
After in-depth discussions on the construction of hate, Magda Teter, chair of Judaic studies at Fordham, and Westenley Alcenat, assistant professor of history and African American studies, led students to explore the apparatuses of racism and of anti-Semitism to construct this provocative spectacle. The ephemera, drawn from the school’s collection and outside sources, chronicle popular culture, scholarly writing, and art that have constructed, transmitted, and refuted damaging influences on modern thought and behavior.
With the development of the printing press in the 1400s, the means to relentlessly disseminate anti-Jewish and anti-black ideology flooded European society. “When there’s a technological innovation, it’s often exploited to spread hate,” Teter told me in conversation. On the east view Liber chronicarum (Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493), full of derogatory stories about the Jews. Teter’s new book, Christian supremacy: counting with the roots of anti-Semitism and racism (Princeton), traces the legal basis and common struggle of anti-Semitism and black racism to the earliest ideologies of Christian theology and white domination.
“People from the black and Jewish communities have stood up and tried to provide an alternative unencumbered by these ideologies,” Alcenat noted. “There were also allies from other groups who pushed back on the bias.” Cabinet photo cards from the late 1800s show black Americans as middle-class citizens rather than slaves. Commissioned in 1948 to integrate industrial production plants, At Henry’s‘s Backyard: Races of Humanity by Ruth Benedict and Gene Weltfish, contains the line, “All the peoples of the world have done their part to build civilization.” The exhibition’s rich catalog reminds readers that the resistance served a crucial purpose: to encourage the slandered peoples to believe in their worth.
An exhibit, defending the legal and social status of Black Americans and Jews, includes The Negro Problem: A Series of Articles Written by Representatives of Today’s American Negroes, which features essays by Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois (1903), among other scholars. Nearby is the British writer Louis Golding The Jewish problem (1938), arguing against Nazi Germany’s instigation of a “Jewish conscience”. The red, white and black cover of a 1960s issue of EBONY magazine, printed with the title “The White Problem in America”, shines almost beside them. Inside, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr. and others express their resistance to oppression in the United States.
The vast collection of ephemeral chronicles telegraphed about hate through ancient blood libels, scientific justifications for Enlightenment exclusion, and children’s books that instill and confront stereotypes. Documents from the 1930s and 1940s show the Green Book, which lists hotels where black travelers can safely stay, and postcards of hotels that welcome or refuse Jewish guests. As Alcenat mentioned, “What resonates throughout is how similar black and Jewish struggles against white supremacy have often been.”
Confronting Hate: Anti-Semitism, Racism and Resistance at O’Hare Special Collections (Walsh Family Library, Fordham University-Rose Hill, 441 East Fordham Road, Bronx) through June 24. The exhibition was curated by Magda Teter, Westenley Alcenat and Lesley East.
