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From “Wops and Dagoes and Hunkies” to “Caucasian”: Changing Racial Discourse in American Classrooms during World War II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Extract

Margaret Gillum was distressed. Her sophomore English students in Terre Haute, IN were making “sneering remarks” about “dirty foreigners,” even though she implored them to use language that reflected the principles of “brotherhood” and “true neighborliness.” Pressed into action by the catastrophic world war unfolding around her, Gillum decided to teach her students to be more tolerant of human diversity. Describing her successful lesson to colleagues in a popular teaching journal in 1941, Gillum explained, “There are in my city a number of racial groups gathered into neighborhoods, as one finds them everywhere: Syrians, Italians, French, and a large number of Germans and Jews, as well as three distinct communities of Negroes drifted up from the South.” Hoping to foster empathy for the “racial groups” in her community, Gillum initiated her lesson by asking students to list familiar racial epithets. Her students responded enthusiastically and as Gillum called out the names of different “races” her students shouted back their answers:

      And what do we call Italians—Dagoes!
      And the Germans?—Dutchmen!
      The Irish?—Oh, Pat or Mike!

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Copyright © 2010 History of Education Society 

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References

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48 On Boas’ support for teachers unions and academic freedom, see Franz Boas to American Federation of Teachers 31 July 1941, American Federation of Teachers Convention, Franz Boas Papers, Franz Boas Papers, American Philosophical Society (APS), Philadelphia. Credo of Teachers Union of New York, 14 April 1941 in Franz Boas Papers, folder Miscellaneous; Franz Boas, Freedom of Education, testimonial dinner, National Federation Constitutional Liberties, 12 March 1941, p. 1–2, Franz Boas Papers, Professional Papers, APS. Also see Lerman, Louis Winter Soldiers: A Story of a Conspiracy against the Schools (New York: Committee for Defense of Public Education, 1941). Franz Boas wrote the introduction to this pamphlet, which is available in the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University's Bobst Library, New York, NY. Boas published articles in the New York City Teachers Union journal, see: Boas, Franz “Freedom of Thought,” New York Teacher 6, no. 4 (1941): 21; Boas, Franz “Freedom Defined,” New York Teacher 6, no. 9 (1941): 25. A description of the lesson on race by Franz Boas in the November 1939 issue of Teaching Biologist can be found in Barnet S. Minters, “Biology Can Promote Tolerance,” New York Teacher 5, no. 1 (1939): 22.Google Scholar

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50 On Franz Boas’ antiracist activism in other spheres of American society, see Pierpont, “The Measure of America”; Liss, “Diasporic Identities”; Hyatt, Franz Boas Social Activist, 148–49; Williams, Rethinking Race; Barkan, The Retreat of Scientific Racism; Stocking, Race, Culture, and Evolution; Selden, Steven Inheriting Shame: The Story of Eugenics and Racism in America (New York: Teachers College Press, 1999), explains how Boas’ theories on race directly challenged the scientific theories of eugenicists, see p. 108 and 110. For an overview of how Boas’ theories fit into larger intellectual histories of race in America, see Gossett, Race, 409–30. For a discussion of how anthropological theories on race were disseminated in popular culture see Baker, From Savage to Negro. For a critical view of Boas, see Harris, Marvin The Rise of Anthropological Theory: A History of Theories of Culture (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1968).Google Scholar

51 Benedict, Ruth and Weltfish, Gene, The Races of Mankind, Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 85 (New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1943). On the public reception of Races, see: Edwards, VioletNote on the ‘Races of Mankind,'“ in Race: Science and Politics, ed. Benedict, Ruth (New York: Viking Press, 1945), 167–68. American Unity, in particular among educational journals, encouraged teachers to employ The Races of Mankind. Among other articles, see, “Cranbrook Exhibit Shows Up Race Myth,” American Unity 2, no. 6 (1944): 14;, “Races of Mankind Exhibit,” American Unity 3, no. 6 (1945): 16;, “Now in Poster Form,” American Unity 3, no. 8 (1945): 8. Review of film, “Brotherhood of Man,” American Unity 5, no. 3 (1946): 12–13;, “Ammunition,” American Unity 5, no. 5 (1947): 12–13. For more on The Races of Mankind, see Young, Virginia Heyer “Ruth Benedict: Relativist and Universalist,” 2554 and Niehaus, Juliet “Education and Democracy in the Anthropology of Gene Weltfish,” 87118, both in Cherneff and Hochwald, Visionary Observers. According to Price, David the FBI targeted both Benedict and Weltfish as potential “subversives” because of The Races of Mankind. Price, David Threatening Anthropology: McCarthyism and the FBFs Surveillance of Activist Anthropologists (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004), 113–35.Google Scholar

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53 Edman, MarionBuilding Unity within a Community,“ Elementary English Review 21, no. 5 (1944): 179–85, quote on p. 184.Google Scholar

54 4Review of “The Races of Mankind,” American Unity 2, no. 2 (1943): 23.Google Scholar

55 Singerman, JosephThe Spirit of Franz Boas Lives,“ Science Teacher 10, no. 1 (1943): 2021, 28., quote on p. 28.Google Scholar

56 Williams, Mildred and Van Loan, W.L., “Education for Racial Equality,” Social Studies 34 no. 7 (1943): 308–11, quote on p. 308.Google Scholar

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59 Benedict, Ruth and Weltfish, Gene, In Hernes Backyard: The Races of Mankind (New York: H. Schuman, 1948). The caption reads, “The bright ones as well as the strong ones … come in all colors.”Google Scholar

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63 Sloat, Mayme LouiseScience Teaching Can Develop Intercultural Understanding,“ American Unity 3, no. 9 (1945): 1519, quote on p. 16.Google Scholar

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85 Anonymous, I Faced the High School Race Problem,“ American Unity 4, no. 3 (1945): 16–20, quote on p. 18.Google Scholar

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