William Sanders Scarborough & the First Universal Races Congress

I have blogged on both these subjects. For reference, first my bibliography:

First Universal Races Congress, London, July 26-29, 1911: Selected Bibliography

The conference proceedings can be accessed online. I see no contribution by Scarborough in it, though he did participate:

Papers on Inter-Racial Problems, Communicated to the First Universal Races Congress, Held at the University of London, July 26-29, 1911; edited by Gustav Spiller. London: P. S. King & Son; Boston: The World’s Peace Foundation, 1911. xlvi, 485 pp.

In his autobiography Scarborough gives an account of his participation in the First (and last) Universal Races Congress in London in July, 1911:

Autobiography of William Sanders Scarborough: An American Journey from Slavery to Scholarship, edited and with an introduction by Michele Valerie Ronnick, foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2005. (Contents.) See chapter 19: Second Trip to Europe -- Delegate to the First Universal Races Congress -- [A] Rhine Trip; pp. 214-224. There is a prefatory remark on p. 213. The relevant information can be found on pp. 214-219, and in the final paragraph of p. 224. See also footnotes, pp. 378-380.

Following the commencement, I made preparations for my second trip to England as a delegate to the First Universal Races Congress to be held at the University of London in July where I was to present a paper. [p. 213]

Scarborough mentions his correspondence with W.E.B. Du Bois, who organized a Negro American delegation. Scarborough describes his sea journey with his wife to England, and his encounters on board, e.g. with Albert Bigelow Paine, designated biographer of Mark Twain, a friend of the Negro cause. Scarborough sketches the proceedings of the Congress, participants, and papers, and a press report.

But the keynote of this wonderful assembly was the unity of the human race and the brotherhood of man. Whatever the subject discussed the brotherhood of man was never lost sight of. It was advocated and emphasized by the followers of every sect and creed and all from the same platform. With this as a basis of equality of rights and opportunity, fair play in the race of life was urged by both Jew and Gentile. [217]

Scarborough continues to outline the other functions and encounters connected with the Congress. After visiting Cambridge University, he and the wife are off to Paris.  He returns to the theme of the Congress at the end of the chapter.

In the end we were at home again to receive a glad welcome and to report the Congress to school and friends, back from the great Races Congress, hoping that the men and women who claim to be such firm believers in the brotherhood of man will practice what they preach, and will help hasten the day when there will be no race problem. The future will show whether there has been any real substantial gain by such a concerted movement. [224]

Ouch!

Universala Kongreso pri Rasoj post 100 jaroj (The Universal Races Congress 100 years on)

Kion dividas Felix Adler, Israel Zangwill, Franz Boas, W. E. B. Du Bois, kaj L. L. Zamenhof? Partopreno en la Unua (kaj lasta) Universala Kongreso pri Rasoj en Londono, 1911. Krom mi, mi trovis nur unu homon— Bahaano— kiu konscias pri ĉi tiu datreveno. Fakte, en interparoloj eĉ kun specialistoj pri afrikusonana literaturo, mi eltrovis, ke la ekzisto de ĉi tiu kongreso estas nekonita. Sed ĉi tiu kongreso estis mejloŝtono en la ideologia lukto kontraŭ la ĉiea kaj ĉiupova rasismo de la epoko. Nesurprize, ŝlosilan rolon, organizan kaj/aŭ intelektan, ludis judoj kaj negroj, sed partoprenis intelektuloj el la tuta mondo.

Mi trovas nenian publikan agnoskon de ĉi tiu jubileo nek programon por rememorigi ĝin. Do kion mi faru por ŝanĝi ĉi tiun situacion? Unue, mi kompilis bibliografion pri la temo, ĵus publikigita interrete:

First Universal Races Congress, London, July 26-29, 1911: Selected Bibliography
[Bibliografio pri la Unua Universala Kongreso pri Rasoj en Londono, 26-29 julio 1911]

Cetere, konsultu ĉi tiun blogon pri progreso ĉi-afere.  Mi ne scias ĝuste pluajn rezultojn anticipi. Mia venonta paŝo estas kontakti personojn aŭ instancojn kiuj eble interesiĝus. Ekz. ĉi tiu afero potenciale interesus esperantistojn, bahaanojn, humanistajn judojn, kaj adeptojn de negra historio. Eble mi verkos ion pri la afero.

Legante la fakan literaturon, mi konstatas la ideologian kompleksecon de la epoko, ankaŭ en la pensaroj de tiuj kiuj plej urĝe bezonis senmistifikigi la koncepton de raso. Mi legas precipe pri Du Bois, Boas, kaj diversaj judaj intelektuloj. Ankaŭ interesas la posta influo de ĉi tiu kongreso, ekz. en la verko de pionira aŭtodidakta afrikusonana historiografo J. A. Rogers, kiu citis interalie Zamenhofon en sia ŝlosila polemika dialogo de 1917, From Superman to Man (De Superhomo al Homo).

J. A. Rogers, L. L. Zamenhof, & la Universala Kongreso pri Rasoj en 1911 (2)

Mi jam blogis anglalingve ĉi-teme kaj komentis pri la kontribuaĵo de Zamenhof. Nun mi anoncas du novaĵojn.

Mi enretigis ĉerpaĵon de la libro de J[oel] A[ugustus] Rogers (1880 - 1966) unue eldonita en 1917, From "Superman" to Man [De Superhomo al Homo]:

Race, Equality of Intellect, & the History of Civilization by J. A. Rogers
[Raso, Egaleco de Inteligenteco, & la Historio de Civilizacioj]

Ĉi tie oni trovas la esencajn stilon kaj enhavon de la argumentado de Rogers kontraŭ la rasismo de blankuloj tiam hegemonia.

Rogers estis aŭtodidakta historiisto kaj dokumentisto kiu per siaj verkoj agitis dum jardekoj kontraŭ blankula rasismo kaj strebis meti en historian konscion la kontribuojn de negroj, kiel aliaj, al usona kaj al monda civilizacio.

Notu ankaŭ la utiligon de materialo el la Unua (kaj lasta) Universala Kongreso pri Rasoj kiu okazis en Londono en 1911. Rogers eĉ favore citas Zamenhof. Poste, Rogers iom ĝustigas la historion kontraŭ la ĝenerala supozo ke nigrula Afriko kontribuis nenion al civilizacio (supozo ankaŭ je Zamenhof).

Ĉi-jare okazas la jarcenta datreveno de tiu kongreso. Ŝajne neniu konscias ĉi tiun fakton aŭ eĉ la ekziston de ĉi tiu influoza evento. Mi celas iel interveni pri ĉi tiu situacio. Do jen mia kontribuaĵo:

First Universal Races Congress, London, July 26-29, 1911: Selected Bibliography
[Bibliografio pri la Unua Universala Kongreso pri Rasoj en Londono, 26-29 julio 1911]

Aldone al ĉi-blogaj afiŝoj, pluaj (anglalingvaj) afiŝoj troveblas ĉe mia blogo Reason & Society [Racio & Socio].

J. A. Rogers, L. L. Zamenhof, and the Universal Races Congress of 1911

J[oel] A[ugustus] Rogers (1880 - 1966) was an eminent Black American autodidactic historian who spent decades marshaling evidence to dispel the myth of race and racial supremacy and to restore the contributions of the African diaspora to historical memory. I came across his work again while researching the history and impact of the First Universal Races Congress of 1911 (which was to be the last).

This year marks the centennial of that congress, and nobody seems to be noticing except for a Baha'i blogger, Bahram Nadimi:

Twentieth Century Renaissance and Race Unity

Nadimi even mentions W. E. B. Du Bois and  Zamenhof in the same sentence!

Otherwise, it seems no one has heard of the Universal Races Congress. I hope to rectify this situation.

Aside from consulting the Proceedings of the congress itself, I have been seeking out relatively contemporary secondary literature and have begun to look at reviews of the congress within its own time frame. I've learned quite a bit about the ideological variables that went into that conference both on the part of its "non-white" as well its European and Euro-American participants. I will comment more on this as well as the larger vision of my project another time.

So far I'm not finding any references to Zamenhof in the contemporary secondary literature. While I consider Zamenhof a relatively minor player in this scenario, I am finding that a comparison of his ideas to those of other contributors will yield some non-trivial insights. But there is also the secondary literature of the time. Of interest is one reference to Zamenhof I've found in Rogers' landmark 1917 novel From "Superman" to Man. (Note the anti-Nietzschean title.) The black protagonist Dixon carries on a running argument with a white supremacist. At some point Dixon invokes the Universal Races Congress and its consensus that all races are congenitally equal. He quotes Spiller, Finot, and Zamenhof. Zamenhof:

Give the Africans, without any mingling of rancour or oppression, a high and humane civilisation, and you will find that their mental level will not differ from ours. Abolish the whole of our civilisation, and our mind will sink to the level of that of an African cannibal. It is not a difference of mentality in the race, but a difference of instruction.

Now this is curious. The reference to African "cannibals" makes us wince today, but the larger argument is Zamenhof's refutation of any meaningful racial distinctions. Rogers is prepared for the next move. The racist senator seems willing to concede the point of innate capacity, but he goes on a hysterical tirade claiming that the Negro has contributed absolutely nothing to world civilization. Rogers' mouthpiece Dixon calmly refutes the popular superstition that Negro history begins with slavery, reaching back to antiquity to prove the opposite. This then, is the explicit rejoinder to the confirmed bigot and the implicit response to well-meaning Zamenhof's erroneous assumptions.

It is important to note also that while Zamenhof's assumptions about Africans grate on us today, Zamenhof also rejects essentialist assumptions held by his contemporaries, including many of the participating "non-white" intellectuals. This in my view is very much related to Zamenhof's demystification of the collective identity of European Jews—that slice of the world he knew best.