On the “incubus of the ‘white’ identity”
To Theodore W. Allen there was nothing positive in identifying as “white,” and in his personal and political life he tried not to think or act “white.”
He explained that “the white race is now, and always has been nothing other than a bourgeois social control formation in this country.”
He considered it “the special obligation of the European-American worker” to act by “resigning from the white race, joining the human race as, if you will, a born-again proletarian free of the incubus of the ‘white’ identity.”
He added that ‘resigning . . . does not entail . . . entering some other ‘racial’ or nationality category; such a European-American remains a European-American.”
This video of a slide presentation/talk on Theodore W. Allen’s “The Invention of the White Race” (2 vols., Verso Books) just passed the 71,000 viewer mark -- CLICK HERE
For information on “The Invention of the White Race” Vol. II: "The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo America" (including comments from scholars and activists and Table of Contents) see CLICK HERE
For information on “The Invention of the White Race” Vol. I: “Racial Oppression and Social Control" (including comments from scholars and activists and Table of Contents) published by Verso Books see -- CLICK HERE
For information on Allen’s “Summary of the Argument of The Invention of the White Race” Part 1 see CLICK HERE
For an in-depth treatment of the development of the work of Theodore W. Allen see “The Developing Conjuncture and Some Insights From Hubert Harrison and Theodore W. Allen on the Centrality of the Fight Against White Supremacy” by Jeffrey B. Perry at the top left at HERE or at “Cultural Logic” HERE
For a video of a Slide Presentation/Talk on Hubert Harrison see CLICK HERE
For comments from scholars and activists on "Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918" (Columbia University Press) CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE
For articles, audios, and videos by and about Hubert Harrison see CLICK HERE