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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, September 19,1968
Only twenty-four?
KU now has a Negro history course—for 24 students.
Negro history is becoming an important issue in today's educational circles. It deserves the attention it's getting in the United States.
For the past centuries, since Negro slaves were first brought from Africa, the history books studied b has been omitted and that this omission has been detrimental to the Negro as a person and to the nation as a whole. American children have excluded any mention of black historical f
excluded any mention of black historical figures. Students from grade school through college have at least heard the story of George Washington chopping down his father's cherry tree, although historians know it is probably a fable.
But they have not read in their texts the number of Negro Revolutionary War soldiers who fought for their country on Bunker Hill.
Within the past year and a half the American people have become aware of the part of their history that has omitted—and that this omission has been detrimental to the Negro as a person and to the nation as a whole.
The KU black history course was initiated this semester after protests from KU students and civil rights groups last spring.
The course is needed badly, not only to show the Negro student the pride he can and must justly have in his race's part in American history, but also to teach the white students the need for realizing how long that pride has been severely neglected.
But only 24 students will gain this realization through serious study of Negro history this semester. The instructor, William H. Tuttle, said he limited his enrollment to students who had had five hours in history and who had his consent.
"I want to have a discussion course rather than a lecture," Tuttle said. "It reflects my philosophy of teaching."
This is understandable.
It is also understandable to presume KU has a drastic shortage of teachers qualified to instruct the course.
But only 24, when the need in America today for pride in its black citizens, knowledge of their role in America plus understanding between races is so vital.
Over the summer, CBS presented a series of programs on Negro history. The Kansas City Star begins a 20-page tabloid section on the subject Sept. 29. The section will later be distributed to area schools.
Many other education and civic organizations all over the United States are expanding and exploring Negro history for the betterment of students and citizens.
When the area is so vital and so pressing, can KU afford to limit serious study of black history to such a small group?
Can't a large institution of higher learning do more?
Alison Steimel Editorial Editor
Paperbacks
A group of scholarly paperbacks, of somewhat more pretension than the usual John MacDonald thriller, has come along. As students and their teachers go into the fall semester with serious ambitions they might take a look at some of these.
The first is edited by Theodore Roszak and is called THE DISSENTING ACADEMY (Vintage, $1.95). Several scholars in this work present essays that criticize the teaching of humanities in our universities. It is nice to see such a volume. And it may provide ammunition for the young dissenters who are having so much to say these days about the quality of their education.
Next is Walter W. Heller's PERSPECTIVES ON ECO-NOMIC GROWTH (Vintage, $1.95), in which another group of scholars takes a look at the American economy and its prospects. Growth and economic policy, the 1964 tax reduction and its impact, monetary and fiscal policies, growth as an objective of government policy, growth and world leadership, growth and human welfare, investments in human capital, technological and economic advance, and fixed investment are the subjects treated.
I. M. Parsons has compiled an anthology called MEN WHO MARCH AWAY: POEMS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR (Compass, $1.65). This one certainly carries the reader back to a time when war could be celebrated (but also reviled). The poets include Richard Aldington, Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, G. K. Chesterton, Walter de la Mare, Wilfrid Gibson, Robert Graves, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, A. E. Housman, D. H. Lawrence, Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Osbert Sitwell, Charles Sorley, Edward Thomas and W. B. Yeats, plus a few others.
One called THE ENJOYMENT OF CHEMISTRY, by Louis Vaczek (Compass, $1.65) is an informal treatment of the subject and one that possibly will prove of interest even to the layman. For most it will prove quite specialized.
Last of these new titles is Hannah Arendt's BETWEEN PAST AND FUTURE (Compass, $2.45). The book is a consideration of political philosophy, in eight essays.
The paperback industry sometimes seems like a giant foodchopper, devouring everything that comes along (like television), publishing for the sake of publishing, making a work popular one month and obsolete the next. This set from Fawcett this month may bear out such a point.
But brought out of obsolescence is Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s THE BITTER HERITAGE (Premier, 75 cents), which was published not long ago and now appears in revised edition. One often wonders when and if Schlesinger really teaches any more. This is his consideration of the United States in South Vietnam, 1941-1968. Back, that is, to our entering the war in Asia. Schlesinger is no Fulbright-like dove, but he is extremely disenchanted with the war, like most of us, and gives a historical view of how we came to be so involved.
A prison novel appears in Malcolm Braaly's ON THE YARD (Crest, 75 cents). The book has been praised for its authenticity, for Braaly has been a prisoner himself, and has spent considerable time on the road as well as in such sumptuous hotels as San Quentin.
One that has not been in paperback before but reflects American absorption with the past is J. W.
One that has not been in paperback before but reflects American absorption with the past is J. W. Schultz's MY LIFE AS AN INDIAN (Premier, 75 cents). This is the true story of a man's time among the Blackfoot Indians, his marriage to an Indian girl, his life within the tribe.
Finally, for all of us, a new Peanuts. It is THIS IS YOUR LIFE, CHARLIE BROWN! (Crest, 50 cents). What else need be said?
Dots and dashes
Observations and comments on the political scene from the Kansan editorial desk.
But in this election, when the two regular party candidates, Humphrey and Richard Nixon plus third party candidate George Wallace, draw relatively little support from the young, Humphrey's announcement hardly seems necessary.
Presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey has announced that he favors lowering the voting are to 18.
The candidates this year are either skirting or opposing the issues that many idealistic-minded young Americans advocate.
It is likely that a great number of disenchanted 21-year-olds who have just reached the age of emancipation will forego their voting rights this year because of the candidates' positions.
Neither Humphrey, Nixon nor Wallace have any hopeful plan for ending the Vietnam war soon and all of them now stress law and order, at times almost disregarding help for the cities and the poor.
Some observers say Richard Nixon came into a vacuum in the Republican Party. If so, it is small indeed compared to the vacuum he has stepped into in the national arena.
The GOP had heard too much of what was wrong with it. The party wanted a soother and a healer and Nixon provided the tonic. Similarly, the nation is tired of hearing what is wrong with it and is responding to Nixon's tactics. Whether the poised, self-confident Nixon is a facade or a permanent fixture remains to be seen. Perhaps his awaited political blunder will never be staged. But for the present, the new Nixon image remains shaky ground on which to cast a vote.
While Nixon has been a practitioner of the soft-sell, running-mate Spiro Agnew has been the lash of the GOP whip. When Nixon gave surprisingly passive comment on Chicago's demonstrations, Agnew lashed out at hippies and yippies. As Nixon modified his oratory to include law and justice, Agnew stalked the hard-line of law and order.counseling, hearing confession or saying public mass. Father Fenlon, Which line most nearly represents Nixon's position is the voter's dilema.
The editors
Peoples Voice
Opinion forum
Editors note: Consistent with the belief that, given equal play, truth will triumph over falsehood, the Kansan presents a non-partisan forum dedicated to the proposition of free speech. Ideas, institutions and issues will be attacked; people will not. The positions expressed in this column will be representative of the author and not necessarily the Kansan. This week's author, Jay Barrish, graduate student from Kansas City, Mo., has been instrumental in the Peoples Voice movement.
By Jay Barrish
Too many Americans are on the fence playing games of retreat and acquiescence. This University and community owns ills which must be examined and corrected. The red and black man in Lawrence are suffering oppression, harassment, and paternalism. Students are told that meaningful dialogue has been a tradition of this university, yet they are not told that the exercise labeled dialogue is meaningless since students have not and do not own equal representation in the decision making bodies of this university.
It is true that ultimatums and demands are made of the establishment, but it must be understood that demands would not be necessary if equal representation, dignity, and respect were the reality. My perception dictates that those who presently own the decision making apparatus should accept the principle of equal representation and responsible participation or be willing to deal with those who must take their issue to the streets. Reason and the power of the intellect can only be meaningful under conditions of equality. At the request of the Kansan I shall offer my own analysis of the group framework (known as Peoples Voice) That shall be instrumental in dealing with areas of social and community injustice.
The idea of Peoples Voice is to provide a non-elite, non-bureaucratic framework for those who see issues within the university and Lawrence community which they believe should be fully examined, communicated to others, and dealt with by individuals who share a common interest. Ideally, implicit in this type of structure is the absence of group pressure and compliance as would exist in most organizations.
Hopefully, this type of atmosphere would emanate from the coordinating role of the organization and its emphasis on the individual. The group will not seek to impose on its members the traditional loyalty that demands one to sacrifice personal feelings and principles for the goals of the majority of the group. In accordance with this, the tactics and strategy of community action will differ depending on the people who are initiating change and the issue in question.
The implications of such a group structure are very significant. On some issues, large numbers of students, faculty, and Lawrence residents will be aligned to seek reform. On other issues, many will not feel that their participation is warranted; in fact, they may deplore the actions of those seeking reform.
It must be explicitly clear that each individual is behaving of his own volition on a particular issue. Hopefully, this will produce full and more meaningful participation from all community residents when they choose an issue about which they feel strongly.
Further, because Peoples Voice is merely the vehicle for communication, coordination, and action of those who feel inclined to be involved in a given issue, the particular action of individuals on any given issue should not reflect on other group members who did not participate. The actions of individuals will not represent a group policy, but rather an individual choice.
One of the outgrowths of such an organization as Peoples Voice is therefore the reality that since the group will try to emphasize the interests of INDIVIDUALS, there can be no real group spokesman. I do not speak for Peoples Voice, I speak for myself.
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