Although black conservatives are becoming the most visible voices
within African-American politics and culture, few realize that the
black conservative tradition predates the Civil War and is an intellectual
movement with deep historical roots.
In an important new book, Saviors or Sellouts (Beacon Press), Professor
Christopher Alan Bracey, who teaches law and African and African-American
Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, examines the evolution
of black conservative thought. He traces it from its origins in antebellum
Christian evangelism and entrepreneurialism to its contemporary expression
in policy debates over affirmative action and the corrosive effects
of urban black artistic and cultural expression.
Rising Influence Today
Dr. Bracey, a fair-minded scholar, examines black neoconservatives such
as Shelby Steele and John McWhorter. He reveals the philosophies of prominent
political conservatives such as Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell and Condoleezza
Rice, as well as of intellectuals such as Thomas Sowell, Anne Wortham,
and Walter Williams. He has an insightful chapter on the infotainment effect
of Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, and a number of bloggers.
"Black conservatives are quickly becoming the most visible and
prominent voices within African-American politics, culture, and society," writes
Bracey. "The rising tide of black conservatism will invariably
shape policy that will define the social, political and economic future
of African-Americans as well as other socially disfavored groups."
Those who say that black conservatism is a fringe and inauthentic
voice of the African-American community, Bracey argues, ignores
the real historical context. “Indeed, from the founding until
the early 20th century — nearly l50 years — conservatism was
the dominant mode of black political engagement with white society."
The touchstone of black conservative discourse, Bracey points out,
has been the African-American Protestant ethic — a kind of middle-class
morality. Its foundations for success are respectability, proper deportment,
and a serious commitment to a healthy and productive lifestyle. In
colonial days, Richard Allen, whose leadership rested upon his role
as pastor and status as a successful businessman, repeatedly told his
congregation that had work and "middle-class propriety" was
vital to free blacks and that blacks were morally and spiritually obliged
to make good use of the privileges of freedom.
One of the earliest examples that Bracey cites is David Walker's l829
Appeal, in which he recounts the various forms of white and black “wretchedness.” Recent
works of Shelby Steele, Thomas Sowell, and comments by comedian Bill Cosby
express similar sentiments — “a twofold conviction that problems
and obstacles faced by blacks can be best mitigated or resolved by blacks
themselves, and that white racism is just an irritant that lacks the determinant
power to define African Americans individually or collectively. “
Hammon: First Published Writer
Rev. Jupiter Hammon developed and advanced the precepts of black conservatism
a full century before the best known proponent of this philosophy, Booker
T. Washington. Hammon, a slave his entire life, was born in l7ll and was
the first published African-American writer.
According to Hammon, free blacks bore the responsibility to uphold moral
standards and remain industrious in order to dispel prevailing notions
about the natural inferiority of blacks and the concomitant inability to
manage their personal affairs. For Hammon, living an ethical and productive
life was the surest path to exposing the hypocrisy of white America's disrespect
for blacks and failure to live up to its own ethical and religious ideals.
Booker T. Washington’s
New Black Conservatism
Later, writes Bracey, a new and distinct form of black conservatism
grounded in the “southern way of life emerged and eventually
supplanted its northern counterpart as the dominant political philosophy
in African-American life in the early 20th century.” Booker T.
Washington was the leading exponent of this new southern black conservatism.
Washington, born a slave in Virginia, worked in slat furnaces and coal
mines as a child to help support his family after emancipation. He
left home at age l6 and began formal schooling at the Hampton Institute
in Virginia, where he supported himself by working as a school janitor.
Bracey states that Washington was skeptical of political and legal
rights: “After l877, it became increasingly clear to black southerners
that the bestowal of rights was far more limited and, indeed, mutable,
than liberal proponents cared to admit. The gap between northern idealism
and southern reality grew, with the erosion of newly acquired rights
and the rise of racial terror and violence toward blacks."
For Washington, economic advancement seemed to be a surer, less reversible
means for blacks to progress. He saw progress for blacks taking place within
southern black institutions, which by definition were less reliant upon
the favor of whites. By the time of his death, Washington left behind a
network of institutions that preserved his views on racial advancement.
Of particular note were the Tuskegee Institute and the National Negro Business
Many historians contend that Washingtonian black conservatism faded with
his death in l9l5, However, Bracey shows that, although the focus of black
political thought shifts from the accommodationism of Washington to the
NAACP in the North and the rise of the civil rights movement, "the
prevailing narrative fails to account for the extended legacy of black
Bracey discusses a host of black conservatives in American politics in
recent years. When he was the only black in the U.S. Senate, Senator Edward
Brooke (R-MA) maintained that racial empowerment could be brought about
only when blacks developed the skills necessary to compete effectively
with whites. He chastised liberals for ignoring the importance of individual
self-development and focusing instead on group-based relief.
While Professor Bracey is not a conservative, the reader gets the feeling
that as he pursued his subject he became increasingly positive in his assessment
of the role black conservatism has played in history. He concludes: "The
longevity of black conservative thought and the increasing prominence of
modern black conservatives in the American public sphere are indicative
of the attractiveness of modern black conservatism... First and foremost,
black conservatism vindicates the deeply held desire of blacks to view
themselves as architects of their own destiny... Many blacks today are
weary of being viewed as victims and the perennial object of liberal charity.
White liberals and the civil rights establishment remain deeply invested
in the idea that blacks continue to suffer under the weight of racial oppression.
Many blacks are increasingly turned off by this image of black society...
Liberals can no longer afford to dismiss modern black conservatism as marginal
or inconsequential to public conversation on racial issues... It is imperative
to move beyond ideological wrangling and acknowledge that both liberals
and conservatives possess a rich arsenal of ideas for racial empowerment."
Back to The Conservative Curmudgeon archives
The Conservative Curmudgeon is copyright © 2008
by the Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, www.fgfBooks.com. All rights reserved.
Allan C. Brownfeld is the author of five books, the latest of which
is THE REVOLUTION LOBBY (Council for Inter-American Security). He has
been a staff aide to a U.S. Vice President, Members of Congress, and
the U.S. Senate Internal Subcommittee.
He is associate editor of THE LINCOLN REVIEW and a contributing editor
to such publications as HUMAN EVENTS, THE ST. CROIX REVIEW, and THE WASHINGTON
REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS.
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