George M. Fredrickson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Marsh Fredrickson (born July 16, 1934 in Bristol , Connecticut , † February 25, 2008 in Stanford , California ) was an American historian. He is regarded as an important representative of comparative history and racism research. His best-known work, White Supremacy: A Comparative Study of American and South African History, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1981 .

biography

George Fredrickson was born on July 16, 1934 in Bristol, Connecticut. He went to high school in Sioux Falls , South Dacota. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in history in 1956 with magna cum laude . He then studied as a Fulbright fellow at the University of Oslo (Norway) and served three years in the US Navy . In 1964 he received his doctorate from Harvard. There he taught until 1967 before he was appointed Professor of American History at Northwestern University . In 1984 he switched to Stanford University , where he stayed until his retirement in 2002. In 1985, Fredrickson was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . 1997-1998 he was President of the Organization of American Historians .

In 1981 he wrote his main work: White Supremacy: A comparative Study of American and South African History (see following section), which has received several awards ( Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize; Merle Curti Award ) and for which he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and was nominated for the National Book Award . Through this and other works, Fredrickson is considered one of the most important representatives of comparative history, especially the history of racism.

In addition to his college activities, Fredrickson was also a civil rights activist. In the 1960s he took part in civil rights marches and campaigned for a boycott of the South African economy in the so-called Disinvestment Movement in protest against the apartheid laws.

Fredrickson died of heart failure on February 25, 2008.

Works

White Supremacy: A Comparative Study of American and South African History

In his major work, White Supremacy: A Comparative Study of American and South African History (1981) , Fredrickson compares the history of racism in the United States and South Africa. In US history, he said racism was an ideology that justified the white settlers' ability to enslave, dispossess, and oppress black slaves and indigenous Americans . In later years, however, legislation developed in the USA that enabled a better balance between the different groups. In South Africa, on the other hand, racism was less pronounced at the beginning of colonization, but became more severe with the apartheid laws of 1948, which were only abolished in 1992 - eleven years after Fredrickson's book.

Racism: A Short History

In his book Racism: A Short History (2002) Fredrickson deals with the history and different facets of racism, including anti-blackness and anti-Semitism. He puts forward the thesis discussed that precisely the Enlightenment promoted racism: the postulate that all people are equal before God was replaced by supposed (and, according to Fredrickson, erroneous) scientific explanations and used as a justification for the hierarchization between different ethnic groups.

Bibliography (selection)

  • The Inner Civil War: Northern Intellectuals and the Crisis of the Union ; 1965.
  • The Black Image in the White Mind: The Debate on Afro-American Character and Destiny, 1817-1914 ; 1971.
  • White Supremacy: A Comparative Study of American and South African History; 1981.
  • Racism: A Short History ”; 2002.
    • Racism: A Historical Outline ; Hamburg: Hamburger Edition; 2004.
  • Not Just Black and White: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States; 2005, as co-author with Nancy Foner.
  • Big Enough to Be Inconsistent: Abraham Lincoln Confronts Slavery and Race; 2008.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Cynthia Haven: George Fredrickson, influential voice on race, racism, dies at 73. March 5, 2008, accessed on June 7, 2019 (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Douglas Martin: George Fredrickson, 73, Historian, Dies . In: The New York Times . March 7, 2008, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 7, 2019]).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Ariela Gross; Leslie Harris: George M. Fredrickson (1934-2008) | Perspectives on History | AHA. 2008, accessed June 7, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter F. (PDF; 815 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Retrieved June 9, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Fredrickson, George M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fredrickson, George Marsh (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Bristol , Connecticut
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 2008
Place of death Stanford , California