Greetings, Students.
Above is a clip from the historic debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley Jr. The topic of this Baldwin and Buckley debate is "Is the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro?"
- How does this introduction to James Baldwin and this debate affirm, change, or challenge your understanding of American culture, African American culture and the Civil Rights Movement?
- What point of either argument did you find most compelling? How did this point help you to understand whether or not 'the American Dream at the expense of the American Negro'?
Want more on Baldwin? Watch James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket
Above is an embedded viewing of the documentary James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket. It is available via the UK Libraries' subscription to Films on Demand.
The documentary begins to explore James Baldwin's contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and his perspectives about race relations in segment 24. Feel free to learn more.
This was such an interesting debate! I've never seen a more accurate description of American history summed up in just a few words - "The American Dream at the expense of the American Negro" It was interesting to hear Bucklye bring up the 35 black millionaires as a way to "paint a more accurate depiction of American life". This was ironic and funny to me because this is the same tactic/rhetoric that post-racial proponents use today! They point out the couple black exceptions as ways to justify their belief that color/race has little effect on life in America.
ReplyDeleteI agree! It was very interesting to see the parallel between racism in the past and racism today.
DeleteThe introduction of this debate affirms my understanding of the American culture. I agree that America and the American dream have been created at the expense of the American Negro. As the first speaker discussed, America has used the 'negro' when it was convenient in situations such as war and labor. However, the 'american Negros' were not given equal rights despite the fact they have been one of the largest forces in creating the American dream.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the people who played a large part in the development of this country couldn't even enjoy being here.
DeleteI agree. Also, I think many people are in denial about how America was created. Clearly, African Americans played a huge role in establishing the economics within this country!
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DeleteThe statement that "America could not have become what it is today if it were not for cheap labor", really drove me to consider it and examine whether I would agree. I would agree. Even now, we presently rely on cheap labor. Many of our goods come from other countries who use cheap labor. We buy based on how cheap we can have things massively produced. This debate challenged my understanding of the American culture. I had never considered African Americans a "sacrifice" for America. I knew that they were used for cheap labor, but did not see it as a building block for life today.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I can not even imagine what the United States would be like if African Americans were not brought to America and forced to work.
DeleteI agree that America was AND still is built upon cheap labor. Although "slavery" no longer exists, forms of this labor still are apparent. For example, clothes made from various countries brought into the states.
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DeleteAfter watching this debate my beliefs are affirmed. I agree that the american dream was created at the expense of the American negro, They talked about cheap labor, and how it was used to fulfill the american dream. I completely agree with this. This is something that is still being used to day. We have companies that have thrived off of cheap labor. If you look at the labels of many items we use to day, most likely they come from another country because of the cheap labor.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point of how discussing cheap abor was very instrumental to his argument. It is really unfortunate that in order to prosper and achieve in this country that it hsa to be at the expense and maybe even misfortunes of another.
DeleteI watched this debate and thought that it was very interesting both sides made very compelling arguments. I liked the point that Buckley made where he talked about blacks outnumbering whites in Mississippi by about 5,000, and only 300 of those blacks being able to vote. I also liked the point Baldwin made when he talked about the civil rights bills/amendments not being honored properly. This debate didn't really change any of my previous opinions about the American culture in that time period, but it reminded me of how things were back then. After hearing the debate I do agree that American Dream came at the expense of the American negro.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that the American Dream comes at the the expense of the American Negro. Negro made a lot of sacrifices and received nothing from it just so whites can have the perfect path to success.
DeleteMy beliefs were affirmed. Because I've heard of how African Americans are discriminated against in the service industry. The discrimination is very subtle of course. James talked about this when he talked about taxis and how they would ignore an African American. He also brought up the example of how the bank discriminates against African Americans. I imagine in the deep south they especially discriminated by denying potential African American's loans to start businesses. He also brought up a good point about how African Americans built the power of the south through cheap labor. African Americans hard work and toil made the south an economic power house. Without African Americans the South wouldn't be what it is today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the points about how once African Americans were brought in it really changed the dynamics of the south's economy making whites more wealthy.
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ReplyDeleteAfter watching this debate, and this debate does affirm my beliefs about racism and the civil rights movement. The fact that James Baldwin received so much respect in the room was surprising considering he was an African American man but he did make many great points throughout the debate. I think one great point was the way whites think of blacks, when he said no matter how bad a white's life is, it can't be worse than a blacks. He also made the point that America would not be what it is without that free labor slaves provided but, still they do not receive their rights, meaning that whites got what they wanted but that came at the expense of blacks.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the point he states about no matter how bad a white's life is, it can't be worse than a blacks, because blacks were not seen as humans at a point in time and were never credited for what they have done for the country, when whites received praise for all of their work.
DeleteI agree with the points Jevon brings up in his paragraph. African Americans did all of the hard work in the south's economy but they were never rewarded in any socio-economic way. They were the men and women who helped American grow and they were never recognized for it.
DeleteJames Baldwin's introduction affirmed my beliefs because he talked about how you perspective or your view on the topic can chance how you see the American dream. I thought his question on whether or not civilizations were equal or whether one has the right to overtake and destroy the other. I also think that a great point that he made was that although slaves basically made America what it is and wouldn't be what it has become without the cheap labor of slaves, but slaves still don't get the same rights as others in America. Also, another point he made was that whites in the south have been raised to believe that no matter how bad their lives are, at least they're not black.
ReplyDeleteI agree the U.S. would not be where it was without cheap labor of the slaves, yet they were being ostracized from the American dream.
DeleteThe introduction of this debate affirms my understanding of the American culture. After watching this debate my beliefs are affirmed. I agree that the american dream was created at the expense of the American negro. James Baldwin made many great point during the debate. I found his argument that without the free labor of African Americans, America would not be what it was today to be very compelling.Without the free labor African Americans provided, the american dream would not even be possible.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, cheap labor was what allowed our country to thrive then and it is sad that it is still that way now.
DeleteThis debate affirms many aspects about American culture as well as African American culture. James Baldwin spoke about how african american children are so naive to the world that they do not realize that they are not subjected to the same equalities as whites untill they are like six. Also, he spoke about how we live in a country where no matter how bad your life is, at least your not black. And there is nothing that could be done about it because the government will not do anything about the injustices. He felt black people should not have to prove themselves or their title to the land because four hundred years of labor and torture is enough. African american culture is forever struggling to stay prevelant because black people are denied a history in textbooks and that is what is used to teach America's youth. All of these aspects are put in place to opress the black people and making sure they know their place. One part of his argument that was a really strong detail in proving his point about the American dream is that Americans who are living the american dream did it through cheap African American labor. Therefore, they got the credit for the blood and sweat of black people building this nation from the ground up. I very much agreed with James Baldwin's side of the argument.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this debate, my beliefs about the civil rights movement and racism were affirmed. One point that James Baldwin states, "to discover the flag which you have pledged allegiance, has not pledged allegiance to you," just makes me think about how African Americans did everything for this country to stand where it is now and receive nothing in return from doing so. Without slaves the United States wouldn't be the "Great" country it is considered to be today. This point helped me better understand how the American dream is at the expense of the American Negro.
ReplyDeleteFor me this video affirms many of my beliefs about African-American culture and the civil rights movement. I believe that there would be no America with African-Americans and James Baldwin makes many points which support this idea. One that stood out to me was when he was speaking about how the infrastructure and economy of the United States simply would not exist with the presence of African-Americans. America is supposed to be this great place where anyone can come and chase their dreams, but the very people who are partially responsible for the development of this country are not allowed to reap the benefits.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this debate it affirmed my beliefs about the Civil Rights movement. The fact that African Americans had helped America get to where it was and could not bask in the prosperity of the american dream is definitely proof that the American dream was going on at the expense of the negro. Our ancestors built the roads, the railroads the infrastructures of America and what are they rewarded with? They have to go through so much hatred, they are treated less than human and for what? The part that stood out to me the most was the fact that Buckley so boldly said what was more striking to him was for the american community to treat them as more than a negro. Being treated as a equal human being is considered being treated more as a negro? I was shocked at that statement, but it was the 60s and beliefs like that were not scarce. Another thing that came as a shocker to me is when Baldwin stated Robert Kennedy stated that in 40 years there may be a black president, and within 43 years of this Debate our first black President is elected. I know Baldwin felt as if Kennedy said it to belittle him, but I find it amazing from the progress we made from their to now.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching this video, it affirmed my many beliefs about African American culture in the Civil Rights Movement. James Baldwin made great points in the video that really made me think about African American history in a different way. African American in my opinion really molded American into what it really is today. Not solely based on culture, but with technology, writing, inventions and many more ideas that they were not given the credit for. After living in Mississippi for two years, I truly see how things are really ran in the south. African Americans are still treated as if were a burden or lost causes to white, even though a lot of white are influenced and inspired by the African American culture
ReplyDeleteThis video made some very interesting points that many people do not discuss or want to discuss. America was founded upon the labor of African Americas. African Americas created the economic foundation within the states. Without their labor force, things could have played out very differently. Great video!
ReplyDeleteThis debate really becomes powerful when Buckley began to speak on how he used to pick cotton and take it to the market. And how he helped build railroads for someone who used to beat him. I feel like he said this statement to show how even though he was under someones supervision he still just like everyone had a hand to help this country get to where it is today with hard work and labor.
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