天美影院

Four decades of teaching and research have brought聽聽a lifetime achievement award from the Washington State Historical Society.

Taylor is the Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of History at the 天美影院, now emeritus, with additional appointments in the聽聽and the聽. He is also the founder of the 13,000-page website聽, which celebrates its 11^th聽anniversary this year.

He has received the Washington State Historical Society鈥檚聽聽for 2017, recognizing his career and 鈥渇ar-reaching commitment to researching, preserving and promoting the history of African-Americans in the Pacific Northwest.鈥�

Taylor is the author of many articles and books, including 鈥溾�� (天美影院Press, 1994) and 鈥溾�� (Norton, 1999).

He sat down with 天美影院News for a discussion of his work and this unusual moment in history.

Of all your accomplishments, of what are you most proud?

鈥淚 am most proud of Blackpast.org. I have devoted so many hours to it, it almost sounds like an obsession, but the reason I say it is because we have a聽hugeaudience. We have just crossed the 4 million mark in visitors in 2017.

鈥淚 never would have imagined in 2007 that we鈥檇 have聽any聽kind of response like that. When we first crossed the 100,000 mark, some of my colleagues in the history department were shocked, because after all, it is simply a website. It is a website, but one that focuses on African-American history and the somewhat radical idea that the history that is normally presented in the university classroom can and should be taken beyond the campus and made available to everybody. And we thought, OK, that鈥檚 a cool concept in principle. Let鈥檚 see how it works.鈥�

Taylor said the greatest honor he and BlackPast.org received was an invitation for him to address the National Education Association鈥檚 annual conference in Florida, where he spoke to an audience of 2,000 people.

Asked about the nature of the BlackPast audience, he said those coming to the site are mostly between the ages of about 40 and 70, two-thirds women and about two-thirds black. About 17 percent of visitors are from outside the country, primarily from Canada and the United Kingdom.

The site also, Taylor added, has links to black newspapers across America and 鈥渢he most comprehensive list of newspapers on the African continent,鈥� where you can view daily front pages.

You mention that among your goals is to get BlackPast.org into every classroom in the nation.

鈥淵es, and the big issue is that only 12 percent of the people who use it are teachers, and another 10 percent or so are students. We鈥檇 like to see those numbers improved with 50 percent of our clientele as students. We do know students are using it because our numbers go up in the school year and they go down in the summer. But even when we see that impact, it鈥檚 small considering the potential numbers.

Taylor added with a laugh, 鈥淚t surprised me, because in a way this website is聽made聽for students. It鈥檚 the Wikipedia for African-American history. I resented that at first but now I embrace it. Like President Barack Obama embracing the term 鈥極bamacare.’鈥�

He said, however, that BlackPast needs to find a sustainable funding model, so a full-time person can be hired 鈥渢o what I now do for free.鈥�

How does BlackPast cover the Black Lives Matter movement?

The site, Taylor said, has a page explaining the rise of the movement as well as almost 70 entries detailing other situations 鈥渋nvolving police conduct vis a vis unarmed black people. Other entries describe the three founders of the movement.

鈥淵ou know the first entry that鈥檚 on the list? An incident in Seattle in 1938 that involved a black waiter in a hotel in what is now the International District. He was pushed down steps by three white policemen and killed by the fall. At first, they said he just tripped and fell. Nobody questioned that explanation, except that there were some witnesses who reported that he聽诲颈诲苍鈥檛聽fall, that he was pushed. Three cops were prosecuted by the local authorities and they all they went to jail although the governor would eventually commute their sentences.鈥�

Taylor stressed that there was an organized community in Seattle even then that was smaller and less powerful and influential than today, but that was nonetheless able to get the officers arrested and put in jail.

鈥淎s we began to compile the stories for the Black Lives Matter page, we realized every story is different which is another reason for doing it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want those who died to be more than just statistics for either the proponents or opponents of Black Lives Matter.

鈥淭he Black Lives Matter page shows how racism, contemporary poverty and poor education help generate the conditions that bring about the murder of black women and men and that this tension between the cops and African-Americans has deep roots in history.

鈥淭his kind of angst we鈥檙e in now, the moment we鈥檙e in, 诲颈诲苍鈥檛 come out of a vacuum or thin air. President Trump鈥檚 not even responsible for it. This is a long, long history that has been going on in this country, north, south, east, and west, and we show that connection at BlackPast.鈥�

Speaking of President Trump, what are your views of his presidency and administration?

鈥淚鈥檓 not as concerned as you might expect me to be. Because I鈥檓 a historian, I take the long view. I鈥檝e seen this overt racism before. I grew up with it in Tennessee in the 1960s.

鈥淲hen were growing up, there were local racists, the mayor, the sheriff, the local police force, who make Trump look like a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. I grew up in what political pundits now call the real America, deep red Tennessee, and that鈥檚 where the big cultural divide is between the interior, the heartland, according to some historians, and the east and west coasts. That divide goes all the way back to the Civil War. And I don鈥檛 know at what point we鈥檒l be over it. Maybe we鈥檒l be over it when there鈥檚 a demographic shift, a tremendous demographic shift.

鈥淚n some ways, Trump is a bad echo of what has happened in the past. I think a lot of the anger toward Obama wasn鈥檛 directed toward his policies; Obama could have been a conservative. I think there were a lot of people who were having a hard time with the huge demographic shift taking place in America today.鈥�

Tell more about this demographic shift.

鈥淟ast year for the first time in the history of America, kids of color were the majority in all the public schools. That鈥檚 a sign, an indication of what鈥檚 going to come in the future.鈥�

Taylor described two arguments in play: One, the need to understand these populations and help incorporate them into American society. The other comes from those who are 鈥渇rightened鈥� at these demographic shifts and the loss of a national white majority.

鈥淲hether or not Trump is a racist, to me doesn鈥檛 really matter. What matters is that Trump has tapped into this angst, this anger, this sense that there are white people who are going to be a minority pretty soon.鈥�

Taylor added that it鈥檚 no accident that the greatest racial violence by the state in America has been in South Carolina and Mississippi: 鈥淲hy? Because those are the places that have black majorities going back to the Civil War.

鈥淚鈥檓 not saying that we shouldn鈥檛 be appalled by what Trump is doing. I鈥檓 just saying that I look at the long haul. I just really think that this is kind of a last hurrah 鈥︹��

A last hurrah of what?

鈥淥f those who wanted to keep America white, of those who sincerely believed and in some cases still believe that race, nationality, and culture are and have always been linked. If this is the case, they are frightened that this linkage that in their eyes has accounted for the success of the American nation, is somehow going away and that they have to fight back against this extreme shift. As the change proceeds, their voices become smaller but at the same time more angry and shrill.

鈥淚鈥檒l give you a parallel.鈥�

Taylor described how the Ku Klux Klan was powerful at its peak in the 1920s, faded from prominence, then returned less powerfully in the 1960s, and again in the 1980s and 1990s.

鈥淏ut in each instance it鈥檚 an echo of its previous self. That reflects their belief that they are indeed losing the battle. Call it the culture wars or another name, that they are losing control of the United States.鈥�

鈥淎nd when somebody comes along and says, 鈥榊ou can have it all, you鈥檙e the greatest people in the world鈥� 鈥� remember talk radio has been saying much the same to this audience for the last 30 years 鈥� the 鈥榣et鈥檚 make America great again,鈥� slogan becomes a brilliant appeal to the folks who feel that America is no longer great because it is being transformed.鈥�

Finally, how do you think President Obama will be remembered by history? For the cultural milestone, certainly, but also as among the better presidencies?

鈥淚 don鈥檛 disagree with that. I think certainly Obama is going to be considered one of the better presidents, though not the best. At the top of my list: Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt because quite frankly they faced much greater challenges than even Trump, and certainly than Obama did. On the other hand, Obama would be in the top five or six, and certainly in the top 10 among presidents.

鈥淚 think where Obama becomes important is what we鈥檙e discussing. He represents a sea change in terms of the culture of America 鈥� that by his very presence he is representing the transformation of American society.鈥�

Academics tend to be comfortable with and even lead such changes, Taylor said.

鈥淏ut what about people who are not in charge of the transformation, or what if it leads to a society that you feel uncomfortable with? I think Obama represented that to a lot of folks.鈥�

Taylor added that Trump 鈥渉as actually done the other side a favor because you look at what鈥檚 happened with the #MeToo movement and how that鈥檚 going to materialize, so to speak, in terms of the coming elections, I think it is going to be absolutely incredible.鈥�

###

For more information about Taylor and his work, contact him at聽quintardjr@comcast.net.