The Syntax of Social Justice: Examining Post-Bellum Black Intellectual Thought & Classics

Author

Mathew D. Cedeno, College of the Holy CrossFollow

Date of Creation

5-1-2022

Document Type

Campus Access Only

First Advisor

Timothy Joseph

Abstract

Conversations of race, equality, and equity have been proceeding over the course of the past several centuries, albeit alternating in scope and ideologies. This thesis will provide more context into how these conversations of the past have shaped our experiences of the present and perhaps how they can provide insights to approaching the future. More specifically, I will focus on the literature of select, largely forgotten, black scholars and intellectuals of the nineteenth century—Alexander Crummell, William Sanders Scarborough, and Anna Julia Cooper—who engaged with works and ideas of the ancient and classical past in discussions of race, liberty, and equity in their time. Additionally, I will demonstrate how their voices are critical to the greater movement for black freedom and equality then and now. This project will contextualize this sprawling conversation by looking to the distant and near past simultaneously: to the time of our authors and their contemporaries in the nineteenth century, and at the same time to the ancient and classical references and transitioning between them as is required. We will begin with a contextual chapter followed by a thorough analysis of Dr. Cooper’s seminal work: A Voice From the South. Following this we will discuss her thoughts relative to that of her contemporaries, Dr. Crummell and Pr. Scarborough, and conclude with the implications of these conversations in a modern world.

Comments

Readers: Liat Spiro, Dominic Machado

Recommended Citation

Cedeno, Mathew D., "The Syntax of Social Justice: Examining Post-Bellum Black Intellectual Thought & Classics" (2022). College Honors Program. 31.
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/honors/31