The "Racist" Huckleberry Finn on This Day in History

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“We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking.” Mark Twain

This Day In History: Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published on this day in 1884. Now when Huck Finn book is mentioned, it is done so in terms of it supposed racism. 

"Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic by most any measure—T.S. Eliot called it a masterpiece, and Ernest Hemingway pronounced it the source of 'all modern American literature.' Yet, for decades, it has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional reading lists, or banned outright, appearing again and again on lists of the nation’s most challenged books, and all for its repeated use of [one] single, singularly offensive word." ~ Michelle Malkin

Mark Twain is not alone. When judging the past in terms of modern pearl clutching morals, few older books walk away unscathed. Willy Wonka, Sherlock Holmes, To Kill a Mockingbird, Narnia, Agatha Christie, Secret Garden, Little House on the Prairie, Rudyard Kipling, Babar the Elephant, Dr Dolittle etc., are all under scrutiny with similar accusations.

There is so much in older classical literature to be offended by in our present politically correct atmosphere: the patriarchy, the lack of diversity, straight couples, Euro-centrism, gilded age capitalism, etc. Did you know that we have lost 14 IQ points since the Victorian era? Perhaps we are in a bad position to be judging our betters.

I often wonder how many of our modern books will be unable to pass some moral test in the future that we, at present cannot even perceive of, especially as the Overton Window shifts day after day.

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In old American English slang. The phrase "a huckleberry over my persimmon" meant "a bit beyond my abilities." "I'm your huckleberry" (Doc Holliday, Tombstone) is another way of saying that you are the right man for the job.

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D. W. Griffith (and The Birth of a Nation) on This Day in History

 

This day in history: D. W. Griffith died on this day in 1948. David Wark Griffith was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the narrative film. Griffith is known to modern audiences primarily for directing the film The Birth of a Nation (1915). The Birth of a Nation is one of the most financially successful films of all time and it made investors enormous profits. The film held the mantle of the highest-grossing film until it was overtaken by Gone with the Wind (1939), another film about the Civil War and Reconstruction era. The film also attracted much controversy for its glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. Historians frequently cite The Birth of a Nation as a major factor in the KKK's revival in the 20th century, and it remains a polarizing work to this day.

"We shouldn’t forget that during this period racism and segregation were promoted by the president of the United States, 'progressive' Woodrow Wilson. During his administration, black postal workers across the country lost their jobs, and federal agencies adopted segregation. Wilson even hosted a screening at the White House of D. W. Griffith’s pro-KKK film The Birth of a Nation—and boasted afterward about how good it was." Source

"All of this was consistent with the Progressive era in general, when supposedly "scientific" theories of racial superiority and inferiority were at their zenith. Theodore Roosevelt was the exception, rather than the rule, among Progressives when he did not agree with these theories." Source

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See also: Democrats’ Racist Roots

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