Richard Wright

On Friday afternoon, the Heyman Center Workshops with CRPS Workshop Series presented a lecture featuring Dr. Tommie Shelby discussing Richard Wright and the Westernization of the world. We sent new Bwogger Juliet Larsen to check out the lecture.

On an otherwise sleepy Friday afternoon on campus, Schermerhorn was buzzing with graduate students and professors alike, gathered for an intense two-hour discussion about race, religion, and Wright.

The event began with a presentation by Dr. Tommie Shelby, author best known for We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity, and professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University. Discussing his paper, “Richard Wright: Realizing the Promise of the West,” Dr. Shelby examined controversial African-American author Richard Wright’s most famous works (including Uncle Tom’s Children and Black Boy), a

nd their relation to the worldwide Westernization of non-Western culture. Joining Professor Shelby were Columbia’s own Professor Robert Gooding-Williams, Professor of African-American Studies, Professor of Philosophy, and Professor Josef Sorett, Assistant Professor of Religion and African-American Studies and the Associate Director of the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life.

Shelby opened his lecture with one of his paper’s key points,that Africans and people of African descent were forced to assimilate to Western culture “in a very rapid fashion…as opposed to evolving over many centuries.” As an expert in religious studies, Professor Sorett offered commentary on the state of religion during Wright’s time and included his observations of Wright’s religious philosophy. Sorett explained that while Wright considered himself as as philosopher of religion and psychology, he developed a “greater ambivalence” towards religion over time, eventually “calling on writers to replace preachers.”
Regarding the Jim Crow Laws that prompted Wright to begin writing, Shelby respectfully stated that he didn’t “want to be overstepping my bounds,” but that he believed Wright did not want African-American people to “be passive and submit in undignified ways.”

Another point discussed in the lecture was the mystery of Wright’s influences. Despite drawing comparisons to Sartre and Nietzsche, and even explicitly citing Nietzsche as one of his inspirations, Wright does not mention any other Black thinkers as his influences, leaving room for controversy as a Black philosopher himself.

Following this initial lecture, the three professors opened the floor for questions. Audience members were ready with both question and critique.

The first commenter explained that it was very difficult to sum up Western and American oppression, and went so far as to say “your readings are very important, but we need to go beyond.” In response, Shelby explained his method of “rational reconstruction,” or his “attempt to take the text on his own terms.” Shelby also clearly stated “I disagree with many things he says.”

One of the most poignant questions came from one of the final commenters, who apologized beforehand for having neither read any of Shelby’s work, nor known much about Richard Wright before the lecture. Referencing current acts of protest, such as Ferguson or Baltimore, he posed the question of whether protest exists as “a conscious response to existential circumstances in terms of oppression? If it’s not a conscious response, is it a productive response? What would Wright say about turning this into productive behavior?”

After a pause, Shelby responded “I don’t know…It’s just a sense of seeing some potential there…that’s why I mentioned the Panthers and some people who have had some success with doing exactly that,” but concluded saying that Wright’s solution to the issue of protest is militarization, so it “is not his strong suit.” Shelby added that Wright is much better at highlighting issues and diagnosing them.

As the discussion progressed, more people added to the conversation, creating a diverse array of topics discussed, ranging from gender roles and feminism to French social politics, with nearly every attendee adding their own input.

Considering a final question: “What are the problems of the West?” Shelby mentioned both the “oppression we’re all familiar with” as well as the accompanying “psychological consequences” that may still currently exist. Given this context, Richard Wright’s works are not only important to the history of Westernization, but are more relevant than ever.

Richard Wright via WikiCommons