In
EVERY CLOAK ROLLED IN BLOOD the 85 year old narrator turns away from the
destruction of the statue of a Confederate hero. He is more liberal than I am
because he knows more injustices than I do, but he knows that what's in the
minds of those destroying the statue is not altogether admirable. It is so hard
to know history and so easy to lose it. In 1960 I got an MA at Northwestern
with a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship then (1963) got a PhD there with one
of the first Woodrow Wilson National Dissertation Fellowships. Maybe it was the
first. I just happened to be qualified--MA, German and French, courses, and
that month (May 1962) the prelims. I had planned to study for them all the next
year but Walker, now died, wanted me to come out to Adlai country and quiz him
all weekend in preparation. I got there Friday and on Saturday I asked Hayford
if I could take the prelims on Monday and Tuesday. He said yes and got Samuels
to agree, angry that I had not signed up on time. So I was able to apply but I
told the chairman I had to have $4,000, having lived on half that too long. He
said they won't agree. He called Princeton and came back with their best offer,
$3,990. I caved. So that summer I worked in all the great New York, Pittsfield,
and Boston-Cambridge Melville collections. I made great use of the Woodrow Wilson
Dissertation Fellowship.-----
I have known for a long time that Wilson's
ideas about blacks were far from enlightened, but the people at Princeton who
passed out the fellowships were using his name for good purposes.
Then
came WOKENESS. I am no longer a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. I am a Citizens &
Scholars Fellow. In a flyer that just came, a Fellow from 1964 is profiled.
History has to be rewritten: He "has supported Citizens & Scholars for
39 years." Well, when did the WOKERs change the name? Last week? Last
year? Am I evil in feeling humiliated and embarrassed by being a Citizens &
Scholars Fellow? I do feel humiliated and shamed.
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