    
Yukio
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Yukio
Post Number: 945
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Sunday, November 06, 2005 - 07:57 pm: | |
steve_s: I have yet to read the novel. But, I think the point of the paragraph you quoted saturday, 5:40 am, was not the fact of being able to perform in front of the premier, or the US president for that matter, but that a black man was better treated in Europe (this is typical of african american intellectuals/arts...Dubois and others have made the same commentary, though Baldwin was quick to say that the French were racist but differently than white americans). Also, there is the question of the actual treatment of the performer that Phillips addresses. And finally, there is the fact of Booker T. Washington being an educator and politician, for his presence with the president was related to questions of philanthropy and the fact that he assuaged the fears of white elites, southerner and northern. |