Houston A. Baker, Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Houston A. Baker Jr.

Born March 22, 1943 (1943-03-22) (age 65)
Louisville, Kentucky, United States
Occupation writer, educator
Nationality American
Subjects English, African American studies

Houston Alfred Baker Jr. (born March 22, 1943 in Louisville, Kentucky) is an African American literature scholar, currently serving as a Distinguished University Professor at Vanderbilt University in the English department.[1]

Baker served as president of the Modern Language Association, editor of the journal American Literature, and has authored several books.[2]

Contents

[edit] Early life and career

Baker was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, which he later described as "racist" and "stultifying".[3] The racism and violence he says he experienced as a youth would later prompt him to conclude "I had been discriminated against and called 'Nigger' enough to think that what America needed was a good Black Revolution."[3] He recently revised such a summary judgment in his book combining memoir and critique titled "I Don't Hate the South" (Oxford University Press, 2007). His academic career initially progressed along traditional lines. He earned a B.A. in English literature from Howard University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Victorian literature from the University of California. He began teaching at Yale University and intended to write a biography of Oscar Wilde.[2]

[edit] Views on race

Holding "an exceedingly pessimistic view of American social progress where race is concerned," Baker has written numerous books on African Americans in modern American society.[2] In his book Turning South Again: Rethinking Modernism/Rereading Booker T, he suggests that black Americans are amounted to a kind of prison sentence no matter how successful they become.[2]

[edit] 2006 Duke University lacrosse team scandal

In a highly publicized 2006 incident, three members of the Duke University lacrosse team were falsely accused of raping a black erotic dancer who the lacrosse team had hired to perform at a party. After the woman made the accusations but before charges were filed against any individual members of the lacrosse team, Baker published an open letter calling for the "immediate dismissals" by Duke of "the team itself and its players." Even though no charges had yet been filed and the woman's accusations later turned out to be fabricated,[4] Baker wrote that "[y]oung, white, violent, drunken men among us...have injured lives"; labeled the lacrosse team "a violent and irresponsible group"; and lambasted the Duke administration for not addressing "the horrors that have occurred to actual bodies."[5] Baker further attacked the players and the Duke administration for what he called their "silent whiteness," and their "white, male, athletic privilege."[5] Baker even suggested that the Duke administration was "swe[eeping] things under the rug."[5] More generally, Baker's letter criticized colleges and universities for the "blind-eyeing of male athletes, veritably given license to rape, maraud, deploy hate speech, and feel proud of themselves in the bargain."[5]

Duke Provost Peter Lange published a harsh response to Baker's letter a few days later.[5] Lange wrote, "I cannot tell you how disappointed, saddened and appalled I was to receive this letter from you. A form of prejudice - one felt so often by minorities whether they be African American, Jewish or other - is the act of prejudgment: to presume that one knows something "must" have been done by or done to someone because of his or her race, religion or other characteristic."[5] Responding to Baker's criticism of the Duke administration for not quickly dismissing the entire lacrosse team, Lange maintained that "we will not rush to judgment nor will we take precipitous actions which, symbolically satisfying as they may be, assuage passions but do little to remedy the deeper problems."[5] Lange also expressed his displeasure with Baker's decision to publish the open letter at all, writing, "Sadly, letters like yours do little to advance our common cause."[5]

According to the New York Times, Baker responded to an email from a mother of a member of the lacrosse team (who hadn't been accused) asking if he would reconsider his earlier statements. "LIES!" Baker emailed back, and suggested that she might be the mother of a "farm animal."[6]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Five prominent African American literature scholars to move to Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt News Servce. 25 May 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d Eakin, Emily. "Black Captive in a White Culture?", The New York Times, 5 May 2001.
  3. ^ a b "Houston A. Baker, Jr." Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 6. Gale Research, 1994.
  4. ^ Beard, Aaron. "Prosecutors Drop Charges in Duke Case", Associated Press, 2007-04-. Retrieved on 2007-04-19. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Provost Responds to Faculty Letter Regarding Lacrosse, Duke News & Communications, 3 April 2006.
  6. ^ Peter Applebome, "After Duke Prosecution Began to Collapse, Demonizing Continued", New York Times, April 15, 2007.

[edit] References

  • Awkward, Michael. "Houston A. Baker, Jr." The Oxford Companion to African American Literature. William L. Andres, Frances Smith Foster, and Trudier Harris, ed. Oxford University Press, 1997.
  • Hatch, Shari Dorantes and Michael R. Strickland. African-American Writers: A Dictionary. ABC-CLIO, 2000.
  • "Houston A. Baker, Jr." Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007.
  • "Houston A. Baker, Jr." Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 6. Gale Research, 1994.
  • "Houston A. Baker, Jr." The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature. Ed. Emmanuel S. Nelson. 5 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005. 228-29.
  • "Houston A. Baker, Jr." Notable Black American Men Book II, Thomson Gale, 2006.

[edit] Works

Baker, Houston A. (1984). Blues, Ideology, and Afro-American Literature: A Vernacular Theory. University of Chicago Press.

Baker, Houston A. (1987). Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance. University of Chicago Press.

Baker, Houston A. (1993). Black Studies, Rap, and the Academy. University of Chicago Press.

Baker, Houston A. (2001). Turning South Again: Re-Thinking Modernism/Re-Reading Booker T. Duke University Press.

[edit] External links