Stephan,
If you can find that paper, I would love to have the names of those African
Americans and Native Americans who were considered geniuses to add to my
Famous Americans. I'm sure Powhatan would be in that group, or at least
approaching it. Pocahontas was no dumb bunny herself.
Anne
Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephan A. Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: PBS Misrepresentation of the truth on their web page in
Barger's o pinion
Anita --
While I am deeply empathic to the plight of those who were oppressed,
history tells us clearly that genius appears in the most unlikely
places, and that these individuals, regardless of their
circumstances, arc across the human narrative like comets,
enlightening the lives of everyone. I can't seem to find the paper —
probably lost in the transfer from one generation of computers to
another, and I can no longer remember the journal in which it was
published — but about 30 years ago, prompted by a conversation I had
with an extraordinary materials scientist, then on the faculty of
Hampton Institute, I wrote a paper on genius that arose from the
American slave population, and in the years immediately afterwards.
Obvious examples are Frederick Douglas, and Booker T. Washington
(born in Hales Ford, Virginia in April 1856), but the list is much
longer. There are also many accounts of slaves who were considered
brilliant technical craftsmen. I particularly remember the story of a
slave in Louisiana, who became an early expert in optics.
-- Stephan
On 9 May 2008, at 18:38, Anita Wills wrote:
> It is much easier to be considered a genius when you have the time to sit
> and think. It would have been extremely difficult for Natives and African
> slaves to produce geniuses during that time period.
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