Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium
Fredrick Douglass argued that "The sum of the black man's
misfortunes and calamities are just here: He is everywhere treated
as an exception to all the general rules which should operate in
the relations of other men." In light of this, what should we
think about Black History Month? What was its original
purpose, and has it outlived this purpose? And does it now
serve to divide rather than unite America, highlighting racial
differences and fostering "identity politics" -- where individuals
are treated differently depending on their race and not their
merit?
Lucas Morel is Associate Professor of Politics at Washington and
Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. Dr. Morel holds a
Ph.D. in Political Science from the Claremont Graduate School and
is the author of Lincoln's Sacred Effort: Defining Religion's
Role in American Self-Government and editor of Ralph
Ellison and the Raft of Hope: A Political Companion to "Invisible
Man" (2004).