I don’t think Fitzgerald was racist. Given the time period, he grew up before black
people were treated the same as whites.
There was still a strong racist feeling in some parts of the Country,
and the KKK was out spreading their ideas in all parts of the US. I think Fitzgerald was a little worried about
promoting Harlem, which would be promoting music produced by black people. It was just how things were. Whites, a lot of the time, didn't feel
comfortable praising black achievements.
That doesn't mean he was racist, though, in my opinion. I think the reason that Fitzgerald referred
to The Rise of the Colored Empires was,
again, because of the times in which he grew up in. An example of that would be the restrictive Immigration
Bill mentioned by Lois Tyson. America
was in a time of worry and prejudice.
Readers: do you think that Fitzgerald, or other people for that matter,
should be labeled as “racist” just because of some things that they did “suggest”
racism?
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