- Person
- Joel Spingarn
- Lived
- 1875–1939
- Field
- Civil rights & criticism
- From
- American
The story
Joel Spingarn believed that white Americans would put injustices right if they knew about them. A Columbia University literary scholar until his dismissal in 1911, he had joined the young National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1910, moved by the case of a Black tenant farmer in Arkansas tortured by police to force a confession. In 1913, resurrecting the spirit of the nineteenth-century abolitionists, he began a campaign he called the New Abolition.
According to EBSCO's biography, the campaign sought to foster cultural nationalism among Black Americans. Spingarn took on the tasks of publicizing the NAACP and establishing local branches, and he helped form the association's program for combating racial discrimination. Wikipedia credits him with helping realize the concept of a unified Black movement. His own example of combining scholarship with political activity, EBSCO notes, encouraged other educated people to do the same.
The same year he became chairman of the NAACP's board, and soon afterwards he created the Spingarn Medal to honor outstanding achievement by Black Americans, first awarded in 1915. Spingarn's campaign drew on his conviction that educated Black Americans deserved respect; he said he was most disturbed by the contempt with which cultivated Black men were treated by white society.
Spingarn put the same energy into practical goals. During the First World War he campaigned for officer training for Black soldiers, writing in February 1917 to the New York Age, a leading Black newspaper, to rally support, and a camp was opened at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, later that year. Later, as treasurer from 1919, he strengthened the association's finances and hired more Black employees, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.
Within the NAACP he served as a bridge between integrationists and the more nationalist wing led by W. E. B. Du Bois, editor of The Crisis. By 1913 he was one of the association's most energetic leaders, and from 1930 until his death in 1939 he served as its president. His brother Arthur succeeded him and led the NAACP until 1965.
Why it matters
Spingarn's campaigning helped spread the NAACP across the country, giving Black Americans in many cities an organization to defend their rights.
About Joel Spingarn
Literary scholar who became one of the NAACP’s first Jewish leaders, its chairman, treasurer and second president, and founder of the Spingarn Medal for African American achievement.
More about Joel Spingarn
- Joel Spingarn helped found Harcourt, Brace and CompanyIn 1919 Joel Spingarn helped found the publishing house Harcourt, Brace and Company, served as its literary adviser and edited its 25-volume European Library.
- Joel Spingarn called for a “new criticism” in 1910In a 1910 Columbia lecture called The New Criticism, Joel Spingarn argued that each work of art should be judged afresh, on its own terms.
- Joel Spingarn gave $100 to defend a tortured farmerIn 1910 Joel Spingarn read of a Black tenant farmer in Arkansas tortured to force a confession, gave $100 to his defense fund, and soon joined the NAACP.
- Joel Spingarn led the NAACP and created the Spingarn MedalJoel Spingarn, a Jewish literary scholar, led the NAACP for decades and in 1914 created the Spingarn Medal for Black achievement, still awarded today.
- Joel Spingarn lost his job defending a colleagueIn 1910 Joel Spingarn offered a faculty resolution supporting a Columbia professor summarily dismissed by the university's president, and was himself dismissed weeks later.
- Joel Spingarn helped win a suit against a segregated theaterIn 1911 Joel Spingarn accompanied Black men to a New York theater that refused them tickets, then helped the NAACP's Vigilance Committee win a lawsuit against the management.
- Joel Spingarn outfitted Howard students who enlistedDuring World War I Joel Spingarn trained as an officer, served as a major and donated uniforms for one hundred Howard University students who enlisted.
Sources
- Joel Elias Spingarn EBSCO Research Starters
- Joel Spingarn Jewish Virtual Library
- Joel Elias Spingarn Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.