The Lost Black Scholar

Resurrecting Allison Davis in American Social Thought

Biography & Memoir, Reference, Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book The Lost Black Scholar by David A. Varel, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: David A. Varel ISBN: 9780226534916
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: April 13, 2018
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: David A. Varel
ISBN: 9780226534916
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: April 13, 2018
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Allison Davis (1902–83), a preeminent black scholar and social science pioneer, is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking investigations into inequality, Jim Crow America, and the cultural biases of intelligence testing. Davis, one of America’s first black anthropologists and the first tenured African American professor at a predominantly white university, produced work that had tangible and lasting effects on public policy, including contributions to Brown v. Board of Education, the federal Head Start program, and school testing practices. Yet Davis remains largely absent from the historical record. For someone who generated such an extensive body of work this marginalization is particularly surprising. But it is also revelatory.

In The Lost Black Scholar, David A. Varel tells Davis’s compelling story, showing how a combination of institutional racism, disciplinary eclecticism, and iconoclastic thinking effectively sidelined him as an intellectual. A close look at Davis’s career sheds light not only on the racial politics of the academy but also the costs of being an innovator outside of the mainstream. Equally important, Varel argues that Davis exemplifies how black scholars led the way in advancing American social thought. Even though he was rarely acknowledged for it, Davis refuted scientific racism and laid bare the environmental roots of human difference more deftly than most of his white peers, by pushing social science in bold new directions. Varel shows how Davis effectively helped to lay the groundwork for the civil rights movement.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Allison Davis (1902–83), a preeminent black scholar and social science pioneer, is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking investigations into inequality, Jim Crow America, and the cultural biases of intelligence testing. Davis, one of America’s first black anthropologists and the first tenured African American professor at a predominantly white university, produced work that had tangible and lasting effects on public policy, including contributions to Brown v. Board of Education, the federal Head Start program, and school testing practices. Yet Davis remains largely absent from the historical record. For someone who generated such an extensive body of work this marginalization is particularly surprising. But it is also revelatory.

In The Lost Black Scholar, David A. Varel tells Davis’s compelling story, showing how a combination of institutional racism, disciplinary eclecticism, and iconoclastic thinking effectively sidelined him as an intellectual. A close look at Davis’s career sheds light not only on the racial politics of the academy but also the costs of being an innovator outside of the mainstream. Equally important, Varel argues that Davis exemplifies how black scholars led the way in advancing American social thought. Even though he was rarely acknowledged for it, Davis refuted scientific racism and laid bare the environmental roots of human difference more deftly than most of his white peers, by pushing social science in bold new directions. Varel shows how Davis effectively helped to lay the groundwork for the civil rights movement.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Beyond Nature and Culture by David A. Varel
Cover of the book The Traffic in Women's Work by David A. Varel
Cover of the book Distant Cycles by David A. Varel
Cover of the book Rum Maniacs by David A. Varel
Cover of the book Life Out of Sequence by David A. Varel
Cover of the book The Cruel Way by David A. Varel
Cover of the book Sex Trafficking, Scandal, and the Transformation of Journalism, 1885-1917 by David A. Varel
Cover of the book The Supreme Court Review, 2011 by David A. Varel
Cover of the book The Enduring Importance of Leo Strauss by David A. Varel
Cover of the book On the Origin of Language by David A. Varel
Cover of the book The Dead Ladies Project by David A. Varel
Cover of the book I'll Tell You Mine by David A. Varel
Cover of the book Ghetto at the Center of the World by David A. Varel
Cover of the book Phylogeny and Evolution of the Angiosperms by David A. Varel
Cover of the book The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932 by David A. Varel
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy