Herbert Aptheker
Herbert Aptheker | |
---|---|
activist | |
Notable work | American Negro Slave Revolts, Documentary History of the Negro People in the United States, History of the American People, The Correspondence of W. E. B. Du Bois, Anti-Racism in U.S. History |
Political party | Communist Party USA, Peace and Freedom Party |
Spouse | Fay Aptheker (1942–1999) |
Children | Bettina Aptheker |
Herbert Aptheker (July 31, 1915 – March 17, 2003) was an American
From the 1940s, Aptheker was a prominent figure in U.S.
Biography
Early life and education
Herbert Aptheker was born in
In 1931, when he was 16, he accompanied his father on a business trip to
Aptheker graduated from high school in the spring of 1933, during the
During his time at Seth Low, Aptheker was first drawn into political activity, helping to organize anti-war rallies and speaking on behalf of the communist-backed
After two years at Seth Low, Aptheker was allowed to enroll at Columbia's main campus in
Aptheker earned his
Marriage and World War II
In 1942 Aptheker married Fay Philippa Aptheker (1905–1999), a first cousin who was also a native of Brooklyn.
Aptheker participated in
Work in the South
Returning with his family to the South after the war, Aptheker became an educational worker for the
Given repeated publicity about peonage abuses, in 1941 Attorney General Francis Biddle had directed all federal prosecutors to "actively investigate and try more peonage cases." On the verge of entering World War II, the US would make more effort to reduce rural peonage.[11]
Similarly, southern states had run convict leasing programs, hiring out convicts to industries and taking the fees as revenue. Several southern states had banned convict leasing to industries in the early 20th century: Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas and Florida by 1923.[11][10]
Research in African-American history
Aptheker's master's thesis, a study of Nat Turner's Rebellion in Virginia in 1831, laid the groundwork for his future work on the history of American slave revolts. Aptheker asserted Turner's heroism, demonstrating how his rebellion was rooted in resistance to the exploitative conditions of the Southern slave system. His Negro Slave Revolts in the United States 1526–1860 (1939), includes a table of documented slave revolts by year and state. His doctoral dissertation, American Negro Slave Revolts, was published in 1943. Doing research in Southern libraries and archives, he uncovered 250 similar episodes.
Aptheker set forth
Aptheker long emphasized W. E. B. Du Bois' social science scholarship and lifelong struggle for African Americans to achieve equality. In his work as a historian, he compiled a documentary history of African Americans in the United States, a monumental collection which he started publishing in 1951. It eventually resulted in seven volumes of primary documents, a tremendous resource for African-American studies.
Post-war activism
During the 1950s and the period of
A strong opponent of the Vietnam War, Aptheker lectured on the subject on college campuses nationwide. From 1969 to 1973, Aptheker taught a full-year course annually in Afro-American History at Bryn Mawr College. Aptheker died at age 87 on March 17, 2003, in Mountain View, California. His wife had died in 1999.[1]
Allegation of child abuse
Her assertion caused great controversy among historians and activists. Some raised questions about her credibility; others questioned the Old Left's desire to bury the news, and still others wondered at how to look at Aptheker's work in view of this information.[13]
In her memoir, Bettina Aptheker wrote more at length about her father's work on African-American history. She thought that he celebrated black resistance in part "to compensate for his deep shame about the way, he believed, the Jews had acted during the Holocaust."[13]
The controversy about her claims about her father continued for months, with many essays and letters published on the History News Network hosted by George Mason University. In November 2007, the historian Christopher Phelps published an overview of the issues. He also wrote that he had interviewed Kate Miller, who had been present during Bettina Aptheker's 1999 conversation with her father about the abuse, and confirmed her account.[14]
Works
- The Negro People in America: A Critique of Gunnar Myrdal’s “An American Dilemma”, (International Publishers: New York, 1946)
- "Mississippi Reconstruction and the Negro Leader Charles Caldwell", Science & Society (Fall 1947)[15]
- Afro American History: 1910–1932, (Citadel Press: New York, 1951)
- History and Reality (1955), later republished as The Era of McCarthyism (Marzani & Munsell: New York, 1962)
- The American Revolution 1763–1783,(International Publishers: New York, 1960)
- The American Civil War (International Publishers: New York, 1961)
- American Negro Slave Revolts (1943), (Cameron Associates: NY, 1955)
- Toward Negro Freedom, (New Century Publishers: New York, 1956)
- Documentary History of the Negro People, 7-volumes, (Carol Publishing Group: NJ, 1951–1994)
- The Truth about Hungary, (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1957)
- The Colonial Era, (International Publishers: New York, 1959)
- And Why Not Every Man? Documentary Story of the Fight Against Slavery in the U.S., (Seven Seas Books: CA, 1961)
- Dare We Be Free? The Meaning of the Attempt To Outlaw the Communist Party, (New Century Publishers: Dublin, 1961)
- Soul of the Republic: The Negro Today, (Marzani & Munsell, New York, 1964)
- “One Continual Cry”: David Walker's Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829–1830), Its Setting & Its Meaning, (New York: Humanities Press, 1965)
- Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion: Including the 1831 "Confessions", (Dover: NY, 1966)
- Mission to Hanoi, (International Publishers: New York, 1966)
- Czechoslovakia and Counter-Revolution: Why the Socialist Countries Intervened (New Outlook Publishers, New York, 1969)
- "Imperialism and Irrationalism", Telos 04 (Fall 1969)
- The Urgency of Marxist-Christian Dialogue, (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1970)
- Afro-American History: The Modern Era, (Citadel Press, Secaucus, 1971)
- American Negro Slave Revolts, (International Publishers: New York, 1974)
- Early Years of the Republic: From the End of the Revolution to the First Administration of Washington, (International Publishers: New York, 1976)
- The World of C. Wright Mills, (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1977)
- American Foreign Policy and the Cold War, (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1977)
- Unfolding Drama,(International Publishers: New York, 1979)
- The Nature of Democracy, Freedom & Revolution,(International Publishers: New York, 1981)
- Racism, Imperialism & Peace: Selected Essays,(MEP Publications: MN, 1987)
- Abolitionism: A Revolutionary Movement, (Twayne Publishers: CT, 1989)
- The Literary Legacy Of W. E. B. Du Bois, (Kraus Reprint: NY, 1989)
- To Be Free: Studies in American Negro History, (Citadel Press: New York, 1991)
- Anti-Racism in U.S. History: The First Two Hundred Years, (Praeger: CT, 1992)
Works featuring an introduction or foreword by Aptheker
- Washington, Booker T., Herbert Aptheker (Foreword), The Negro in the South 2nd ed., (Carol Publishing Group: NJ, 1989)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Introduction), The Quest of the Silver Fleece
Works edited by Aptheker
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker(Ed.), The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century, (International Publishers: NY, 1968)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906–1960, (Monthly Review Press: NY, 1973)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), Contributions by W. E. B. Du Bois in Government Publications and Proceedings, (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1980)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker, Bettina Aptheker, David Graham Dnm Dubois (Ed.),Prayers for Dark People, (University of Massachusetts Press: MA, 1980)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), Selections from the Crisis, (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1980)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois in Non-Periodical Literature Edited by Others, (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1982)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), Creative Writings by W. E. B. Du Bois: A Pageant, Poems, Short Stories, and Playlets, (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1985)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), Against Racism: Unpublished Essays, Papers, Addresses, 1887–1961, (University of Massachusetts Press: MA, 1985)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), Newspaper Columns, (Kraus-Thomson Organization: NY, 1986)
- Knutson, April A., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), Ideology and Independence in the Americas, (MEP Publications: MN, 1989)
- Du Bois, W. E. B., Herbert Aptheker (Ed.), The Correspondence of W. E. B. Du Bois, (University of Massachusetts Press: MA, 1997)
References
- ^ a b c Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (April 19, 2003) [March 20, 2003]. "Herbert Aptheker, 87, Dies; Prolific Marxist Historian". The New York Times. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ^ Gary Murrell, "The Most Dangerous Communist in the United States": A Biography of Herbert Aptheker. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2015; pg. 4.
- ^ Murrell, "The Most Dangerous Communist in the World," pp. 4–5.
- ^ a b c d e Murrell, "The Most Dangerous Communist in the World," pg. 5.
- ^ Leeza Hirt, "Columbia for Jews? The Untold Story of Seth Low Junior College," The Current, Fall 2016.
- ^ a b c Murrell, "The Most Dangerous Communist in the World," pg. 6.
- ^ Francis X. Gannon, Biographical Dictionary of the Left: Volume 3. Boston: Western Islands, 1972; pp. 215–218.
- ^ ISBN 158005160X.
- ^ a b Robin D.G. Kelley, "Interview of Herbert Aptheker," The Journal of American History, vol. 87, no. 1 (June 2000), pp. 151–167
- ^ a b Douglas A. Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, 2009
- ^ a b c "Nancy O'Brien Wagner, "Slavery by Another Name: History Background", Twin Cities Public Television, 2012" (PDF).
- ^ Aptheker, Bettina (2006-10-15). "'Did I ever hurt you when you were a child?". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2008-01-17. Alt URL Archived 2007-10-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c "Doubts expressed about his daughter's story". 2006-10-30. Archived from the original on 2007-01-21. Retrieved 2008-01-17.
- ^ Christopher Phelps, "Herbert Aptheker: His daughter's partner confirms molestation charge", The Nation, 5 November 2007, reprinted at History News Network, accessed 18 January 2012
- JSTOR 40399859.
Further reading
- Anthony Flood, "The History of Herbert Aptheker", Opera Historica, 22(1), 2021, 127–144 |
- Anthony Flood, Herbert Aptheker: Studies in Willful Blindness (Independently published on Amazon, 2019).
- Anthony Flood, "C. L. R. James: Herbert Aptheker's Invisible Man", The C. L. R. James Journal, vol. 19, nos. 1 & 2 (Fall 2013), pp. 276–297.
- Robin D.G. Kelley, "Interview of Herbert Aptheker," The Journal of American History, vol. 87, no. 1 (June 2000), pp. 151–167.
- Gary Murrell, "Herbert Aptheker's Unity of Theory and Practice in the Communist Party USA: On the Last Night, and during the First Two Decades," Science & Society, vol. 70, no. 1, (Jan. 2006), pp. 98–118.
- Gary Murrell, "The Most Dangerous Communist in the United States": A Biography of Herbert Aptheker (University of Massachusetts Press, 2015).
Research resources
- "Herbert Aptheker Papers, 1842–2005" (122 linear ft.), Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, CA. Text Finding Aid
External links
- Bettina and Herbert Aptheker, History News Network.
- Christopher Phelps, "Herbert Aptheker: The Contradictions of History", Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 July 2006
- Anthony G. Flood, "Herbert Aptheker: Apothecary for a Red Teenager", Anthony G. Flood website
- A. J. Muste Papers from Swarthmore College Peace Collection