Editorial
Letter to the Editor
By Professor Maurice Isserman
February 11, 2016
Tags editorial letter to the editor
Professor Isserman’s letter is in response to concerns over criticisms of two of his colleagues on the faculty.
To the editor:
I first got to know Heather Merrill and Donald Carter of the Africana Studies department on a long bus ride in December 2014, when we were part of a small band of faculty accompanying a large group of Hamilton students to the Black Lives Matter protest march in New York City. I was impressed then, and remain impressed, by their commitment to both social justice issues and to their students.
Every year I teach the history of “Freedom Summer” in my contemporary US history class, and like to point out that Freedom Summer’s director was Bob Moses of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, an alum of the Class of 1956. So, naturally, I was interested to read Heather and Donald’s January 31, 2016 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “What Black Campus Activists Can Learn From the Freedom Summer of 1964.” I agree entirely with their argument that the civil rights movement was as successful as it was because it combined moral urgency with shrewd politics, which Heather and Donald describe as a politics of “coalition building, thoughtful long-term planning, and coordinated action.” There are, as they suggest, valuable and relevant lessons we can learn from the heroic and pragmatic example provided by Bob Moses and his generation of activists.
I am proud to have Professors Merrill and Carter as colleagues, and I believe Hamilton students are fortunate to have them as teachers.
Sincerely,
Maurice Isserman
Professor of History