susan: tell me about w.e.b dubois. ms. nurridin: he is interested in thinking about how the collective race can be improved on a social level through education and on a biological level. it is usually framed as a kind of respectability politics in terms of education and religion and moral improvement. there is a biological underpinning about who is actually fit enough to constitute this talent population. i have a number of interesting little nuggets from his work. one was an article from margaret sanger's birth-control review where he published in a special issue thousand titled "a negro number" about black people in -- and birth-control. the concluding sentence of his was thatas something like vegetables, quality is what counts and not quantity. having quality reproduction rather than just simply having children for the sake of having them. susan: people who are not familiar with him, what was the time period? ms. nurridin: the first half of the 20th century. he has a long career. works his most important is published in

dubois in world war i. i can think of no better historians to guide us through a conversation on the relationship of citizenship and protest in the american past. please give a warm welcome to our panel. [no audio] -- [applause] thank you all for coming out. gavin, forclaire and getting the ball rolling and coming up with this idea, and to john, crystal, and chad for agreeing to be part of it. forre going to each talk seven-10 minutes, no more than that, and then we will talk to each other. then you will talk to us and we will talk to each other. protests tonight is and citizenship, and i want to start us off almost 200 years ago, when free african-americans in boston began calling themselves colored citizens. that self-description was an act of protest and an act of invention. to explain what i mean by that, i need to say a few conditions about the conditions of black freedom in the time before the civil war. simply, there was much to protest. the massachusetts constitution said all men are born free and e

dubois. so it's the effort and the ground that is being covered, not that someone would want to look at this today and say this is the bible for ain't in history. no, it breaks the ground. sets at pay for others to look at and for others to begin the work on. that's most of the work that we do. >> paul coates, w.e.b. dubois lighting or by the turn of the last century, does he hold up? >> own in the same light that mrs. houston holds up. i think it's the same for most writers, and that is to say that people write almost any book that has been written, you'll find flaws or errors in that book that we would say do not hold up. at the same time you'll find other things in the book that might, you might say let's build something on this, let's work out from this, let's see what we have. he was onto something or she was onto something here. she was an early investigator, an early finder of this. in that sense dubois deathly holds up and dubois was a prolific writer. so there were more things that h

in that sense, dubois definitely holds up. and dubois was a prolific writer. so there are going to be more things that he was -- that he wrote that do hold up. but just as easily we can find things that don't. you know, dubois was the promoter of the talented ten which he would eventually disown, you know? not -- didn't take him that long, you know? but he would eventually disown it. so we, as writers, writers will write things that -- if they live long enough and their experience is long enough, many times if they're wise enough, many people will disown them. i think we have to look at writing that way. i think we have to look at creating that way, that there's not an absolute truth in this. at the same time, there are truths that can be explored x there are truths that can be held on to that are important for us who have come as a generation or two generations later for us to look at and build on. >> host: was mrs. houston in new york, in harlem at the time? and what was it about -- >> guest: actually, no. see, so this is so, this is so, so important. mrs. h

dubois trying to get the constitution enforced, right? so a position between the klan and the naacp, right, the middle ground of might southern liberals are trying to preserve is still a middle ground that's an advocate that supports segregation, right? and we see that in here. so the idea for modern liberals is segregation should stay here and however, maybe we can make some moves within the confines of segregation so that the clear inequalities and the clear disparities that we see, right, can be addressed, again, thinking back to the gains case of 1938. there will be a series of these cases. a case in missouri, a case in maryland. a case in texas, right, where the states are faced with the same thing. you can either let this african-american individual into the law school or build them a law school. everybody lets the african-americans in except the state of texas and texas tries to bring one black man to law school and they are not successful, so we see the shifting terrain and we also see this investment by racial moderates and liber

dubois, who is -- who is a profound leftist, right? you've got folks like docsy wilkerson who is a communist. she is the founder of cookman college in florida. she's a member of fdr's black cabinet, right? she's about as mainstream/conservative as you can get. then you've got folks like gordon blaine hancock, who is a professor and preacher in virginia, who is also a racial conservative, right? who is also somebody who says in the 1930s, yes, we need to conform ourselves to the reality of segregation, right? so we see in the article couch expects there to be a lot of difference between the folks on the far-left and the folks in the middle and the right. that's not what happens. everybody says segregation has to go. and we see white racial moderates not quite understand how this can happen, and we see couch articulate this in so many words where he says, look, if that's what the negro wants, the negro should want something else. they need to put that back in the box and pick something else out. right? so that's a little -- so that's a l

dubois teaches us.hat are some of the lessons or hidden lessons of the civil war or slavery period that your work really brings up that we are ought to know? i think on the civil war in slavery either people don't want to know, you know, enough or people feel thoroughly invested or knowledgeable about the period, there were black people in slaves, native americans and put them on rever vagueses -- reservations and civil war and the books offer much complicated nuances but i would love to hear from the authors about that. i will briefly say what the book is about. the lives of freedom first, generation of women and men that were born enslaiped and children of emancipation and violent fall of reconstruction, civil war and reconstruction era. slavery and legacies and the history and memory of that period. what were people doing with those immediate pasts and immediate memory. i traced migration, mini biographies, this is my grandmother's grandparents. i chased two individuals, two of my grandmother's grand

dubois, who challenged lost cause mythology. it is only at the midpoint of the 20th century, when new generations of scholars influenced by world war ii, and in some cases their experiences in the conflict, the cold war, and the civil rights movement, start to question the dominant arguments of the lost cause and start to dismantle them. it is not an overnight process. it takes decades. these national, international events certainly have an impact on the way that new generations iewscholars you -- scholars v the civil war, and of course you also see in the 1960's, 1970's, a more diverse representation of people going to graduate schools. outside of academia, though, lost cause symbols and mythology persisted, arguably into the 21st century. i don't think though, and this is personal opinion, impressionistic, i don't get a sense that the lost cause mythology is as pervasive as it used to be a few decades ago. i think there are various reasons for this. one is the growing diversity of the population, particularly in metropolitan a

going to be a problematic positioning between the klan and an organization that is in the words of dubois, trying to get the constitution enforced. right? so a position between the klan and the naacp, the middle ground that white southern liberals are trying to preserve is still a middle ground that is an advocate that supports segregation. right? and we see that in here. right? and so the idea for southern moderates and liberals is, look. segregation should not go anywhere. segregation should stay here. however, maybe we can make some moves within the confines of segregation so that the clear inequalities, the clear disparities that we see can be addressed. again, thinking back to the gaines case of 1938. there's going to be a series of these cases, right? a case in missouri, a case in maryland, a case in texas where the states are with the same things. they can let this african-american individual into this law school or build them a law school. everybody lets the african-americans in expect the state of texas. texas tries to build one black man a law school. they are not successful. ri

still high multiple voices down into the 20th century, and a new generation would pick it up with dubois and others in the 20th century. but this is the most divisive event in american history. that how do you put a nation back together? how do you heal? you have got to find some kind of unifying narrative. unfortunately, the tragedy of america's struggle over civil war memory is our unifying narrative became the narrative of white supremacy. it became a narrative that wrote black people almost out of the story. it certainly wrote the achievements of this reconstruction era largely out of the story such that by the 1930's, something like "gone with the wind" could seem like common sense. story, anto a great great epic. and you've got a national mythology. there is a line i wrote in the preface of "race and reunion," which i now have reporters reading back to me, which is one of the thrills my life, they say "you say here, as long as america has politics of race, we have politics of the civil war memory. is that true?" uh, yeah. here we are again, struggling, trying to figure out. why don

we are located at 1650 mission street, room 304 between dubois and south van ness avenue. this meeting is broadcast live on sfgov tv and will be rebroet on frid -- rebroadcast on frida. dvds are available for purchase from sfgov tv. we will affirm all those who intend to testify. please note that any member of the public may speak without taking an oath pursuant to their rights under the sunshine ordinance. if you intend to testify and you wish the board to give your testimony evidentiary weight, stand and say i do after you have been sworn or affirmed. somebody is going to be talking tonight, right? [laughter] >> clerk: i assume. okay. do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? thank you. we have a few housekeeping items. president fung and members of the commission, we have two items where the parties have requested a continuance. the first item is appeal number 15-125, gorr partners versus zoning investigator. the subject property is 660 third street appealing issuance of planning code sec

dubois, the fight for equality and the american century. drum voices, the mission of afro-american poetry. in the spirit: lessons in living. the underground railroad. these names represent the titles of some of the books of our honorees. they embody the conference theme, gathering at the waters: healing, legacy and activism in black literature. this year's conference continues our tradition of insuring that the text produced by black writers in the americas, in europe, asia and africa are known and read by the general public and that they are represented in our schools and in our libraries. one of our participating writers who is not here, michael -- poet and writer -- remind us in a book he recently wrote, no one can be at peace until they have freedom. and that history is made through forward motion. this conference is a testament to the importance of freedom and the value of forward motion. it centers on the way in which black writers use their writing to heal and restore their individual severals and the collective -- selves and the col

dubois, justice marshall, reverend walker, ernest willis, and others are demanding that we take our collectivethat the promise of america is realized by all americans regardless of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. today is the day that urgency calls upon us to fight against injustice no matter where we find it. silence is not an option in 2018. so we must stand up and demand educational equality. we must fight against police brutality. we must fight against discrimination. we must fight against health disparity. and we must fight against targeted voter suppression that keeps people from the polls based on the color of their skin. we must fight. we must fight. stephon clark, michael brown, trayvon martin, and eric garner are saying to us from heaven that if you love dr. king, keep on fighting. if you love me, keep on struggling. never give up. so as we say in the house of alpha, we will fight until hell freezes over, and then we will fight on the ice. today, this fraternity, the fraternity of brother king, saying on the place that he died that you did not die in vain, my bro

dubois, justice marshall, ernest willis, and others are demanding that we take our selective energy tos of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation. today is the day that urgency calls upon us to fight against injustice no matter where we find it. silence is not an option in 2018. so we must stand up and demand educational equality. we must fight against police brutality. we must fight against discrimination. we must fight against health disparity. and we must fight against targeted voter suppression that keeps people from the polls based on the color of their skin. we must fight. we must fight. stephon clark, michael brown, trayvon martin, and eric garner are saying to us from heaven that if you love dr. king, keep on fighting. if you love me, keep on struggling. never give up. so as we say in the house of alpha, we will fight until hell freezes over, and then we will fight on the ice. it is the fraternity of brother king. saying on the place that he died that you did not die in vain, my brother. 50 years later, we shall fight. we shall fight until freedom is enjoyed by all