Tag Archives: segregation

Twain Was No Racist (Not Even Close)

By Robin Bates | Published: November 17, 2010

“I hope that like Mark Twain, 100 years from now people will see my work and think, ‘Wow. That is actually pretty racist.’” –Tina Fey accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Thanks to a visiting lecturer in our Mark Twain series, I have a new understanding of Huckleberry Finn that is exciting me […]

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Lifting Ev’ry Voice in Church

By Robin Bates | Published: August 18, 2009

  Let me end this series of posts concerning racism in America on an up note.  This past Sunday I was singing in the Trinity Episcopal Church choir (in St. Mary’s City, Maryland) and we concluded the service with a rousing rendition of hymn 599, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the black […]

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Redemption through Interracial Friendship

By Robin Bates | Published: August 14, 2009

  I write today about the father of Andre Dubus III, whose House of Sand and Fog I looked at last week.  The elder Andre Dubus, now dead, is one of my favorite short story writers, and his novella Deaths at Sea came to my aid when I felt twisted and turned by racial tension.  I […]

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Desegregation Tales from My Childhood

By Robin Bates | Published: August 4, 2009

  I mentioned yesterday the debt I owe to the NAACP, which this year is celebrating its 100-year anniversary.  Today I will talk about some of my past history with the organization, along with a discussion of how Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird helped me in some difficult years during the Civil Rights era. I’ve […]

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