Shelby Steele

Shelby Steele, "The Recoloring of Campus Life: Student Racism, Academic Pluralism, and the End of a Dream"

Shelby Steele (1946- ) was born in Chicago and earned an M.A. from Southern Illinois University in 1971 and a Ph.D. from the University of Utah in 1974. He has taught high school and has been on the faculty of San Jose University for more than twenty-five years. Steele frequently writes about issues of race relations including affirmative action and other social programs. His books include The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America (1990), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America (1998). He contributes frequently to periodicals such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and is a frequent guest on television shows like Nightline and NewsHour. "The Recoloring of Campus Life: Student Racism, Academic Pluralism, and the End of a Dream" was first published in 1989 in Harper's magazine and reprinted in The Content of Our Character.

CONTENT

1. What things were painted on the wall at Yale's Afro-American cultural center in 1988?
2. According to the author, why are the racial difficulties he comments about "new and surprising"?
3. Why did Steele limit his interview to black and white students, omitting Asians and Hispanics?
4. What does the author mean by the phrase the politics of difference?
5. Steele points out a disparity between enrollment and graduation rates at predominately black colleges as opposed to those same things at predominately white colleges. What is this disparity?
6. Explain the two paradoxes about black and white interaction that Steele describes.
7. Why does the author feel that it was his "very good fortune to go to college in 1964"? What is especially significant about that year?

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. What is Steele's argument here? Outline his main points and types of support for each in as much detail as you can.
2. b. How did you picture Steele as you read this essay? What specific cues from the essay helped you form the mental image you did? (By the way, many of the links below will take you to pages with photos of this author.)
3. This essay first appeared in a magazine. Re-imagine it as an op-ed piece for the New York Times. (Go to your library and read through some copies if you're not familiar with the NYT.) What major changes would you have to make?
4. In paragraph eighteen Steele writes, "A black's problems have a way of becoming a ‘black' problem." What work do the quotation marks around the word black do? What would the sentence lose without them?
5. Steele mentions a list of support services, programs, and people black students at university can approach for help. What is the point of such an extensive list? He doesn't address the question head on, but do you think that support was in place when he was a student? Explain.

1. Recall a time someone made an assumption about you based upon your outward appearance. How did it make you feel? What did you do about it? How can you relate your feelings and reaction to your reading?
2. Describe your impression of the interaction between blacks and whites at your school. Does it differ as the place differs: from a particular classroom to the cafeteria to a sorority house (or whatever your relevant places are)? How might you link your impressions to this essay?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. How can attempts to curtail hateful speech be reconciled with academic freedom? Who should decide where to draw the line? Use your reading and your own experiences in college to form your answer.
2. What are the author's views about affirmative action? Explain as carefully as you can, using specific evidence from your text.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Pick one of the campus racial incidents Steele mentions and research it thoroughly. Write a report about it and answer the following questions: Who were the key figures involved? What action was taken? By whom? Did the initial action lead to any changes in the school's policies and procedures? If so, what were they? If not, what do you think should have been done?

WEB CONNECTION

Read this detailed review of the Emmy-winning documentary film Seven Days in Bensonhurst, which Steele wrote and narrated. What kinds of things did you learn about the film from the review? What would necessitate viewing the film to find out? Does your library have a copy? If not, how could you go about getting one?

LINKS

Biographical

This is Steele's homepage at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where he is a research fellow. There, you'll find a photo of Steele, a biographical sketch, and some links.

This page entitled "The Ethics of Affirmative Action" from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics contains biographical information about Steele.

Here's Steele's biography from the PBS show Frontline's site. There, you'll find information about Steele's relationship with that program, including the Emmy Award he won, and some links.

Bibliographical

Ready for some more of Steele's writing? Here's an article he wrote for the Wall Street Journal called "White Guilt = Black Power." This page also features a forum for discussion of the piece.

Here's an essay from New Perspectives Quarterly called "Booker T. Washington Was Right." Read the essay and answer this question: Right about what?

David Gergen of the PBS show Frontline conducted this interview with Steele shortly after the publication of Steele's book A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America.

Cultural

Would you like to narrow a research topic regarding affirmative action in the U.S.? This Google.com directory should give you plenty of ideas.

Here's an essay making an argument that Steele should be president of Harvard University. What do you make of the tone of this piece? What is "VDARE"?

This page has Steele's citation for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Which of the other authors do you recognize on this page? How would you go about finding out more about them?