“The Racial Politics of American Philanthropy.”

For over a century the largest American philanthropies, from the Rockefeller Foundation to the Gates Foundation, have promised no less than to promote the well-being of all mankind. Acting on this grandiose mission, these powerful private institutions have had great influence globally and at home in areas such as education, public health, and economic development. However, the often ambiguous results and outright failures of these efforts have exposed the contradictions and conflicts inherent in a program of universal well being, as well as the boundaries of philanthropists’ putatively limitless circle of care. At home, these limits are most apparent in the racial politics of American philanthropy. Since the late eighteenth century, African Americans and the American “race problem” have been at the very center of American philanthropy’s domestic agenda. Yet white American philanthropy’s record in promoting black people’s well-being has been decidedly mixed. In her talk, Karen Ferguson will interrogate the nature of white philanthropists’ care when it comes to addressing the racial inequality in the United States. Who of what, exactly have they cared about?

Sponsored by the Critical Issues in American series “The Great Society at Fifty: Democracy in America, 1964/2014,” the IHC sries The Value of Care and the IHC’s Harry Girvetz Memorial Endowment.

Added by: AJ 4/23/14