Lucius Outlaw’s Lecture about On Race and Philosophy Essay Example

these facts interesting because it was very risky to express such racial pride with the existence of people who still withheld strong prejudice against black people. The idea of the black power movement and its strides in the civil rights movement complements what I learned in one of my classes about Martin Luther King’s speech in Berlin.

He delivered a speech preaching about the unity of the East and West Germans. This event marked Martin Luther King’s efforts to continue to fight for civil rights across the world. I am able to draw parallels between the civil rights movement of Germany and the United States. I believe that the black power movement had big strides in transforming how African American viewed themselves and led to great feelings of empowerment. It is interesting how Outlaw discusses how the basis of what it meant to philosophize was racially motivated. He mentions how the foundations that philosophy is built on say that African Americans are not human and that they do not have the capability to philosophize.

I found this statement surprising because I never understood how racially segregated the field of philosophy was. They basically were making a statement that black people do not belong in the field because they are not truly human. During this time period, blacks were considered less than human which gave way to the reasoning behind why they enslaved them. Outlaw went on to discuss how at the heart of the rational regarding racial apartheid is the notion of racial superiority. The notion of being a black intellect in the field of philosophy was unheard of during his time. It was interesting to hear

about how racially motivated the field of education was in America during this time.

The lecture was overall very informative. I walked away with more information about the struggles that African Americans face on a daily basis. I found the speech to be relatable on some level because as African American woman, I face similar struggles. I found it surprising that the field of philosophy was so racially segregated.

I hope that as the world progresses, we all become a little more aware of the great contributions that people of different races can make to a field of study.