SINAS Research Seminar: “National Brotherhood Week and its Opponents: The Contributions of Tolerance Talk to Political Whiteness and Ethnic Revival”

Abstract: National Brotherhood Week (NBW) was annually observed in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. This article examines two features of tolerance talk associated with NBW’s observance. The first is the distinction between public and private spheres, with speakers largely insisting that tolerance properly belonged in the latter category. The second is the universalization of difference that encouraged the expansion of available minority identities. Paying attention to these features illustrates how tolerance talk mediated the relationship between political whiteness and ethnic revival, each of which was mobilized in the opposition to efforts of African American activists to address inequities in American life.