OK White people, do you know Sojourner Truth, Langston Hughes, and Thurgood Marshall?

[ImLawBoy]

Knew them all, but I only learned about Sojourner Truth in the last few weeks. The twins go to a school named after a racist Swiss scientist, so they are currently undergoing a renaming process. Truth is one of the options the students were voting on last week (don't know the results yet).

[LordMortis]

Two of three. I had to google Sojourner.

Same. I’d heard the name but wasn’t exactly sure in what context.

This^^^

[Lorini]

At some point I will respond to the issue of bringing up race, but the response will be in R&P. I'm not feeling too great right now and I have to kind of be up to the task so to speak to so it may not be today. Nothing big, just feeling a little outside of forum stress.

[coopasonic]

2 out of 3 and really Thurgood Marshall is the only one I could actually talk about.

Regarding the title, if "OK White people" ruffles your feathers, time for some introspection. It wasn't that long ago that I would un-ironically make a crack along the lines of why is there no white men's support group at work? I'm just glad I had friends/colleagues that were able to point things out to me and help me find my way to a better place.

[LordMortis]

2 out of 3 and really Thurgood Marshall is the only one I could actually talk about.

Talk about? Never mind. I need to walk back my 2 of 3. At best, I could go on Jeopardy and probably get the surface questions right. As example, I haven't read a Hughes novel and couldn't tell you the short work I have read.

[Jeff V]

Yes, do I get bonus points for also knowing who Jessye Norman, Toussant l'Oeverture and George Washington Carver are?

[hepcat]

Name dropping should never give you bonus points.

[Jeff V]

Name dropping should never give you bonus points.

Joe Bob Briggs said that to me once.

[Kasey Chang]

Without looking, heard of first , don't recall the second , and yes for the third.

[Lorini]

Link to further discussion thread in R&P

[Hrdina]

Yes, yes, and yes, without Googling. But I read a lot and will instantly go to Wikipedia if I come across a name or reference I don't know while reading. I used to keep index cards in books with words and references to look up later; being able to do it instantly is one of my great joys with reading on an iPad.

I love that feature on my Kindle app, too. It's so ingrained in my brain now that I have caught myself almost doing that when forced to read from paper.

[Bad Demographic]

"and ain't I a woman?"

Even though I'm not white, I automatically read this thread. And yes, I know who all three are.
When I was in college, somebody had a poster of Sojourner Truth's "ain't I a woman" speech. It totally blew me away.

[Eel Snave]

I think I do. Sojourner Truth: Focused on Black suffrage if I recall correctly, Langston Hughes: Poet, Thurgood Marshall: First Black Supreme Court Justice?

Do I win a prize?

[AWS260]

"and ain't I a woman?"

Even though I'm not white, I automatically read this thread. And yes, I know who all three are.
When I was in college, somebody had a poster of Sojourner Truth's "ain't I a woman" speech. It totally blew me away.

Fun fact that I just learned last night: Sojourner Truth probably never said, "ain't I a woman?" That version of her speech on women's rights was published many years after the fact. A version published just a month after her remarks doesn't include the phrase and is very different from the later version (though just as impactful, in my opinion). Text of both versions.

(Credit to a board game, The Vote, which included this fact in it a background note on the game's Sojourner Truth card.)

[El Guapo]

I'm familiar with all three - mainly Thurgood Marshall, since I'm a lawyer and he was a Supreme Court justice and whatnot. That said, my knowledge of Sojourner Truth and Langston Hughes is pretty paper-thin.

[Lorini]

I think I do. Sojourner Truth: Focused on Black suffrage if I recall correctly, Langston Hughes: Poet, Thurgood Marshall: First Black Supreme Court Justice?

Do I win a prize?

Thurgood Marshall is at least as well known for representing the plaintiffs in Brown vs Topeka, Kansas. I always associate him with that ruling which led to the Civil Rights Act. I know Langston Hughes from a book my parents had when I was a child, The Best of Simple. Read it and really liked it. I kind of knew about Sojourner Truth before the launch of JPL's Sojourner, but that's when I really looked her up.

[Paingod]

I only recognized one of those names, but for what it's worth I hardly recognize any of the names this forum throws up in front of me unless they've been in a few big movies, regardless of the person's background. Poets, activists, writers, musicians, historic figures. I don't really have a "people" database in my head.

I don't know how much of that is because I'm white, or how much is because I'm isolated from the world in general, or how much is because I just don't pay attention to most things unless they slap me in the face and find a way to leave a mark.

[Lorini]

See and an actor/actress has to be freakin' huge before I know who they are. Current musicians as well.

[Bad Demographic]

Good information, AWS. Thanks.