Noel Ignatiev facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Noel Ignatiev
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(2003)
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Noel Saul Ignatin
December 27, 1940 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Died | November 9, 2019 (aged 78) Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
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| Education | Harvard Graduate School of Education |
| Occupation | Author, historian |
| Employer | Massachusetts College of Art Harvard University |
Noel Ignatiev (/ɪɡˈnætiɛv/, born Noel Saul Ignatin; December 27, 1940 – November 9, 2019) was an American author, historian, and race theorist. He was best known for his theories on race and for his call to abolish "whiteness". Ignatiev was the co-founder of the New Abolitionist Society and co-editor of the journal Race Traitor, which promoted the idea that "treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity". In 1995 he published the book, How the Irish Became White, an examination of the choices made by early Irish Immigrants to the United States, many of whom, when faced with xenophobia and a history of being oppressed themselves, proceeded to take the opportunity to increase their power in society by identifying as "white" and participating in oppressing darker-skinned peoples.
Early life and career
Ignatiev was born Noel Saul Ignatin in Philadelphia, the son of Carrie, a homemaker, and Irv Ignatin, who delivered newspapers. His family's original surname, Ignatiev, was changed to Ignatin and later back to the original spelling. His family was Jewish. His grandparents were from Russia. Ignatiev's parents later ran a housewares store. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out after three years.
Under the name Noel Ignatin, he joined the Communist Party USA in January 1958, but in August left (along with Theodore W. Allen and Harry Haywood) to help form the Provisional Organizing Committee to Reconstitute the Marxist–Leninist Communist Party (POC). He was expelled from the POC in 1966.
He later became involved in the Students for a Democratic Society. When that organization fractured in the late 1960s, Ignatiev became part of the group Sojourner Truth Organization (STO) in 1970. Unlike other groups in the New Communist movement, the STO and Ignatiev were also heavily influenced by the ideas of Trinidadian writer C. L. R. James.
For twenty years, Ignatiev worked in a Gary, Indiana steel mill and also in the manufacturing of farming equipment and electrical components. A Marxist activist, he was involved in efforts by African American steel workers to achieve equality in the mills. In 1984, he was laid off from the steel mill, approximately a year after an arrest on charges of attacking a strike-breaker's car with a paint bomb.
Academic career
Ignatiev set up Marxist discussion groups in the early 1980s. In 1985, Ignatiev was accepted to the Harvard Graduate School of Education without an undergraduate degree. After earning his master's degree, he joined the Harvard faculty as a lecturer and worked toward a doctorate in U.S. history.
Ignatiev was a graduate student at Harvard University where he earned his Ph.D. in 1995. He taught courses there before moving to the Massachusetts College of Art. His academic work was linked to his call to "abolish" the white race, a controversial slogan whose meaning is not always agreed upon by those who debate his work. His dissertation, published by Routledge as the book How the Irish Became White, was advised by prominent social historian of American race and ethnicity Stephan Thernstrom and by Alan Heimert. Ignatiev was the co-founder and co-editor of the journal Race Traitor and the New Abolitionist Society.
Death
Ignatiev spoke at a bar in Brooklyn, New York, on October 27, 2019, at the launch party for an issue of the journal Hard Crackers, which he edited. Soon after, he flew to Arizona to be with members of his family. On November 9, Ignatiev died at Banner University Medical Center Tucson at the age of 78.
See also
- Race Traitor (publication)
- Anti-Japaneseism
- Frederick Douglass and the White Negro (Ignatiev is a major contributor)
- Race traitor
- Whiteness studies
