Joel Spingarn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People | |
| In office 1930–1939 | |
| Preceded by | Moorfield Storey |
| Succeeded by | Arthur B. Spingarn |
| Chair of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People | |
| In office 1914–1919 | |
| Preceded by | Oswald Garrison Villard |
| Succeeded by | Mary White Ovington |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joel Elias Spingarn (1875-05-17)May 17, 1875 New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 26, 1939(1939-07-26) (aged 64) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Party | Republican (before 1912) Progressive (1912–1916) |
| Spouse | Amy Einstein |
| Children | 4, includingStephen |
| Relatives | Arthur B. Spingarn (brother) |
| Education | Columbia University (BA) |
| Signature |  |
Joel Elias Spingarn (May 17, 1875 – July 26, 1939) was an Americaneducator,literary critic,civil rightsactivist,military intelligence officer, andhorticulturalist.
Spingarn was born inNew York City to an upper middle-classJewish family. His younger brother wasArthur B. Spingarn. He graduated fromColumbia College in 1895. He grew committed to the importance of the study of comparative literature as a discipline distinct from the study of English or any other language-based literary studies.
Politics was one of his lifetime passions. In 1908, as aRepublican he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in theU.S. House of Representatives. In 1912 and 1916, he was a delegate to the national convention of theProgressive Party. At the first of those conventions, he failed in his attempts to add a statement condemningracial discrimination to the party platform.
He served asprofessor ofcomparative literature atColumbia University from 1899 to 1911. His academic publishing established him as one of America's foremost comparativists. It included two editions ofA History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance in 1899 and 1908 as well as edited works likeCritical Essays of the Seventeenth-Century in 3 volumes. He summarized his philosophy inThe New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910.[1] There he argued against the constraints of such traditional categories as genre, theme, and historical setting in favor of viewing each work of art afresh and on its own terms.[2] Spingarn's criticism and aesthetical thought was deeply influenced by the Italian philosopherBenedetto Croce, with whom he was in correspondence since 1899. Croce had Spingarn's masterwork translated in Italian (La critica letteraria nel Rinascimento. Saggio sulle origini dello spirito classico nella letteratura moderna, trad. di Antonio Fusco, pref. di B. Croce, Laterza, Bari 1905). Their correspondence was published in Naples in 2001 (Carteggio Croce-Spingarn, a cura di Emanuele Cutinelli-Rendina, Istituto italiano per gli studi storici, Napoli, 2001).
From 1904, his role in academic politics marked him as an independent spirit—too independent for the university's autocratic presidentNicholas Murray Butler. His differences with the administration ranged from personality conflicts to educational philosophy. Things came to a head in 1910, when he offered a resolution at a university faculty meeting in support ofHarry Thurston Peck, a Columbia professor who had been summarily dismissed by Butler because of a public scandal involving a breach-of-promise suit. That precipitated Spingarn's dismissal just five weeks later.[3] He became part of a distinguished series of prominent academics who resigned or were dismissed during Butler's tenure as president, includingGeorge Edward Woodberry,Charles Beard, andJames Harvey Robinson—all of them, like Peck and Spingarn, notable progressive scholars.
Without an academic appointment but of independent means, Spingarn continued to publish in his field much as he had before, writing, editing, and contributing to collections of essays. He was commissioned in theU.S. Army and served as amajor duringWorld War I.[4] In 1919 he was a co-founder of the publishing firm ofHarcourt, Brace and Company.
He also took up the other cause of his life, racial justice. An influentialliberal Republican, he helped realize the concept of a unified black movement by joining theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) shortly after its founding and was one of the first Jewish leaders of that organization, serving as chairman of its board from 1913 to 1919, its treasurer from 1919 to 1930, its second president from 1930 until his death in 1939.
In 1914 he established theSpingarn Medal, awarded annually by the NAACP for outstanding achievement by anAfrican American.
During World War I, according to an NAACP publication, he was instrumental in seeing that "a training camp for Negro officers atDes Moines was established and about 1,000 Negro officers commissioned."[5] Spingarn also served as an intelligence officer on theMilitary Intelligence Board (MIB), and provided information to the government about the NAACP's membership, which had been accused of havingCommunist influences.[6][7]
W. E. B. Du Bois (who had been unsuccessfully recommended by Spingarn for the MIB[8]) dedicated his 1940 autobiographyDusk of Dawn to Spingarn's memory, calling him "scholar and knight."[9]
Always interested ingardening, in the years following 1920 he amassed the world's largest collection ofclematis—250 species—and published the results of his research on the early history oflandscape gardening andhorticulture inDutchess County, New York.[10] He served as a member of the Board of Managers for theNew York Botanical Garden.[11]
He lived with his wife, Amy Einstein Spingarn, inManhattan and at their country estate which later became the Troutbeck Inn and Conference Center[12] inAmenia, New York. They had two sons, includingStephen J. Spingarn, and two daughters.
He died after a long illness on July 26, 1939. His will included a bequest to fund theSpingarn Medal in perpetuity.
