Post by Chronicle Obit on Mar 30, 2005 6:07:50 GMT -5
Harold Cruse: Author, activist and U-M professor
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
March 28, 2005
Harold Cruse, one of the most influential writers on
African-American
politics, culture and history, died of heart failure Friday in the
Sunrise Assisted Living facility in Ann Arbor. He was 89.
Mr. Cruse is best known for his 1967 book, "The Crisis of the Negro
Intellectual," an analytical look at the ideas of black writers and
artists.
Written during the tumult of the 1960s, the book urged black
autonomy and
became a pioneering work that is widely read today in academia. A
new
edition of the book was published last month, with an introduction
written by Stanley Crouch.
In 1968, Mr. Cruse became a professor at the University of Michigan
in
Ann Arbor, where he taught African-American studies. He was key in
starting U-M's Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS) in
1970, and was acting director in 1972-73.
He later became professor emeritus of history and African-American
studies at the university.
Mr. Cruse's life and writings encompassed the broad diversity of the
black and American experiences during the 20th Century. Communism,
slavery, nationalism, blues, Marxism, jazz, capitalism, civil rights
--
all were written about in his sharp prose.
"Cruse's legacy is awe-inspiring," the Library Journal wrote in
a review of the 2002 book "The Essential Harold Cruse," a
collection of writings by and about him.
Mr. Cruse was born in Petersburg, Va., in 1916, and moved with his
family
to New York City as a young child.
After graduating from high school, he held a variety of jobs before
serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, according to the
Robert F.
Wagner Labor Archives at Tamiment Library in New York City. In 1941
-45,
he was stationed in Italy, north Africa, Northern Ireland and
Scotland.
After the war, Mr. Cruse briefly attended City College in New York,
but
never graduated. "He was self-educated," said his significant
other, Mara Julius, an assistant research scientist emeritus at
U-M's
Department of Epidemiology.
"He was an avid reader, spending much of his time in the
library," she said. "He rounded out his education in arts and
music."
In 1947, Mr. Cruse joined the Communist Party, which was strongly
pushing
for integration and racial equality. Mr. Cruse contributed drama and
literary reviews for its newspaper, the Daily Worker.
But his writing was not tied down by party doctrine. In fact, he was
a
sharp critic of other black thinkers and artists for strictly
adhering to
philosophies, like communism, that he felt could constrict the black
experience.
In the 1950s, Mr. Cruse wrote several plays, but concentrated mainly
on
nonfiction. In a 1951 essay, he praised entertainer Josephine Baker
for
returning to the United States from France and not losing her
"native Negro idiom."
In his 1967 "Crisis" book, Mr. Cruse wrote about black figures
such as Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin, arguing
that
their rigid politics restricted them.
The book also touched on "mass media and communism, black-Jewish
relations, and the revolutionary use of force," said the New York
Review of Books.
And decades before critics assailed Vanilla Ice and Eminem for
ripping
off black culture, Mr. Cruse wrote about white people in the 1920s
making
"music that they literally stole outright from Harlem
nightclubs."
Among his other books are "Rebellion or Revolution,"
"Marxism and the Negro Struggle" and "Plural but Equal: A
Critical Study of Blacks and Minorities and America's Plural
Society."
In "Plural but Equal," he faulted civil rights leaders for not
learning from the failures of the black struggle in the late 19th
Century.
"There are some people who learn how to teach, and some people are
born to teach," said Julius. "He was born to
teach."
Mr. Cruse also is survived by two half-sisters and a cousin.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized. Mr. Cruse is to be
cremated.
Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
March 28, 2005
Harold Cruse, one of the most influential writers on
African-American
politics, culture and history, died of heart failure Friday in the
Sunrise Assisted Living facility in Ann Arbor. He was 89.
Mr. Cruse is best known for his 1967 book, "The Crisis of the Negro
Intellectual," an analytical look at the ideas of black writers and
artists.
Written during the tumult of the 1960s, the book urged black
autonomy and
became a pioneering work that is widely read today in academia. A
new
edition of the book was published last month, with an introduction
written by Stanley Crouch.
In 1968, Mr. Cruse became a professor at the University of Michigan
in
Ann Arbor, where he taught African-American studies. He was key in
starting U-M's Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS) in
1970, and was acting director in 1972-73.
He later became professor emeritus of history and African-American
studies at the university.
Mr. Cruse's life and writings encompassed the broad diversity of the
black and American experiences during the 20th Century. Communism,
slavery, nationalism, blues, Marxism, jazz, capitalism, civil rights
--
all were written about in his sharp prose.
"Cruse's legacy is awe-inspiring," the Library Journal wrote in
a review of the 2002 book "The Essential Harold Cruse," a
collection of writings by and about him.
Mr. Cruse was born in Petersburg, Va., in 1916, and moved with his
family
to New York City as a young child.
After graduating from high school, he held a variety of jobs before
serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, according to the
Robert F.
Wagner Labor Archives at Tamiment Library in New York City. In 1941
-45,
he was stationed in Italy, north Africa, Northern Ireland and
Scotland.
After the war, Mr. Cruse briefly attended City College in New York,
but
never graduated. "He was self-educated," said his significant
other, Mara Julius, an assistant research scientist emeritus at
U-M's
Department of Epidemiology.
"He was an avid reader, spending much of his time in the
library," she said. "He rounded out his education in arts and
music."
In 1947, Mr. Cruse joined the Communist Party, which was strongly
pushing
for integration and racial equality. Mr. Cruse contributed drama and
literary reviews for its newspaper, the Daily Worker.
But his writing was not tied down by party doctrine. In fact, he was
a
sharp critic of other black thinkers and artists for strictly
adhering to
philosophies, like communism, that he felt could constrict the black
experience.
In the 1950s, Mr. Cruse wrote several plays, but concentrated mainly
on
nonfiction. In a 1951 essay, he praised entertainer Josephine Baker
for
returning to the United States from France and not losing her
"native Negro idiom."
In his 1967 "Crisis" book, Mr. Cruse wrote about black figures
such as Paul Robeson, Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin, arguing
that
their rigid politics restricted them.
The book also touched on "mass media and communism, black-Jewish
relations, and the revolutionary use of force," said the New York
Review of Books.
And decades before critics assailed Vanilla Ice and Eminem for
ripping
off black culture, Mr. Cruse wrote about white people in the 1920s
making
"music that they literally stole outright from Harlem
nightclubs."
Among his other books are "Rebellion or Revolution,"
"Marxism and the Negro Struggle" and "Plural but Equal: A
Critical Study of Blacks and Minorities and America's Plural
Society."
In "Plural but Equal," he faulted civil rights leaders for not
learning from the failures of the black struggle in the late 19th
Century.
"There are some people who learn how to teach, and some people are
born to teach," said Julius. "He was born to
teach."
Mr. Cruse also is survived by two half-sisters and a cousin.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized. Mr. Cruse is to be
cremated.
Copyright © 2005 Detroit Free Press Inc.