In the States, one recent example of wokeness is the renaming of schools in San Francisco. Among those were the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln High Schools. Both men were "engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings. "
The trend to look into the sexism and racism of famous people long gone is not only en vogue in the States. Are those current efforts on dead people not falling out of time?
We in Freiburg slave (?) away on Karl von Rotteck, Professor at the University; he was, as Wikipedia knows, a political activist, historian, politician, and political scientist. He was a prominent advocate of freedom of the press and the abolition of compulsory labor.
Still, in 1821 as a deputy in Baden's state parliament, he was the spokesman for complete Jewish emancipation in the State of Baden under well-defined conditions only, i.e., the postponement of the Sabbath, the abolition of the dietary laws, the renunciation of Hebrew, and the purification of the Talmud from "anti-state tendencies." In other words: Jews shall earn their civil rights through increased integration.
And in Rotteck's Freiburg constituency, the resistance against the settling of Jews was fierce. For fear of competition, the merchants wanted to retain the prohibition of Jews, a ban that had existed since 1424, and the city council had once more confirmed in 1809. A petition addressed to the Baden parliament stated, "Wir werden zum Judennest (We shall become a Jewish nest.”)
In 2010, given the antisemitism of its famous citizen, Freiburg's municipal council abolished the Karl-von-Rotteck-Medal. Still, it kept as a compromise the name of the city's main boulevard, Karl-von-Rotteck-Ring. The medal had been attributed as a distinction to people who had rendered outstanding service to Freiburg.
Charles Darwin's sexism has been known for long but has now been brought back to light.
The essay in the New York Times was written by Michael Sims. Immediately Darwins's unconditional admirer Jerry Coyne went to the barricades. How dare you knock my icon off its pedestal? Jerry writes in his impeccable English.
You could take nearly any male Briton from the mid-19th century and, if you could suss out his views, discover that he was a sexist and a racist. That makes Darwin simply one of many. But it's good clickbait to indict Darwin because he's the most famous scientist of his time—perhaps of any time. And it's no surprise that the New York Times, mired as it is in identity politics and ideological purity, decided it needed the clicks of calling out Darwin for sexism.
But let me quote from Sims's essay.
Despite many respectful and admiring interactions with female writers and thinkers, as well as with his intelligent and well-read sisters, wife, cousins, and colleagues' wives, Darwin comprehensively dismissed women's intellectual potential. "The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes, "he stated in "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex "(1871), "is shewn by man's attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than can woman — whether requiring deep thought, reason or imagination or merely the use of the senses and hands. "
Later in 1881, Darwin confirmed, "I certainly think that women though generally superior to men [in] moral qualities are inferior intellectually."
He conceded that there was "some reason to believe that aboriginally (& to the present day in the case of Savages)" men and women demonstrated comparable intelligence, thus implying the possibility of regaining such equality in the modern world. "But to do this, as I believe," he added, "women must become as regular 'bread-winners as are men; & we may suspect that the early education of our children, not to mention the happiness of our homes, would in this case greatly suffer."
What would have been Darwin's reactions to the multitasking emancipated superwomen of today? Excelling in their professions, they educate their children, look after the households, and keep their men's* backs free.
*Nowadays, "husbands" are a sub-category
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