Stanley Maurice Elkins (April 27, 1925 in Boston, Massachusetts – September 16, 2013 in Leeds, Massachusetts) was an American historian, best known for his unique and controversial comparison of slavery in the United States to Nazi concentration camps, and for his collaborations (in a book and numerous articles) with

Eric McKitrick Eric Louis McKitrick (July 5, 1919 – April 24, 2002) was an American historian, best known for ''The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800'' (1993) with Stanley Elkins, which won the Bancroft Prize in 1994. Life McKitrick ...

regarding the early American Republic. They together wrote ''The Age of Federalism'', on the history of the founding fathers of America. He obtained his BA from Harvard University (under the GI bill scholarship) and his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. Elkins first taught at the University of Chicago but spent most of his career as a professor of history at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

in Northampton, MA, where he raised his family and eventually retired.

Career

Elkins was born in Boston to Frank and Frances Elkins (née Reiner). He attended

Boston English High School The English High School of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, is one of the first public high schools in America, founded in 1821. Originally called The English Classical School, it was renamed The English High School upon its first relocation ...

and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943, serving in the 36th Infantry Regiment, fighting in France but primarily Italy during World War II. He served as initially a Scout and later a Prisoner Transport Guard (of German POWs). After the war, he married Dorothy Adele Lamken and attended Harvard University on the

GI Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

(A.B. 1949), followed by Columbia University for graduate school in American history (M.A. 1951, Ph.D. 1958), where he studied under Richard Hofstadter. He and fellow graduate student

received a joint appointment as assistant professors of history at the University of Chicago, where they taught from 1955 to 1960. In 1960 he joined the faculty at

, where he was appointed the Sydenham Clark Parsons Professor Emeritus of History from 1969 until his death in 2013.

''Slavery: A Problem in American Institutional and Intellectual Life''

Based on Elkins' doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, this work was theoretically innovative and enormously influential when first published, although largely superseded today. In it, Elkins made two major, and controversial, statements, the first being American abolitionists reduced their effectiveness by insisting on ideological consistency and purity, and refusing to compromise with the slave system. He argued

British abolitionists British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

were more pragmatic and thus effective, allowing them to abolish slavery without war. He went on to contrast slavery in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

with that in Spanish America, suggesting it was more important to focus on the structures governing the institution, rather than its conditions. In North America, slaves were deprived of any legal rights, including the ability to marry or have a family, be protected from violence, own property or make a will. With the exception of Maryland and Kentucky, slave states even passed legislation making it illegal for anyone to teach slaves to read and write, or allow them to own books. The removal of personal rights and utter dependence on their owners resulted in what Elkins called "chattel slavery", which he contrasted with the system prevailing in Spanish America. Although conditions could be just as harsh, slaves generally had a variety of legal rights, including the ability to use the court system, purchase their freedom or contract their labour out to others. In addition, slavery in North America was almost exclusively a black experience, while in Spanish America it began as a "misfortune" that could happen to anyone who fell into debt. As a result, "chattel slavery" had a lasting impact on how black Americans viewed themselves and how they were perceived by wider society. Then-recent research by Bruno Bettelheim and others on inmates of Nazi concentration camps during World War II showed their totalitarian environment systematically destroyed the ability of inmates to resist, plan or form positive relationships with one another. Elkins suggested pre- Civil War slavery was a similar environment, views that were influential in the late 1960s when politicians like

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented New York in the United States Senate from 1977 until 2001 and served as an ...

supported affirmative action programs as a way to counteract the longterm impact of slavery on black culture. His arguments have since been heavily criticised, particularly for his use of the racial slur " Sambo" to describe the allegedly "infantilised" state which black Americans were reduced to by slavery. In addition, critics point out Elkins provided no data or methodology for his comparison between WWII concentration camp victims, largely white Europeans, and black Americans. Initially heralded by the black community as an important and positive contribution, this comparison was considered offensive by descendants of both groups. Finally, it is suggested his criticism of American abolitionists ignores the reality of the society within which they operated, since every attempt made to achieve partial reform was blocked. The controversy is discussed in more detail in a collection of essays by Ann Lane, and also by historian

John Wesley Blassingame John Wesley Blassingame (March 23, 1940 – February 13, 2000) was an American historian and pioneer in the study of slavery in the United States. He was the former chairman of the African-American studies program at Yale University. Blassing ...

''The Age of Federalism''

''The Age of Federalism: The Early Republic, 1788-1800'', co-authored by Elkins and

, was described as a "dazzling book," featuring an "elegant and penetrating pen portrait of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

."''The Age of Federalism'' won the Bancroft Prize. The book explores the history of the

Federalist party The Federalist Party was a Conservatism in the United States, conservative political party which was the first political party in the United States. As such, under Alexander Hamilton, it dominated the national government from 1789 to 1801. De ...

, discusses the relationships among key players, among them Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, and analyzes the administrations of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and John Adams.

Awards and fellowships

* 1954–55 Rockefeller Foundation Fellow * 1959–60 Rockefeller Foundation Grant * 1963–64 American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship * 1967–68 National Endowment for the Humanities Grant * 1970–71 Guggenheim Fellow * 1970–71 Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton * 1980 Visiting Fellow, St. Catherine's College, Oxford * 1994 Bancroft Prize * 1995 Order of Cincinnatus Prize

Published works

Books

* (1959, 1963, 1976 editions
reviews
* Publisher's Summary
/ref> *

Articles

* Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick. "A Meaning for Turner's Frontier: Part I: Democracy in the Old Northwest," ''Political Science Quarterly,'' Vol. 69, No. 3 (Sep., 1954), pp. 321–35
in JSTOR
* Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "A Meaning for Turner's Frontier: Part II: The Southwest Frontier and New England," ''Political Science Quarterly,'' Vol. 69, No. 4 (Dec., 1954), pp. 565–60
in JSTOR
* Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "Institutions and the Law of Slavery: The Dynamics of Unopposed Capitalism," ''American Quarterly,'' Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring, 1957), pp. 3–2
in JSTOR
* Stanley Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "Institutions and the Law of Slavery: Slavery in Capitalist and Non-Capitalist Cultures," ''American Quarterly,'' Vol. 9, No. 2, Part 1 (Summer, 1957), pp. 159–17
in JSTOR
* Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, "The Founding Fathers: Young Men of the Revolution," ''Political Science Quarterly,'' Vol. 76, No. 2 (Jun., 1961), pp. 181–21
in JSTOR

References

Bibliography

* Budick, E. Miller. "Plantations and Pogroms, Slavery and the Holocaust: Disentangling Black and Jewish History (Stanley Elkins, Ralph Waldo Ellison, and Hannah Arendt)." In ''Blacks and Jews in Literary Conversation'' (1998). * Fermaglich, Kirsten. "'One of the Lucky Ones': Stanley Elkins and the Concentration Camp Analogy in ''Slavery''." In ''American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares: Early Holocaust Consciousness and Liberal America, 1957-1965'' (2007). * * King, Richard H. "Domination and Fabrication: Re-thinking Stanley Elkins' ''Slavery''," ''Slavery & Abolition'', Vol. 22, No. 2 (2001), pp. 1–28. * Kolchin, Peter. "Reevaluating the Antebellum Slave Community: A Comparative Perspective." ''The Journal of American History,'' Vol. 70, No. 3 (December, 1983). * Lane, Ann, ed. ''The Debate Over "Slavery": Stanley Elkins and His Critics''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1971. Essays by 13 scholars. * Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. "Stanley Elkins and Northern Reform Culture." In ''Yankee Saints and Southern Sinners'' (1986, 1990). * Wyatt-Brown, Bertram. "Stanley Elkins' Slavery: The Antislavery Interpretation Reexamined." ''American Quarterly,'' Vol. 25, No. 2 (May, 1973), pp. 154–17
in JSTOR

External links

Stanley Elkins Author Page on Amazon.com

Stanley Elkins Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elkins, Stanley 1925 births 2013 deaths Harvard University alumni American historians Historians of slavery Columbia University alumni Smith College faculty Jewish American historians University of Chicago faculty Bancroft Prize winners 21st-century American Jews