Monday, November 2 | 4:00 pm | Oakes Mural Room
Theodore William Allen is the author of the monumental work on the origins of racism and white racialized identity in the American colonies, The Invention of the White Race, published by Verso. The first volume, published in 1994, deals historically with the specific form of social hegemony that gives rise to the concept of race, considering the instances of the English colonization of Ireland and their later relation to Native Americans. The second volume (1997) addresses the evolution of the institution of slavery in the American colonies, as the soil from which the concept of race germinated in the U.S..
An independent scholar, Mr. Allen was an activist in the anti-racist movements during the 1960s and 1970s. He is a graduate of Goddard College, where he received his M.A. in History and Political Science in 1976. Prior to that, he taught mathematics at the Grace Church School in New York City (1964-1973). Since then, he has worked as a librarian in the New York City public library system.