Re:John W. Campbell, a chief architect of science fiction's ...
by my_first_acct on Tuesday November 20, 2018 @10:47AM
(#18494665)
The fight against racism has spanned decades, but your statement, "Racism as a concept that needed a word was barely present in the early 60s" does not seem correct.
To select an example from popular culture: the musical "South Pacific" (1949) contains a strong and explicit anti-racist message [1]. John Campbell reflected the racist views of a fairly large segment of the American society of his day. But there was already a large, and growing, part of society that rejected these views.
It is often unhelpful to apply modern-day standards to historical figures. But Campbell is from a time and place where racism was already recognized as an evil to be fought. He has no excuse.
To select an example from popular culture: the musical "South Pacific" (1949) contains a strong and explicit anti-racist message [1]. John Campbell reflected the racist views of a fairly large segment of the American society of his day. But there was already a large, and growing, part of society that rejected these views.
It is often unhelpful to apply modern-day standards to historical figures. But Campbell is from a time and place where racism was already recognized as an evil to be fought. He has no excuse.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_(musical)#Race