Janken, Kenneth Robert 1956-

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JANKEN, Kenneth Robert 1956-

PERSONAL:

Born January 31, 1956, in Los Angeles, CA; married; children: two. Education: Hunter College of the City University of New York, B.A., 1987, M.A., 1987; Rutgers University, Ph.D., 1991. Hobbies and other interests: Baseball.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of African and Afro-American Studies, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3395. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Educator and writer. University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, assistant professor, 1991-97, associate professor of African and Afro-American studies, 1997—, adjunct professor of history, member of faculty advisory board, Office of Undergraduate Research.

MEMBER:

Organization of American Historians.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Institute of Arts and Humanities fellow, 1994; National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, 1997.

WRITINGS:

Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African-American Intellectual, University of Massachusetts Press (Amherst, MA), 1993.

White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. NAACP, New Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor of articles to professional journals.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kenneth Robert Janken, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, is the author of the biographies Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual and White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. NAACP.

Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual examines the life of the Howard University professor who worked tirelessly to end segregation. Among Logan's achievements were "Education for Citizenship," a voter education program for southern blacks, and Executive Order 8802, an anti-discrimination document that he coauthored. "Janken argues that Logan longed for fame as a civil rights leaders, like that of W. E. B. du Bois, even more than recognition as a professional historian," observed Jeffrey C. Stewart in the Washington Post Book World. Janken also notes that Logan grew frustrated in his efforts to gain such recognition from black and white leaders alike. As Sterling Stuckey wrote in the African American Review, "Janken appears to have confirmed what troubled Logan greatly, that he did not receive the credit deserved from his involvement in help to make as well as write history." "Logan's struggle to balance his hatred of white racism and his longing for white recognition … comes through poignantly here," Stewart remarked.

Walter White, the subject of Janken's 2003 work White, served as executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from 1931 until his death in 1955. An exceptionally light-skinned African American, White was able to use his physical appearance to his advantage, often posing as a reporter to get information from white racists. During his years with the NAACP, White oversaw tremendous growth in the organization, championed civil rights, and helped spark the Harlem Renaissance. He is perhaps best remembered for bringing national attention to the lynching of African Americans. "This elegantly written and comprehensive biography, the first major work on its subject, is a model of nuanced scholarship and popular history," wrote a critic in Publishers Weekly.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

African American Review, spring, 1996, Sterling Stuckey, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, pp. 125-127; winter, 2003, Carol Anderson, review of White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. NAACP, pp. 664-666.

American Historical Review, February, 1995, Louis B. Harlan, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, p. 247.

Choice, R. A. Fischer, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, p. 988.

Ebony, April, 2003, pp. 23-25.

Journal of African American History, summer, 2003, Brian Daughterity, review of White, pp. 317-319.

Journal of American History, December, 1994, Willard B. Gatewood, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, pp. 1360-1361.

Journal of Southern History, February, 1995, Jacqueline Goggin, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, pp. 172-173.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 1993, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, p. 699.

Library Journal, June 1, 1993, Gary Williams, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, p. 142; April 1, 2003, Anthony Edmonds, review of White, p. 110.

New Republic, September 29, 2003, David J. Garrow, "The Party of Freedom—The Golden Age of Civil Rights," p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, May 31, 1993, review of Rayford W. Logan and the Dilemma of the African American Intellectual, p. 37; March 24, 2003, review of White, p. 72.

Washington Post Book World, August 8, 1993, Jeffrey C. Stewart, "Historian, Teacher, and Activist," pp. 1, 6.