Yale historian Woodward dies, leaving lasting legacy

On Fri., Dec. 17, Yale suffered a great loss. C. Vann Woodward, a history professor emeritus, died at his Hamden, Conn., home at the age of 91. History Professor Glenda Gilmore called Woodward the greatest Southern historian who ever lived. "His work towers above that of all others," she said.

COURTESY OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Southern historian C. Vann Woodward died at age 91.

Woodward had a lasting impact on the lives of Yale students. In the 1970s, when a series of controversial speakers at Yale met strong student protest, then-President Kingman Brewster, TD '41, asked Woodward to chair a student-faculty committee on the issue. It resulted in a beautifully-composed defense of free speech, the 1975 Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at Yale, which laid the foundation for Yale's uncategorical free speech policy. "The fundamental function of a university is to discover and disseminate knowledge by means of research and teaching," Woodward argued. "It follows that the university must do everything possible to ensure within it the fullest degree of intellectual freedom."

Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, articulated Woodward's value to the University. "At a time of controversy and tumult," he said, "Woodward defended the need for the most unrestricted freedom of speech, reminding us that the suppressions that might seem justified on one day will end up by suppressing something valuable on another."

Academically, Woodward inspired an unparalleled group of prominent Southern historians. He fought against the view of some academics that history was an exact science. Instead, he described history as the art of storytelling. "Professor Woodward prized the truth and thought that the best way to tell the truth about the past was through a narrative account," Gilmore said.

Woodward also edited The Comparative Approach to American History, a turning point in the study of American history. "Vann was one of the pioneers in comparative history, way back before it was fashionable," History Professor David B. Davis said.

On top of Woodward's rich legacy to academia, his works on the history of race relations helped to pave the way for racial integration. Martin Luther King, Jr. called Woodward's 1955 book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, "the historical bible of the civil rights movement." The book showed that segregational laws were not the result of some racist natural order. According to the New York Times [12/19/99], "Some critics regard the book as the single most influential book ever written on relations between the races in the United States."

Despite growing up in the Deep South, Woodward was a left-wing liberal who tirelessly fought segregation. "Woodward hoped to see total integration of the races," history Professor Gaddis Smith, PC '59, GRD '61, said. Woodward was disappointed with the increase of blacks choosing self-segregation, firmly believing that race should not be a category for understanding people. "He was saddened when the African Studies program was adopted by Yale," Smith said, "because the curriculum focused on race as a distinguishing characteristic."

It is hard to say what Woodward's predictions for race relations in the 21st century were. He knew that human beings are full of frailties, yet he was an optimist. Perhaps optimism motivated him to resume working after he returned from the hospital a few days before his death. Woodward died at his desk.

A memorial service for Woodward will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sun., Feb. 5, at Battell Chapel.

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