Guests at the recent Berkshire Conference of Women Historians are expressing fury after one of the event’s venerable cofounders — an elderly white scholar — said she wished she had dark skin so her professional life had been easier, according to numerous tweets from professors in the audience.
“Well, the Berks plenary just took a turn. A white senior scholar at the 50th anniversary plenary VERY publicly, and unapologetically, said that she wished she was Black so her professional life would be easier,” tweeted attendee Stephanie Narrow, a history PhD candidate at UC Irvine.
“She was immediately called out for her blatantly racist remarks, and refused to apologize, let alone listen, to the reason why her remarks were horrifying[ly] wrong. ‘You won’t change my mind, I’m 84 years old,'” Narrow continued in her June 30 tweet thread. “The room is shaken, it’s palpable.”