25 Facts About Noel Ignatiev

Noel Ignatiev was an American author, historian, and race theorist.

Noel Ignatiev was best known for his theories on race and for his call to abolish "whiteness".

Noel Ignatiev attended the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out after three years.

Noel Ignatiev later became involved in the Students for a Democratic Society.

When that organization fractured in the late 1960s, Noel Ignatiev became part of the group Sojourner Truth Organization in 1970.

For twenty years, Noel Ignatiev worked in a Gary, Indiana steel mill and in the manufacturing of farming equipment and electrical components.

Noel Ignatiev set up Marxist discussion groups in the early 1980s.

In 1985, Noel Ignatiev was accepted to the Harvard Graduate School of Education without an undergraduate degree.

Noel Ignatiev was a graduate student at Harvard University where he earned his Ph.

Noel Ignatiev taught courses there before moving to the Massachusetts College of Art.

Noel Ignatiev's dissertation, published by Routledge as the book How the Irish Became White, was advised by prominent social historian of American race and ethnicity Stephan Thernstrom and by Alan Heimert.

Noel Ignatiev was the co-founder and co-editor of the journal Race Traitor and the New Abolitionist Society.

Noel Ignatiev viewed race distinctions and race itself as a social construct, not a scientific reality.

Noel Ignatiev asserted that the Irish were not initially accepted as white by the dominant Anglo-American population.

Noel Ignatiev claimed that only through their own violence against free blacks and support of slavery did the Irish gain acceptance as white.

Noel Ignatiev defined whiteness as the access to white privilege, which according to Noel Ignatiev gains people perceived to have "white" skin admission to certain neighborhoods, schools, and jobs.

Noel Ignatiev stated that attempts to give race a biological foundation have only led to absurdities as in the common example that a white woman could give birth to a black child, but a black woman could never give birth to a white child.

Noel Ignatiev asserted that the only logical explanation for this notion is that people are members of different racial categories because society assigns people to these categories.

From 1986 until 1992, Noel Ignatiev served as a tutor for Dunster House at Harvard College.

In early 1992, Noel Ignatiev objected to the university's purchase of a toaster oven for the Dunster House dining hall that would be designated for kosher use only.

Noel Ignatiev insisted that cooking utensils with restricted use should be paid for by private funds.

Dunster House subsequently declined to renew Noel Ignatiev's contract, saying that his conduct during the dispute was "unbecoming of a Harvard tutor".

Dunster co-master Hetty Liem said it was the job of a tutor "to foster a sense of community and tolerance and to serve as a role model for the students" and that Noel Ignatiev had not done so.

In 2008, the American Jewish Committee objected to an encyclopedia article on Zionism that Noel Ignatiev wrote for The Encyclopedia of Race and Racism.

Noel Ignatiev spoke at a bar in Brooklyn, New York, on October 27,2019, at the launch party for an issue of the journal Hard Crackers, which he edited.