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Article: PDK in the civil rights spotlight.(CENTENNIAL REFLECTIONS)(Phi Delta Kappa)
- Article from:
- Phi Delta Kappan
- Article date:
- February 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Membership in Phi Delta Kappa was restricted to white men for over three decades. Oscar Rogers recounts the story of the elimination of the "white clause" and PDK's acceptance of members of all races as social and professional equals.
ALEXIS DE Tocqueville, Gunnar Myrdal, and other foreign observers certainly struck a vein of truth when they pointed out the large number of associations in the United States. One defining characteristic of our American democracy is that we have been a nation of associations. Mydral noted in An American Dilemma that, in adopting mainstream values, African Americans often exaggerated them. If most Americans are joiners, African ...