Rhodes Scholar and Duke University senior Jamal T. Burns
The wealthy industrialist Cecil Rhodes was an uber-racist whoâin an 1877 paperâasserted that it would be better for native Africans to be under the heel of British rule.
According to a recent story in
The South African newspaper, Rhodes wrote in 1877: âI contend that we [white Englishmen] are the first race in the world, and that more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. Just fancy these parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimen of human being, what an alteration there would be in them if they were brought under Anglo-Saxon influence.â
Filed in Features on December 10, 2020
Recently, the Rhodes Trust announced the 32 American winners of Rhodes Scholarships for graduate study at Oxford University in England. Rhodes Scholarships provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England and may allow funding in some instances for four years. Being named a Rhodes Scholar is considered among the highest honors that can be won by a U.S. college student.
The scholarships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, an industrialist who made a vast fortune in colonial Africa. According to the will of Rhodes, applicants must have “high academic achievement, integrity of character, a spirit of unselfishness, respect for others, potential for leadership, and physical vigor.”