Will Durant: Declaration of Interdependence

Durant and Students  (Public Domain)

According to his wife and coauthor Ariel, Will Durant’s “spiritual chemistry” consisted of a “sentimental, idealizing blend of love, philosophy, Christianity, and socialism…”

This was a mix that Durant not only wrote about, but also put into practice. Case in point: Durant’s “Declaration of Interdependence.”

This groundbreaking 1944 document contended:  “…just as no state can now survive by its own unaided power, so no democracy can long endure without recognizing and encouraging the interdependence of the religious and racial groups composing it.”

The Declaration was formulated after Durant was approached by then-leaders of the Jewish and Christian communities.  They were seeking to “raise social moral standards,” and Durant suggested that they specifically work toward eliminating “racial intolerance.”

When this Declaration of Interdependence made its 1945 Hollywood debut, “Durant escorted his black housekeeper, Bleeker McGlendon, to the gala.”

Durant’s document was later incorporated into the United States Congressional Record, “influencing the civil rights movement that emerged in the 1950s.”

Resources

http://rexweyler.com/greenpeace/greenpeace-history/declaration-of-interdependence/#6

Copyright July 4, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved