Shelby Steele
Shelby Steele is a prominent American author, professor, and documentary filmmaker known for his explorations of race relations in the United States. Born on January 1, 1946, in Chicago, Illinois, he grew up in a biracial family within an all-Black community, deeply connecting with his African American heritage. Steele became active in the civil rights movement during the 1960s while attending college, advocating for the rights of African Americans and addressing societal injustices. After completing his education, including a Ph.D. in English literature, his views evolved, leading him to emphasize the importance of individual initiative and self-sufficiency for success, a stance that diverged from mainstream civil rights perspectives.
His first book, *The Content of Our Character*, published in 1990, established him as a notable voice, particularly among political conservatives. Steele has authored several other influential works addressing themes of race, freedom, and societal expectations, earning accolades such as the National Humanities Medal. He has also served as a Hoover Fellow, focusing on multiculturalism and affirmative action, and directed the documentary *What Killed Michael Brown* in collaboration with his son, which examines racial issues and misinformation in the context of a high-profile police shooting. Despite being labeled as conservative, Steele identifies as a "classical Jeffersonian liberal," reflecting his complex views on race and society.
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Subject Terms
Shelby Steele
- Born: January 1, 1946
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
Author Profile
Writer Shelby Steele grew up in Chicago under the guidance of strong parents who provided a stable family relationship for him, his twin brother, and his two sisters. Although Steele and his family are biracial, he grew up in an all-Black community and more strongly identified with his African American heritage. As a college student, he became involved in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, following, at different times, the leads of and . While attending Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Steele led civil rights marches there and protested that African Americans were victimized by White society.
Steele graduated from Coe in 1968 and went on to earn a sociology degree from Southern Illinois University in 1971, and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Utah in 1974. After the completion of his education, his marriage to a White woman, and the birth of their two children, Steele developed new thoughts about African Americans in America. He came to the conclusion that opportunities are widely available to all citizens if they have personal initiative and a strong work ethic. Upon reaching this conclusion, which ran counter to his earlier ideas, Steele began to publish his ideas in major magazines and journals. His philosophy was often harshly dismissed by leaders in the civil rights movement, but it also garnered much praise, especially from African American political conservatives.
Steele was one of a few African Americans willing to challenge what was called the civil rights orthodoxy. When his work was published, he quickly became the subject of magazine and journal articles and was interviewed widely on radio and television, all the while drawing fire from numerous civil rights leaders.
In 1990, his first book, The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America, was published. With this collection of essays on race relations in America, Steele became recognized as a leading spokesman for political conservatives of all races. The main thesis of his book is that individual initiative, self-sufficiency, and strong families are what black America needs. The book won a National Book Critics Circle Award and was an alternate selection for the Book-of-the-Month Club. Steele’s subsequent books include A Dream Deferred: The Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America (1998); White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era (2006); A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited about Obama and Why He Can’t Win (2007); and Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country (2015).
In 1994 Steele was appointed a Hoover Fellow. Specializing in race relations, multiculturalism, and affirmative action, he holds the title of a Robert J. and Marion E. Oster Senior Fellow. Along with this title, he has won a number of awards including the National Humanities Medal in 2004 and the Bradley Prize in 2006 for his contributions to the study of race in America.
Although labeled conservative by most, Steele refuses the label and calls himself a “classical Jeffersonian liberal.” In 2020, in a collaboration with his son Eli Steele, Shelby Steele directed and produced the documentary What Killed Michael Brown, a controversial documentary addressing the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown. Steele used the production to highlight racial injustice and misinformation.
Bibliography
Cooper, Matthew. “Inside Racism.” The Washington Monthly, Oct. 1990, www.unz.com/print/WashingtonMonthly-1990oct-00053. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Kronen, Samuel. “American Humanist.” City Journal, 2021, www.city-journal.org/article/american-humanist. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Loury, Glenn C. “Why Steele Demands More of Blacks Than of Whites.” Academic Questions, vol. 5, fall 1992, pp. 19–23.
“‘Michael Brown Was Not Killed by Racism’: Hoover Fellow Shelby Steele’s Documentary Laments the Tragedy of a Young Black Man Whose Death Far Too Many Seized upon as a Means to Power.” Hoover Digest: Research & Opinion on Public Policy, vol. 21, no. 2, spring 2021, pp. 162–73, EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=151274156&site=ehost-live. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Prager, Jeffrey. “Self Reflection(s): Subjectivity and Racial Subordination in the Contemporary African American Writer.” Social Identities, vol. 1, Aug. 1995, pp. 355–71, doi.org/10.1080/13504630.1995.9959441. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Review of Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country, by Shelby Steele. Publishers Weekly, 22 Dec. 2014, pp. 62–63.
“Shelby Steele.” American Enterprise, vol. 17, no. 3, 2006, p. 12.
Vassallo, Phillip. “Guarantees of a Promised Land: Language and Images of Race Relations in Shelby Steele’s The Content of Our Character.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics, vol. 49, spring 1992, pp. 36–42.