The idea of the Great Man Theory is that men, especially white men, have been the primary shapers of history and that they are superior in most ways and that they are the best leaders. There are so many things in history about women that are untold and left in the past. This made me think about when we were talking about MLK in class and we started talking about Rosa Parks. We all know Rosa Park’s name, but there was a woman(Claudette Colvin) who did what she is known for before Parks and nobody even knows her name. Both Parks and Claudette Colvin who is unrecognized should both be important historical figures in our textbooks. But because men were always the superior leaders, we mostly only know their names.
The feminists in this podcast want to put these unrecognized women in the spotlight as they should be. The accomplishments of women and minorities are silenced and put below the the things that the white man has done. It is going to be interesting to see when the Great Man Theory isn’t relavant anymore in the future.
This is a very interesting point that you bring up. It is without a question that minorities have been silenced through our history by the Great Man Theory which focuses on white males. However, in the present day we continue to be silenced by people in power, which happen to be mainly white people. Therefore, when you say, “it is going to be interesting to see when the Great Man Theory isn’t relevant anymore in the future,” my question is what is and might continue to put minorities down.
I think the Great Man Theory will unfortunately always be relevant. Even if we don’t use the Great Man Theory to define the way we record history going forward, it is a practice that has been carried out for centuries and one we must continue to recognize and try to amend.
I like how you mentioned Parks and Colvin, especially because it demonstrates what the podcast was talking about when they said people chose what got written down as history, and this is an example of white men deciding to “whiten” history by utilizing Parks instead of Colvin.
I agree with you and your mention of the feminists taking action to spread the word about the woman in history! It is so important to individuals growing up to know that they are not alone; that there have been others before them. It makes tasks less daunting. As you mentioned, in history and even today “the accomplishments of women and minorities are silenced and put below the things that the white man has done.” This is toxic. This lack of representation can be crippling for future generations to come!
It will indeed be interesting to see when and by what means the Great Man Theory will diminish in history. Malcolm X and Dr. King were both great and focused leaders of the Civil Rights Movement. Yet, I am pretty sure there were women, particularly Black women, who fought for civil rights just as diligently and perhaps even more than King or X. Due to the institutionalized patriarchy in the U.S. and around the world, it was more desirable to remember and put male figures at the forefront. Men are the ones chosen to be remembered.
I think that it is important that we continue to read about and remember the Great Man Theory in order to learn from it. There is a reason that we are reading it in this class and that is to learn history from multiple viewpoints and recognize our faults.