American Political Science Review Vol. 104, No. 4 November 2010 doi:10.1017/S0003055410000481 Agonistic Homegoing: Frederick Douglass, Joseph Lowery, and the Democratic Value of African American Public Mourning SIMON STOW College of William and Mary hat does the furor over the “politicization” of Coretta Scott King’s funeral reveal about contem- porary black mourning practices? What does it reveal about black political thought, rhetoric, W and practice? Identifying two key modes of mourning and their concomitant conceptions of democracy, this article situates the funeral within a tradition of self-consciously political responses to loss that played a significant role in abolitionism and the struggle for civil rights. Tracing the tradition’s origins, and employing the speeches of Frederick Douglass as an exemplar, it considers the approach’s democratic value and the consequences of its failure. Arguing that the response to the King funeral indicates that the tradition is in decline, the article locates causes of this decline in significant changes among the black population and in the complex consequences of the tradition’s previous successes. It concludes by considering the decline’s potentially negative impact, both for African Americans and for the broader political community. n February 2006, the alleged politicization of the and the ways in which each serves to shape politi- funeral of civil rights icon Coretta Scott King gen- cal outcomes, this article situates Mrs. King’s funeral Ierated a media furor. Remarks by the Reverend within an African American tradition of tragic and self- Joseph Lowery and former President Jimmy Carter consciously political responses to loss that was central that were critical of the Bush administration drew par- to the fight against slavery and the struggle for civil ticular fire. Despite the presence of the president, for- rights. While acknowledging that, for most Americans, mer presidents, and numerous members of Congress, the furor over the King funeral was little more than it was widely suggested—in a response that cut across a passing media frenzy, it suggests that many African ethnic and party lines—that a funeral was neither the American responses were significant because of what time nor the place for politics. The history of the funeral they reveal about the decline of this black mourning oration seems to confirm the claim. In Plato’s Menex- tradition, and about changes in contemporary black enus, Socrates satirizes the banality of democratic pub- political rhetoric, thought, and action. This article lo- lic mourning by offering his own eulogy marked by cates the causes of this decline in socioeconomic, de- anachronism, cliche,´ and platitude. That his speech was mographic, and theological changes among the black repeated in Antiquity by those who failed to get the population, and in the complex consequences of the joke seems to confirm that he was right about what tradition’s previous successes. Employing the history democracy demands from public mourning: that the of black mourning as an analytical precedent, it con- Athenians be praised in Athens (Plato 1984, 235d). The siders the effects of the decline on both contemporary relationship between democratic politics and public black politics and on the wider political community. mourning has, however, long been a close one. Nicole The article closes by suggesting that the tradition might, Loraux (1986) argues that the funeral oration invented nevertheless, still serve as a model for a reconstituted Athens as much as Athens invented the funeral ora- approach to American public mourning. tion, and Garry Wills (1992), that Abraham Lincoln The article that follows is in five sections. The first founded the Second American Republic in the Get- offers definitions of key terms and sets out a twofold tysburg Address. Identifying two key modes of public typology of public mourning as a theoretical frame- mourning (tragic and romantic), their corresponding work for the subsequent analysis. Employed as “a pro- conceptions of democracy (agonism and consensus), ductive hermeneutical lens” (Gooding-Williams 2009, 18), the framework neither constitutes the totality of possible mourning practices nor exhausts the set of democratic understandings. The classifications simply Simon Stow is Associate Professor, Department of Government, function as ideal types for the identification of two key College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187 (sastow@ wm.edu). public responses to loss. Arguing that romantic pub- For their careful readings and insightful comments on earlier lic mourning both generates and reflects a consensus- drafts, the author thanks Lisa Disch, Steven Johnston, Kirstie based understanding of democracy—and tragic public McClure, Joel Schwartz, and the coeditors and anonymous review- mourning, an agonistic understanding of the same— ers at the American Political Science Review. Additional thanks it identifies the ways in which each approach helps are due to John Baltes, Kelvin Black, David Dessler, Caroline Hanley, Jon Hesk, Melvin Rogers, George Shulman, Dennis Smith, shape political outcomes. The second section identi- and Mike Tierney for useful discussions about these topics, as well as fies a tradition—understood as a core set of ideas or to Shirley Aceto, Hugh and Susan Babinski, David Baumflek, Ben practices with clear historical evidence of influence and Bowyer, John and Sandra Hanley, Kip Kantelo, Naomi Levy, Robyn shared understandings across time (Bevir 1999; Shelby Marasco, John McGlennon, Rani Mullen, Christine Nemacheck, Ara Osterweil, Ron and Patricia Rapoport, Matthew Rudolph, Clare and 2005, 31)—of self-consciously political black responses Daniel Schoenheimer, John Seery, and Graham and Christine Stow. to loss and locates it within the analytical framework. 681 Agonistic Homegoing November 2010 Using Frederick Douglass’ Decoration Day speeches of reconciliation and agreement that—consciously or and eulogies for Abraham Lincoln as its exemplars, unconsciously—eschews politics, democracy as consen- the article’s third section then shows how this tradition sus finds expression in not only the Greek obsession offers a democratic pedagogy that seeks to generate with political unity, but also in more recent attempts and reinforce the ambivalent “double consciousness” by John Rawls (1993) and Jurgen¨ Habermas (1992) to of black life (Du Bois 2003, 9) in its audience as a means identify a position of political consensus beyond liberal of overcoming the social conditions that produced it: neutrality. Arguing that this commitment to consensus girding African Americans for their struggle and un- serves as an “ideology for the divided city,” Loraux dermining white complacency about issues of race. By (2002a, 30) notes that it can exist in tandem with— identifying the consequences of Douglass’ inability to and sometimes exacerbate—the sectional conflict that establish this tragic sense in his white audience, and it seeks to suppress. That such an ideology is frequently contrasting it with Lincoln’s success at Gettysburg, this a rhetorical commitment rather than a political reality section further provides an historical precedent for does not diminish its capacity to shape political out- considering the impact of the decline of this mourn- comes. Indeed, for its critics, the overriding concern ing tradition and its tragic ethos on the contemporary with consensus excludes minority voices in a way that polity. Establishing the tradition’s continuity by identi- undermines democracy,with the drive toward “normal- fying its importance to post-Reconstruction resistance ization” and agreement marking out disagreement as and the struggle for civil rights, the fourth section sit- deviant or “other.” Thus, not only are minority views uates Mrs. King’s funeral at a generational intersec- often excluded, they are also frequently demonized, tion of conflicting demands for romantic and tragic with democratic politics becoming marked by shrill responses to loss, locating many of the causes of this antagonisms rather than reasoned debate (Connolly generational shift in the history of the tradition’s previ- 2005; Mouffe 2005). The object of Socrates’ scorn in ous successes. As befits the complexity of tragedy, the the Menexenus, romantic public mourning is singular article concludes by considering the potentially nega- in vision, uncritical, purely comforting, and historically tive consequences of these successes and failures, both ubiquitous: as evident in Pericles’ Funeral Oration as for African Americans and for the broader democratic it was in the choice of the Gettysburg Address as a polity. eulogy for New York City’s September 11 dead (Stow 2007). Tragic public mourning—understood as response not THE ROMANTIC AND THE TRAGIC condition—is, in contrast, pluralistic, critical, and self- consciously political. It is built on, and generative of, an In the face of death, romantic public mourning de- agonistic understanding of democracy in which conflict mands little of its audience except a recommitment to and disagreement are recognized as central to demo- the polity’s idealized vision of itself. Employed in the cratic politics. In this model, all parties to a disagree- sense suggested by Blight (2001, 2002), Foner (2002), ment recognize that there is no rational final solution and Laderman (1996), the term “romantic” identifies to their conflict, but nevertheless acknowledge the le- a narrative that draws on, and shares much with, cer- gitimacy of their opponents