24 October 2019 1 Min Read
LETTER: My dad told you so, IRR
Institute of Race Relations name controversial 90 years ago
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The debate in your columns on the name of the Institute of Race Relations comes about 90 years too late.
My father, WM Macmillan, was the first professor of history at Wits, and a friend of the founders of the institute, and he objected strongly to the title in 1929. He saw the concept of “race relations” as an unwelcome import from the US, and as intended to “draw the sting” from real socioeconomic issues.
Hugh Macmillan
Sea Point
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