Kenneth Rexroth Quotes
Did you know I staged the first performance in America of At the Hawk's Well?
Rexroth, Kenneth. An Autobiographical Novel, Doubleday, 1966, p. 301.
In his effort to rid the University of the vestiges of racism from the school’s disgraceful segregation riots of the 1960s, he found that the emotional reaction and the anger that developed over symbols was much greater than that which was the result of substantive changes. The Confederate Flag made Blacks and some whites very angry that it was flown and exhibited in many places at the university. It was an insult to Blacks as it extolled not only slavery but an entire rebellion to keep them in subhuman conditions. Some whites saw it as symbols of treason and disloyalty to the United States which should not be celebrated at a state university. At the same time, whites saw the Chancellor’s efforts to diminish the exhibiting of the Confederate flag as an insult to their ancestors, and the values of many Americans and an infringement on their freedom of expression.
Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine. Largely self-educated, Rexroth learned several languages and translated poems from Chinese, French, Spanish, and Japanese.
