Killingray’s main focus throughout his piece is on providing a detailed account on how Moody constructed his views and arguments with the aid of both science and conversion to Christianity. Killingray assures the importance of Moody’s use of Christianity as a means of arguing for equality, he mentions Moody’s focus on the Christian belief that all men are equal and therefore one man should not find himself disregarded as less by another. The use of this argument for all to be equal under God is used bt Moody to attack the Colour bar which he believes goes against the Christian call for equality and therefore in a largely Christian society a Colour bar should not exist as it is not God’s will. Within his piece, Killingray relies on primary sources rather than secondary as evidence to back up his arguments. However, secondary sources are still present. In regard to his argument of Christianity as an major influence on Moody’s views Killingray cites names including Sam Morris alongside Jeffrey Green and Herbert Aptheker as supporting evidence.
In his work Killingray provides a positive perspective on Harold Moody, he does this particularly through accounting in detail Moody’s work regarding the League of Coloured Peoples. Killingray writes on the successes of the League of Coloured People’s which he recognizes to have been impacted by Moody. In his article he mentions how the League was not only “dominated by Moody”, but also by his family members. This is an extremely useful piece of evidence displayed by Killingray as it highlights exactly how invested and much direction, he was able to provide for the League.
This piece of work produced by Killingray is a great example to use when discussing session nine’s theme of inter-war society and politics as it provides a detailed account on The League of Coloured People’s, one of the most successful groups of its kind that attempted to breakdown the prejudice that surrounded the topic of race. The focus on Moody as an influential character also provides a new viewpoint, Moody is typically referred to as an “Uncle Tom” character who was being used by the imperialist white men still. Killingray’s positive portrayal that challenges this usual character depiction of Moody provides a fresh outlook that allows us to understand just how much Moody did do for his cause and also how he was able to develop his ideas in the first place. Overall, the chapter is greatly convincing due to the sheer amount of evidence displayed that challenges the overused idea that Moody was an “Uncle Tom” figure, which degrades all he achieved for the League. The heavy focus on how Moody developed his views also contributes to a convincing chapter as it highlights the backbone of Mood’s arguments which allows us to understand how he was able to construct his arguments in such a way that he was able to make a difference.
Dear Rachel, you sre right to discuss Killingray’s coverage of Moody’s Christian principles as a guiding light in his formation of the LCP and how this led to his conviction that racist discrimination should be challenged. You could mention some of the evidence that Killingray provides in making that point. You mention that Killingray has used some secondary historians and list their names. You could also look at what primary evidence on Moody Killingray used. You miss that this chapter was in an edited book on West Indian intellectuals. Killingray is aiming to have Moody regarded as a significant West Indian intellectual but he concedes in this chapter that Moody did not write much beyond articles for the Keys and some Christian pamphlets. You show how this chapter on Moody fits in with our discussion of the LCP this week and mention the criticism that Moody received for being an “Uncle Tom” character that we discussed this week.