I wrote an essay on Howard and racism that is up on
the www.rehupa.com web page.
I'd appreciate any feedback and criticism. Already
found out I was wrong on Black Canaan being set in
Louisana.
The essay is a little provocative but this is one of
those REH subjects that keeps popping up.
In conan stories, REH seems to treat black people as worthy of respect as any other people. I believe he has black heroes as well as villans and often refers to a black woman as being beautiful. His other stories, set in a world more like our own of the time, were more perhaps racist because they were dealing with characters which were a product of the time and peopled with the predominant culture of the region with warts and all. Im not sure this made Howard a racist. I think that he may have been confused as to his thoughts on the matter and may have been torn between being compassionate or admiring of them and being what he considered as "tough" or manly, saying he knew the smell of a burning niggers as a statement to make him appear more so like the latter. I think he may have seemed potentially as unfeeling about the smell of a burning white man had it been in fashion to treat them in a similar way.
