As the remarkably diverse Chicago Humanities Festival concludes its four-day, 92-event celebration today, one of its biggest fans is William Ferris, a prominent scholar of Southern folklore named last month by President Clinton to head the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The NEH is a major supporter of the Chicago festival through the Illinois Humanities Council. Ferris recently was interviewed in Chicago, where he had come to witness a preview of festival programs.
“I think humanities is the heart of what we think of as education, from kindergarten through graduate studies,” he said.
“It’s the readings–and they vary from children’s literature to the works of Thomas Jefferson to the films of Ken Burns on the Civil War and baseball. These are all humanistic, heartfelt parts of our culture.
“And of all the cities in the nation, Chicago is most closely associated with the legacy of Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler at the University of Chicago–the definition of the Great Books and the concept of the humanities as a central part of education. You have, of course, the legacy of Richard Wright, Studs Terkel, Muddy Waters. You have an extraordinarily diverse history.”
The NEH was founded by Congress in 1965 to support scholarship in a wide variety of fields, including language, literature, history, archeology and the law. Although nowhere nearly as controversial as its fraternal twin, the National Endowment for the Arts, it also has become a prime target of budget-cutters.
An expert in the blues and a scholar interested in all aspects of Southern culture, Ferris is no stranger to the American penchant for inscrutable acts, political and otherwise. Two years ago, the NEH budget was cut by more than a third; in July, supporters in the House managed to defeat an amendment to eliminate it and were able to come up with an appropriation of $110 million. A Senate subcommittee nudged that up to $110.7.
As Ferris, who still must be confirmed for his new job, watched the brawling from the University of Mississippi, where he directs the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, he preferred to attribute it to a breakdown in communication.
“I think the NEH has been an extraordinary success,” he said, “one that touches every American in ways we rarely think about. The endowment is like America. It’s a homeland for all, no matter your politics or cultural approaches. Scholars and academics are as diverse as one can imagine.”
The endowment, he pointed out, has supported virtually every type of project, from the canon of the great works of political leaders, to studies of the blues, storytellers, the folk culture.
Ferris also admits the agency has been a terrible self-promoter and that most Americans don’t know it exists.
With 15 books to his credit as writer or editor, Ferris has specialized in bringing research discoveries to broad audiences, whether it be the center’s annual conferences on William Faulkner or the 1995 conference on Elvis Presley.
Still, what is the value of a national endowment?
“I can use myself as an example. We offer an eight-week summer institute on the blues at my university. We’ve brought 12 college teachers from around the nation each year who were chosen out of a field of more than 100. They left with skills and resources to introduce courses on the blues and improve others at the college level.
“A program like that would never happen without endowment funding. It cost roughly $100,000 to produce, and our university, and our state of Mississippi, could never have afforded it. But we think that the value of 12 teachers going home and touching lives for the rest of their careers is immeasurable.
“Another example would be our `Encyclopedia of Southern Culture,’ which cost, with support from the endowment, the Ford Foundation and private gifts, about $500,000 to produce.
“The work took us 10 years, and resulted in a 1,600-page volume that has so far sold over 100,000 copies in hardcover and paperback. It’s considered a national treasure, and without endowment support, it never would have happened.
“Other examples would be Ken Burns’ PBS series on the Civil War and on baseball. Those approached $1 million or more, but touched millions of Americans. Commercial television and private resources could never have raised the kind of support that Burns needed to produce those.”
Ferris’ interest in popular culture and his love for the blues were combined in his stint as the host of a blues show on public radio in Mississippi.
“The show was called `Highway 61.’ I was known as the `Blues Doctor.’ I would say things like, `If you’ve got the heartache or the backache or if you’re just plain lonely, stay tuned, because I’ve got a blues cure for you here on `Highway 61.’ “
Ferris doesn’t think his past as a disc jockey will be held against him. He has reason to be confident, for although many Republicans hope to weaken and finally kill the NEH, he has the support of Mississippi’s two Republican senators.
They are proud and pleased that Clinton has chosen a Mississippian, and thus may dampen the GOP animus toward the agency Ferris is called upon to lead–for a while anyway.
One of those senators is Majority Leader Trent Lott, whose support means a lot.
Any other skeletons in his closet, in addition to the DJ thing? “I love to dance. I love dancing to rock ‘n’ roll, to music with a good beat.”
That could be a problem. “Well, I don’t know. I hear there’s a lot of interest in music in the Senate. Trent Lott has a (barbershop) quartet that’s become a very important part of the Senate.”
If Ferris somehow doesn’t make it, he’ll at least have the material to sing the blues.
