The drifting changes in the links between cultural alignments and political ones over time are always interesting, such as the fact that Republicans were once more interested in black rights than Democrats. It’s equally true in black history. Culturally, Booker T. Washington was much more of what is currently recognized as “culturally black” than W.E.B. DuBois, as were the legions of sharecroppers and urban poor moved by Washington’s example more than DuBois’ (DuBois’ picture rarely hung on walls).

Another resonant example of how contingent the connections between cultural and political alignments always are is author Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960). Celebrated today for her documentation of rural black folklore and her explorations of the black female condition in, especially, her tour de force novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, Hurston the actual person would be as much at home on Fox News as on National Public Radio.

The 1929 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to U.S. Secretary of State Frank Kellogg. And why not? The year before, he had persuaded the great powers to outlaw war. Among those that ratified the historic Kellogg-Briand pact were the democratic countries, plus Germany, Japan, and Italy. High-minded people, deluded that signed agreements shaped history, were delirious with joy. Barely a decade later, of course, most of the world was plunged into war. Did the committee that chose the prize's recipients have any second thoughts?