The issue of race has always fascinated me. To understand the complexity of race relations, I read for the first time C. Vann Woodward’s pioneering book on the history of race relations (Jim Crow Laws) when I was in college. The term Jim Crow refers to a large body of law and social custom which served to establish and maintain segregation of the races in the South following the end of Reconstruction and moving into the mid-twentieth century. I recently reread The Strange Career of Jim Crow to gain some perspective on the problem. In truth, I am working hard to understand the nuances of racism.

 

I was shocked to learn that the rigid system of segregation and total White political dominance evolved over a twenty-five year time period from 1875-1900. That is, Whites and Blacks comingled in the early years after the Civil War. Moreover, Whites tolerated Blacks having some political positions. Starting with the Compromise of 1877, Supreme Court Rulings that emasculated the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and America’s rule over Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines did Whites both in the North and South fully embraced White Supremacy. That is, Northerners accepted Southern racial regulations after America acquired these new possessions and enforced similar codes.

 

Growing up in Texas, from a very early age, I recognized that the White Protestant Male had a dominant position in the society. Because my father was a Professor of Sociology at the University of Houston, Dad brought an academic understanding of the subject to me. He carefully explained that lower classes of whites were the most rabid in enforcing segregation, because their only possession was superiority to Blacks. That said, the White Power structure in order to retain power accepted Jim Crow laws. Stated differently, wealthy Whites to assure political power, aided the emasculation of Blacks. The White Power Structure that initially used Blacks to “Redeem” the South from Radical Rule found it expedient to disenfranchise Blacks to retain their rule. 

 

After the Brown vs. Board of Education Decision, Dad took me to a black school. Even to my ten-year-old eyes I could note the stark differences. That is, the Black School only had wooden structures and the playground was unkempt.  So much for Separate but Equal! 

 

Every element of Texas society supported segregation and White rule. Specifically, restaurants, hospitals, parks, the library, the zoo, etc. prevented integration. Because of Brown vs. Board of Education, the Houston School Board and the University of Texas reluctantly accepted token integration. At the University of Texas, I only attended a few classes with Blacks. Interestingly enough, at the University of Michigan, there were no Blacks in either my MA program in economics or my MBA program. Stated differently, with the exception of a few Blacks on the University of Michigan football team, I saw little difference between the University of Texas and the University of Michigan. At the University of Michigan I learned from a Professor that sports teams, the Service Academies, and the army were more accommodating to integration that upper middle class enclaves such as the University of Michigan or places of worship. 

 

However, times were changing. After World War II, the Blacks in Houston were more assertive in addressing discrimination. For example, Blacks no longer tolerated living in substandard housing on the “wrong side of the tracks.” Instead, they bought homes in formerly all White areas. In 1954, Houston hired the first Black policeman. In 1966, the University of Texas hired its first Black Professor. The Texas football team did not integrate until the early 1970’s. 

 

In 1963, I saw on television the March on Washington, and in 1964 and 1965 the great Civil Rights Acts were passed. Unlike the Deep South, the civic and business leaders of Houston made efforts for peaceful token integration. 

 

During this time, I read for the first time Vann Woodward’s classic Book, On the Strange Career of Jim Crow. 

 

Woodward highlighted the existence of two "reconstructions" in the South. The first occurred at the end of the Civil War, with the occupation by radical Republican forces, who enforced the emancipation and equal rights Amendments to the Constitution. This first reconstruction lasted until 1877, when the Great Compromise allowed the peaceful election of a President and the removal of all Northern occupational forces from the South. 

 

At this point, the South had choices to make regarding race relations, and the victorious approach was to establish a large body of codified statutes, named Jim Crow, to vigorously and completely separate whites and blacks. This separation of the races evolved over a 25-year period.

 

Interestingly enough, during the 1890’s Populists formed an alliance with Blacks to try to dismantle the control of the wealthier Whites. However, after the Populist movement failed to achieve control, they bitterly turned on their former Black allies. Sadly, they became vicious racists. Throughout the South White demagogues to achieve power instituted a series of laws that undermined Black civil rights, including the right to vote. Grandfather clauses, the poll tax, and all White Primaries reduced Black participation in the political process to effectively zero.  

 

The second reconstruction began quietly at first, with desegregation of a few institutions, most notably the U.S. military, and a series of Supreme Court decisions, providing for integration of public facilities and institutions, most notably state-operated public schools. Also, Black veterans of World War II were much more militant to seeking justice than their predecessors in World War I. They recognized the hypocrisy of defeating Nazi Germany and their own inferior position. As blacks and white liberals pushed for implementation of new law and Court decisions, however, an independent, recalcitrant South fought back. The resultant conflict between Southern state governments and forces for integration, supported by the federal government, opened old wounds, to be certain, and periods of violence and backlash have ensued. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, officially marked the end of Jim Crow.

 

Jim Crow is legally dead. To conclude that its demise has resulted in the concurrent demise of segregation, anger, and bitterness between the races, however, is fallacious. Attitudes, beliefs, social customs and de facto segregation cannot be legislated. Certainly, the growth of large urban centers in the South and the movement of the United States into a leadership role in a world in which the white race is a minority, together with more opportunity for races to converge, has promoted greater social and economic equity for a growing middle class black population. The majority of blacks, however, remain in urban slums in both the North and South, with less than equal opportunity to pursue the "American Dream" of Martin Luther King. Until these inequities are resolved, moreover, racial tension will continue to impact not just the South, but the entire nation.

 

We are in the midst of changes to accommodate political correctness. Nobody can predict future actions. Statutes of confederate generals are being removed and schools are being renamed to eliminate their association with Confederate leaders and generals. Moreover, we are now going beyond that into areas that are more controversial. For example, a painting of George Washington was removed from a San Francisco school because it depicted Blacks and Native Americans in a manner that some felt was degrading. Recently, a Chicago suburb eliminated a painting of school activities because it only portrayed white children. There are efforts underway to eliminate references to Woodrow Wilson at Princeton and Andrew Jackson from our paper currency.