Description
Book SynopsisDid American racism originate in the liberal North? An inquiry into the system of institutionalized racism created by Northern Jim Crow Jim Crow was not a regional sickness, it was a national cancer. Even at the high point of twentieth century liberalism in the North, Jim Crow racism hid in plain sight. Perpetuated by colorblind arguments about cultures of poverty, policies focused more on black criminality than black equality. Procedures that diverted resources in education, housing, and jobs away from poor black people turned ghettos and prisons into social pandemics. Americans in the North made this history. They tried to unmake it, too. Liberalism, rather than lighting the way to vanquish the darkness of the Jim Crow North gave racism new and complex places to hide. The twelve original essays in this anthology unveil Jim Crow's many strange careers in the North. They accomplish two goals: first, they show how the Jim Crow North worked as a system to maintain social, economic, and p
Trade Review"The editors' previous collections anchored a major shift in the historiography of the black freedom movement. Likewise, thiswill serve as an indispensable resource." * Julia Rabig, Assistant Professor of History, Dartmouth College *
"This important collection advances a new framework for understanding how Jim Crow operated in the North" * Matthew Delmont, Arizona State University *
"This impressive, well-edited collection will be essential reading for anyone grappling with the pervasive stain of slavery in the United States." * Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher, Jr. University Professor, Harvard University *
"This sharp, clear-eyed, passionately argued collection explodes, indeed demolishes, any lingering misconceptions that structural racism and discrimination began or was even most fully realized in the South. The editors and contributors to this collection argue -- importantly and provocatively -- that "the North led the nation in systematized racial injustice." A must read for all students, teachers and scholars of American race relations." * Annelise Orleck, author of We Are All Fast Food Workers Now *
