NSCC Library: Anti-Racism Resources : Jim Crow Era to Great Depression (1878-1945)

Introduction

Jim Crow laws were enacted to enforce racial segregation in the Southern U.S. and consequently invoked violence and discrimination against African Americans across the country. As activists advocated for better political representation, protections, education and employment in Black communities, a great number of Southern African Americans pursued new opportunities in Northern cities like Chicago, Detroit and New York (From Black Freedom Struggle in the United States)

While the Jim Crow era persisted until Brown v Board of Education in 1954, resources related to the New Deal and World War II are separated into their own section to recognize the unique impact of WWII and the New Deal on the United States and the African American Community.

The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow is a 4 part series detailing the years between 1865-1954 taking views from the rise of the Jim Crow Era at the end of Reconstrcution, through early successes in the African American community, the aftermath of World War I, and the surge of Black activism post WWII.

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

The Plessy v. Ferguson decision established the constitutional grounds for legal, racial segregation with the recognition of the "separate but equal" doctrine.

Plessy v. Ferguson: The Effects of Lawyering on a Challenge to Jim Crow
From the Journal of Supreme Court History, this article looks at history, the people, the law, and the legacy of the Plessy v. Ferguson case.
"Our Constitution is Color Blind": Justice John Marshall Harlan and the Plessy v. Ferguson Dissent
This article explores the lone dissenting opinion in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. The dissent argued that the 14th amendment required the elimination of racial segregation.

Atlanta Massacre (1906)

Atlanta Race Riots from The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History in Atlanta, GA, looks at the 1906 riots using primary source documents to describe the riots and aftermath.

Veiled Visions by David Fort Godshalk
Call Number: NSCC E-Book
Publication Date: 2005
In 1906 Atlanta, after a summer of inflammatory headlines and accusations of black-on-white sexual assaults, armed white mobs attacked African Americans, resulting in at least twenty-five black fatalities. Atlanta's black residents fought back and repeatedly defended their neighborhoods from white raids. Placing this four-day riot in a broader narrative of twentieth-century race relations in Atlanta, in the South, and in the United States, David Fort Godshalk examines the riot's origins and how memories of this cataclysmic event shaped black and white social and political life for decades to come. Nationally, the riot radicalized many civil rights leaders, encouraging W. E. B. Du Bois's confrontationist stance and diminishing the accommodationist voice of Booker T. Washington. In Atlanta, fears of continued disorder prompted white civic leaders to seek dialogue with black elites, establishing a rare biracial tradition that convinced mainstream northern whites that racial reconciliation was possible in the South without national intervention. Paired with black fears of renewed violence, however, this interracial cooperation exacerbated black social divisions and repeatedly undermined black social justice movements, leaving the city among the most segregated and socially stratified in the nation. Analyzing the interwoven struggles of men and women, blacks and whites, social outcasts and national powerbrokers, Godshalk illuminates the possibilities and limits of racial understanding and social change in twentieth-century America.
Rage in the Gate City by Rebecca Burns; June Dobbs Butts (Foreword by)
Call Number: NSCC E-Book
Publication Date: 2011
During the summer of 1906, anger simmered in Atlanta, a city that outwardly savored its reputation as the Gate City of the New South, a place where the races lived peacefully, if apart, and everyone focused more on prosperity than prejudice. But racial hatred came to the forefront during a heated political campaign, and the city's newspapers fanned its flames with sensational reports alleging assaults on white women by black men. The rage erupted in late September, and, during one of the most brutal race riots in the history of America, roving groups of whites attacked and killed at least twenty-five blacks. After four days of violence, black and white civic leaders came together in unprecedented meetings that can be viewed either as concerted public relations efforts to downplay the events or as setting the stage for Atlanta's civil rights leadership half a century later.

Springfield Riot (1908)

In Lincoln's Shadow by Roberta Senechal de la Roche
Call Number: NSCC E-Book
Publication Date: 2008
This detailed case study of the 1908 race riot in Springfield, Illinois, which began only a few blocks from Abraham Lincoln's family home, explores the social origins of rioting by whites against the city's African American community after a white woman alleged that a black man had raped her. Over two days rioters wrecked black-owned businesses, burned neighborhoods to the ground, killed two black men, and injured many others.

In Land of Lincoln, Long-Buried Traces of a Race Riot Come to the Surface
Archaeologists recently uncovered the remains of five houses that lay witness to the tragedy that set Springfield, Illinois, on fire in 1908. From Smithsonian Magazine.

Berea v. Kentucky (1908)

Berea College v. Kentucky
Learn about the background and impact of the United States Supreme Court Case Berea College v. Kentucky and explore primary source documents related to the case.
Berea College v. Kentucky: Scientific Racism in the Supreme Court
This article argues that the Supreme Court's reliance on a theory of the nature of corporations to uphold the Day Law was pretextual. The Court, rather, was persuaded by, or at least respected and was prepared to defer to, the anti‐miscegenationist argument advanced by Kentucky. The Court decided the case at a time when racist views had been blessed by prevailing scientific opinion—“scientific racism”—and the nation's elites generally shared those views. Berea College's claims on behalf of itself and its trustees, teachers, and students to Fourteenth Amendment protections were strong but could not survive the Court's sympathy for racist views and their implementation in Jim Crow legislation.

East St. Louis Massacre (1917)

New Lights Shine on Riots Against Blacks in East St. Louis and Across America
The 1917 East St. Louis race riot might more accurately be called a "racial massacre," thus avoiding confusion with the urban black uprisings of the 1960s. The riot in East St. Louis involved the slaughter of dozens--perhaps hundreds--of African Americans by marauding whites, who raged through the blue-collar satellite city burning, looting and murdering blacks, while the police stood and watched.

NAACP Silent Protest Parade (1917)

The July 28, 1917 Silent Protest Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City, was one of the first major mass demonstrations by African Americans. Conceived by James Weldon Johnson and organized by the NAACP with church and community leaders, the protest parade united an estimated 10,000 African Americans who marched down Fifth Avenue, gathering at 55th–59th Streets and proceeding to Madison Square, silently carrying banners condemning racist violence and racial discrimination. From The Beinecke Library at Yale

Red Summer (1919)

Many African American soldiers returned from WWI with a newfound sense of pride and determination for equality, but home was still plagued by racial violence, heightened during the “Red Summer” of 1919. Dr. Geoff Ward, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Washington University, discusses his research and engagement efforts to address the history of racial violence and its legacies today. Presented in partnership with the National Archives at Kansas City and the Greater Kansas City Black History Study Group.

The Red Sumer: The Awakening of Black America
This article explores the causes, events, backlash, and legacy of the Red Summer.

Tulsa Race Massacre (1921)

Tulsa Buring
60 Minutes segment looking back at the 1921 race riot in Tulsa, OK.

Interpreting Violence: THe 1921 Tulsa Race Riot and its Legacy
The article analyses aspects of the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma Race Riot and War. In the first part, it presents a brief history of Tulsa, Oklahoma and the reasons that triggered the clash that devastated Greenwood, the black part of Tulsa. The next section focuses on the role of the Red Cross in the relief project for the support of thousands of homeless African Americans, and deals with the long legal struggle for reparations and the role of the legal system in the failure to punish the guilty for the devastation of Greenwood. The last part of the article presents the controversy generated by the renaming of one of Tulsa's main streets and the direct connection to the city's violent and racial past. The legacy of segregation is deeply rooted in the American past; the use of the Tulsa Riot and War as a case study demonstrates the impact of racial conflicts on society and the necessity to identify and resolve relevant problems.
The Destruction of Black Wall Street: Tulsa's 1921 Riot and the Eradication of Accumulated Wealth.The Destruction of Black Wall Street: Tulsa's 1921 Riot and the Eradication of Accumulated Wealth.The Destruction of Black Wall Street: Tulsa's 1921 Riot and
The Tulsa race riot of 1921 was one of the most destructive riots in American history. Prior to the riot, the Greenwood community was among the wealthiest African‐American neighborhoods in the state. Residents of Greenwood had successfully developed their own business infrastructure, and by the early 1920s the neighborhood was rapidly expanding and flourishing economically. The attack by white citizens on a flourishing black neighborhood not only resulted in mass casualties, but it destroyed nearly all of the African‐American‐owned businesses and churches, as well as many residential properties. The economic prosperity of Greenwood was literally obliterated overnight. The Greenwood community was perceived as a threat to white hegemony. The riot and its aftermath served to effectively impede African‐American prosperity. The city of Tulsa provided very little monetary assistance following the event.