segregation

After Brown v. Board, Segregationists also Attacked "Woke" Businesses

by Lawrence B. Glickman

When two TV networks decided in 1956 to no longer air racist lyrics to popular songs by Stephen Foster and other minstrelsy holdovers, some southern segregationists took the move as an attack on the very foundations of civilization. 

Health Researchers Show Segregation 100 Years Ago Harmed Black Health, and Effects Continue Today

Census data analysis by demographic historian J. David Hacker and health researcher J’Mag Karbeah correlate indexes of racial segregation with child mortality rates as a proxy for overall population health and conclude that the gap between black and white infant mortality grew the more segregated a city was. 

New Evidence: Rehnquist Pretty Much OK with Plessy v. Ferguson

by Richard Hasen and Dahlia Lithwick

A 1952 memo that Rehnquist wrote defending "separate but equal" was raised during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings and dismissed as work-for-hire. It is now clear that he supported the narrow interpretation of the 14th Amendment that the current court majority hopes to use to undermine civil rights. 

The Biden Administration Wants to Undo the Damage of Urban Highways. It Won't be Simple

In cities across the nation, highway projects blighted working class communities, especially nonwhite ones. Is it possible for new policies to heal that damage? 

To Understand America's Failure on Housing Desegregation, Look at the Capital City

by Kaila Philo

With federal support, the private housing market was built around racial segregation. To understand how federal fair housing law and policy adopted since the 1960s failed to undermine it, it's not necessary to venture too far from Capitol Hill. 

Why a Book About Two Bunnies Marrying Was Banned in 1959

Illustrator and author Garth Williams feigned incredulity that his tale of a white and black rabbit's romance ran afoul of Jim Crow sensibilities, but it's hard to see how else it was likely to be perceived, says Sharon Patricia Holland of the University of North Carolina. 

Can Virginia Preserve the Sites of "Green Book" Travel from the Jim Crow Era?

A new law in Virginia would declare the sites promoted as safe and welcoming for Black travelers in a widely-circulated travel guide from the segregation era to be historic and worthy of protection against development. 

Mystery Solved: Student Photographed Integrating Virginia High School in 1962 Identified

A photo used by the school district for years to mark its history didn't identify Robert Christian, then 12 years old, until now. 

Rosa Parks: Radical

by Jeanne Theoharis

At the 110th anniversary of her birth, it's important to remember the civil rights icon as a militant organizer and career activist, writes the author of a new biography. 

When Mississippi Banned Sesame Street

As Mississippi prepared to launch a state-run educational television network in 1970, its members voted 3-2 that images of a multiracial group of children at play on "Sesame Street" would antagonize conservative politicians and jeopardize the network's funding.

Biden Administration Plans Action on Fair Housing

State and local governments are required under the Fair Housing Act to examine and act to eliminate patterns of discrimination in housing within their boundaries. The federal purse has seldom been used as leverage to ensure they comply. 

Review: When Freedom Meant the Freedom to Oppress

by Jeff Shesol

Jefferson Cowie's new book traces the current resurgence of racist and antigovernment radicalism through the history of George Wallace's Alabama home county. 

1957 Jerry Jones Photo Shows How Close The Past Really Is

"We know, at least in the abstract, what happened in the days and years after this photo of Jones was taken. He was there and he is here."

The Tyranny of the Maps: Rethinking Redlining

by Robert Gioielli

The four-color mortgage security maps created by New Deal-era bureaucrats and bankers have become a widely-known symbol of housing discrimination and the racial wealth gap. But does the public familiarity with the maps obscure the history of housing discrimination? And what can historians do about that?

Will Alabama Voters Strip Jim Crow Language from State Constitution?

The framers of the 1901 constitution were direct about their goal to maintain a government controlled by whites.

The Selective Politics of the "Learning Loss" Debate

by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Discussions of the disruption to learning caused by COVID-related school closures often ignore the endemic inequalities in American education and exposure to harm from COVID, and sideline the voices of teachers who have been sounding the alarm about the dangerous state of their facilities for years. 

The Ongoing Problem of Segregation in America

by Aziz Rana

The thoroughness of racial segregation through the housing markets is a profound obstacle to the kind of interracial political organizing the left wants to accomplish. 

Marfa, TX School to Become National Historic Site Preserving Story of Segregated Mexican Americans

The segregation of Anglo and Mexican students in Texas was not always enforced by law, but local custom and prejudice was sufficient in many places. 

Far Right Presence in Law Enforcement is Scary, but Not New

by Anna Duensing

Edwin Walker oversaw the National Guard's enforcement of integration in Little Rock out of duty. He held a personal repugnance of integration and soon traded his military career for the far right. Today's Oath Keepers are his political descendants.

Mr. Biden, Tear Down this Highway

It's time to stop expanding the urban highways that divide communities, perpetuate racial segregation and harm health, and to consider removing them entirely, argues one architectural designer.