The Segregation Myth: Richard Rothstein Debunks an American Lie  

Introduction and summary The United States is a contradiction. Its founding principles embrace the ideals of freedom and equality, but it is a nation built on the systematic exclusion and suppression of communities of color. From the start, so many of this country’s laws and public policies, which should serve as the scaffolding that guides […]

“On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court declared in its landmark unanimous decision, Brown v. Board of Education, that separate schooling of black and white children was inherently unequal, marking the dawn of the modern civil rights movement. Over the next twenty years, the civil rights revolution put in place laws that attempted to guarantee, essentially […]

I have always been intrigued by Malcolm Gladwell‘s logic, I’m specifically fond of his “Revisionist History” podcast series where he goes to the heart of a story. “Brown versus The Board of Education is a fine example of his investigative skills. Gladwell notes the significance of this point in history but illuminates the faults in […]

During Reconstruction, true citizenship finally seemed in reach for black Americans. Then their dreams were dismantled. Not so long ago, the Civil War was taken to be this country’s central moral drama. Now we think that the aftermath—the confrontation not of blue and gray but of white and black, and the reimposition of apartheid through terror—is what […]

After the Civil War, 4 million former slaves were looking for social equality and economic opportunity. It wasn’t clear initially whether they would enjoy full-fledged citizenship or would be subjugated by the white population. In the 1860s, it was the Republican Party in Washington — the home of former abolitionists — that sought to grant […]

“When Eugene Burnett saw the neat tract houses of Levittown, New York, he knew he wanted to buy one. It was 1949, and he was ready to settle down in a larger home with his family. The newly established Long Island suburb seemed like the perfect place to begin their postwar life—one that, he hoped, […]

What were lynchings? Historians broadly agree that lynchings were a method of social and racial control meant to terrorize black Americans into submission, and into an inferior racial caste position. They became widely practiced in the US south from roughly 1877, the end of post-civil war reconstruction, through 1950. A typical lynching would involve criminal […]

Jim Crow etiquette operated in conjunction with Jim Crow laws (black codes). When most people think of Jim Crow they think of laws (not the Jim Crow etiquette) which excluded blacks from public transport and facilities, juries, jobs, and neighborhoods. The passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution had granted blacks […]

I deliberately have chosen not to spend much time exploring the Reconstruction period  because Black freedom (?) only lasted 10 years as the “anti-slavery” Republicans capitulated to the pro-slavery south’s need for cheap labor. Definition and Summary: The Black Codes were a series of statutes and laws enacted in 1865 and 1866 by the legislatures […]



Lincoln is idolized for the Emancipation Proclamation, but he also should be scrutinized for his support of the colonization of freed slaves.   “Lincoln was a proponent of gradual compensated emancipation. He hoped that between 1860 and 1900 that slavery would be eliminated. However, he wanted the dissolving of slavery to be tied to colonization […]

What was Lincoln’s actual position on slavery and how did he use it to his advantage during the Presidential election of 1860? “Colonization was the process to actually remove the freed slaves and settle them elsewhere, other parts of the world that whites thought were more suited for the African-American race. Lincoln was a supporter […]

I found these photos several years ago and found them quite disturbing and painful to view. Years later and after much additional research, I was drawn to them. Slave cotton production increased fivefold from 1810 to 1860; the photos following illustrate why there was a fivefold increase in cotton picking during that time. “Brown. Fugitive […]