Unit 12:: Civil Rights in the United States

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Unit 12: Civil Rights in the United States
https://doi.org/10.3735/9781961844551.book-part-061

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Abstract

In the South of 1950, little about race relations had changed in fifty years. Jim Crow laws, most dating to the 1890s, continued to segregate African Americans into Black-only facilities, from schools to sections of theaters to water fountains, and to prevent most Blacks from voting or otherwise participating in civic life. Local customs restricted Blacks to the jobs with the lowest pay and status, with little opportunity for advancement. Black professionals and business owners generally served a Black population unwelcome in white establishments. The threat of violence reinforced the local customs of white superiority.

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