Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism in Post-Racial America

Title

Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism in Post-Racial America

Files

Description

When America inaugurated its first African American president, in 2009, many wondered if the country had finally become a "post-racial" society. Was this the dawning of a new era, in which America, a nation nearly severed in half by slavery, and whose racial fault lines are arguably among its most enduring traits, would at last move beyond race with the election of Barack Hussein Obama? In Ghosts of Jim Crow, F. Michael Higginbotham convincingly argues that America remains far away from that imagined utopia. Indeed, the shadows of Jim Crow era laws and attitudes continue to perpetuate insidious, systemic prejudice and racism in the 21st century. Higginbotham’s extensive research demonstrates how laws and actions have been used to maintain a racial paradigm of hierarchy and separation—both historically, in the era of lynch mobs and segregation, and today—legally, economically, educationally and socially. Using history as a roadmap, Higginbotham arrives at a provocative solution for ridding the nation of Jim Crow’s ghost, suggesting that legal and political reform can successfully create a post-racial America, but only if it inspires whites and blacks to significantly alter behaviors and attitudes of race-based superiority and victimization. He argues that America will never achieve its full potential unless it truly enters a post-racial era, and believes that time is of the essence as competition increases globally.

ISBN

978-1479845019

Publication Date

3-18-2013

Publisher

NYU Press

City

New York, NY

Keywords

race law, civil rights, discrimination

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Law

Comments

2015 paperback edition can be found here:

http://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Jim-Crow-Post-Racial-America/dp/1479845019

Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism in Post-Racial America


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