Jim Crow Archives - Public Seminar

Activism

What Will It Take for Black Lives to Matter?

Nonviolent, cross-racial coalitions are the way back to a decent America

July 9, 2020 • by Todd Gitlin

I wrote the article that follows three years ago. Since it first appeared in the American Prospect, Black Lives Matter (BLM) has generated the largest protest movement in American history. What has changed? And what hasn’t? It remains true that the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) is ill-defined. It has rough edges ...

Monuments to Men

An Interview and Epilogue to Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America

August 29, 2018 • by Martha S. Jones

Martha S. Jones (MSJ): My first inspiration was the years I spent as a public interest lawyer. I represented poor people of color in lower Manhattan’s trial courts and rarely did those cases reach high courts or turn on constitutional questions. Still, I knew that my clients were fighting for fundamental ...

Who Bankrolled Jim Crow?

Global capital and American segregation

September 22, 2015 • by Paige Glotzer

Look no further than American suburbs to find some of the starkest legacies of Jim Crow. Segregated through redlining and disproportionately benefiting from state subsidies, American suburbs fixed the geography of white supremacy. But when we look at American suburbia, we must also look beyond America’s borders. It ...