Segregation: Federal Policy or Racism?

by John Chodes

MOST PEOPLE KNOW something of Jim Crow and the segregated South — even if only from melodramatic television and cinematic depictions. Few, however, know how it came into being. The antebellum South was not racially segregated. It was a race-conscious society to be sure, but it was not segregated. How did this post-war social arrangement come into being? Was it a spontaneous codification of Southern racism or can its origins be found elsewhere? In SEGREGATION, New York playwright and historian John Chodes makes the case that segregation was imported from and imposed on the South by the conquering North before it was adopted and institutionalised by the South. If Chodes is correct, there is much more to the segregation story than the “virtuous North” against the “recalcitrant South” narrative that is at the root of the ongoing demonization of Dixie and the war on her flags and monuments. Such insight could go a long way in providing new avenues of discussion to better diagnose and treat the social ills we continue to confront in contemporary America.

77 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 25, 2017

Reviews

[David M. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent information

As usual Mr. Chodes presents facts in a very well, easy to understand, and to the point manner. His works are excellent in exposing the destruction of Southern Heritage and the oppressive Government in it's works.

[Ian Minielly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chodes work on segregation is excellent, but brief. The best thing about the book is how he lightly touches on each subject in the chapters, but includes footnotes for more expansive reading. This is very much an introduction to the topic, which is probably a good way. Chode lets people dip their toes into an idea and concept purposefully kept from them and if they reject it as their federal overlords would desire, then they have only wasted 70 some odd pages of their time.

However, if they broach each topic and see there just might be a lot more meat than on this bone, they have footnotes that point towards more reading. This is a good and gentle opener into the past. People might consider giving it away as a stocking stuffer or add on present to spur thought and reality. The Southern states were clearly abused, invaded, pillaged, and scorned by waves of wicked men in an attempt to squash the real America and replace it with what we have now, a corporate mega state.