Ettore Pasquini’s Reviews > The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow > Status Update

The Communist Party, its emphasis on interracial unity, its willingness to confront the police and politicians transformed the civil rights movement (1932-44)

“The army went out of their way to discriminate against black soldiers, esp in France where French citizens were not obsessed with racial distinctions.[...] One all-black regiment fought side by side with French soldiers and earned an unprecedented # of French military honors: 171 Croix de Guerre (highest medal)”

Theodore Roosevelt acknowledged black soldiers contribution to the victory at the battle of San Juan Hill in 1898, but later he disparaged their conduct.

“Separate but equal”, 1896.
And a Georgia congressman even suggested the “ultimate extermination of a race” as possible next step!

I think Booker T. Washington was thinking out of a calculated desperation when he let go social equality for the “opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory”. Even then the new generation of Mississippi racists ruthlessly took advantage of that weakness. The more you give the more they take.

The Colored Alliance between whites (merchants and farmers) and blacks caused great black turnout in 1890, but white planters stole the election. The whites of the C.A. resented blacks for the defeat, and intensified lynchings.

Isaiah Montgomery successfully built a prosperous black community in Mound Bayou, but he was forced to sacrifice black voting. Mississippi amended the constitution. And as blacks lost power, the violence resumed stronger than before.

Will Evans (8yo) received 2 years for stealing change off a store counter. Mary Gay (6yo!) was sentenced to 30 days for taking a hat.

“Day after day we looked death in the face and was afraid to speak.” (Convict in forced labor camps)

Reading about the impunity the Klan had in killing black people reminds me of the same impunity the police have nowadays. It’s a strikingly similar behavior.