Historian Colin Gordon argues that the federal housing policies contributed to segregation in cities, but private interests led the way. Here is a taste of his piece at Dissent: Recent scholarship and reporting on racial disparities in the United States...
segregation
Desegregating bowling alleys
Check out Ashawnta Jackson’s piece at JSTOR Daily: In 1968, students from South Carolina State College, a historically Black college in Orangeburg, attempted to enter a segregated bowling alley in town. The alley was closed by police for the night....
John Marshall Harlan: The lone dissenter in Plessy v. Ferguson
Here is Peter Canellos at The New York Times. His forthcoming book is titled The Great Dissenter: The Story of John Marshall Harlan, American Judicial Hero. A taste: The Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, announced 125 years ago Tuesday,...
A Texas state representative defends the phrase “purity of the ballot box.” It does not go well.
Watch: The Washington Post has it covered: Early on in a contentious night of debate over a bill that would create newvoting restrictions in Texas, state Rep. Rafael Anchía (D) zeroed in on what he called a “peculiar term.” The bill said...
Teaching Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
This is a revised and updated version of a post originally published on March 6, 2020: After a couple weeks focusing on “creation” in my Created Called for Community (CCC) course at Messiah University, we have shifted gears slightly to focus on the...