Description
The effects of “Jim Crow” past and present
The Josephite Pastoral Center has books to help you understand and navigate through the conversations of race relations in the United States.
“Jim Crow” was a pejorative expression meaning “Negro”. Jim Crow laws—sometimes, as in Florida, part of state constitutions—mandated the segregation of public schools, public places, and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains for whites and blacks.
The Jim Crow laws were finally abolished on 2 July 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson historically signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It invoked the commerce clause, outlawing discrimination in public accommodations. The Voting Rights Act followed in 1965; effectively, giving black people the right to vote.
“For many people, especially those who came of age after the landmark civil rights legislation was passed, it is difficult to understand what it was like to be an African American living under Jim Crow segregation in the United States. Most young Americans have little or no knowledge about restrictive covenants, literacy tests, poll taxes, lynchings, and other oppressive features of the Jim Crow racial hierarchy. Even those who have some familiarity with this period may initially view racist segregation and injustices as relics of a distant, shameful past. Yet a proper understanding of race relations in this country must include a solid knowledge of Jim Crow – how it emerged, what it was like, how it ended, and its impact on the culture.” (Back cover of “Understanding Jim Crow”)
The Josephite Pastoral Center has available for you, books that will help you answer these questions.
The Very Rev. William Norvel, SSJ shares his personal experiences growing up Black and Catholic in the Jim Crow south. [Reg. $15.00 Sale Price $10.00]
Based on oral histories of Holy Family Church in Natchez, Mississippi, Danny Duncan Collum shares stories of the 20th-century struggle of black Catholics through the voices of the people who lived it. [Reg. $15.00 Sale Price $10.00]
Michelle Alexander’s analysis shifts our attention from the racial symbol of America’s achievement to the actual substance of America’s shame: the massive use of state power to incarcerate hundreds of thousands in the name of “War on Drugs”. [Reg. $19.95 Sale Price $15.00]
This book by David Pilgrim shares stories and memorabilia from the Jim Crow Museum. The museum and this book exist to help overcome our collective trepidation and reluctance to talk about race. Fully illustrated, and with context provided by the museum’s founder and director David Pilgrim, Understanding Jim Crow is both a grisly tour through America’s past and an auspicious starting point for racial understanding and healing. [Reg. $19.95 Sale Price $15.00]
