A Segregated Society

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A Segregated Society

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A Segregated Society

“Slavery is indeed gone, but its shadow still lingers over the country and poisons more or less the moral atmosphere of all sections of the republic."​​​​​​​

- Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, The Color Line, 1881

Separate, But "Equal":

Despite the freedoms gained by the Black man, Whites still wanted to maintain some semblance of the old social status quo. A desire to maintain the propaganda that Blacks were innately inferior, a sentiment that originally forced them into shackles, was the key perspective that spurred the separation of Blacks and Whites within American society.

 "The sign on the tree (“Colored”) indicates that the water fountain was for use by Blacks, 1938" - Library of Congress

"Flag flown at NAACP headquaters, 1920" - Library of Congress

“We consider the underlying fallacy of the plaintiff’s argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority."

      - Majority Opinion, Plessy v. Fegerson

An All Encompassing Reach:

Jim Crow laws, which codified segregation, dictated who you could play checkers with, which schools you could attend and everything in between. The sheer universality of the system created a seemingly insurmountable social barrier for the Tuskegee Airmen to climb. ​​​​​​​

"A Jim Crow illustration" - Library of Congress

“It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.”
        - Birmingham, Alabama Segregation Code, 1930 ​​​​​​​

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