Jim Crow Book Summary

Troops Review. In 1961, Leon Litwack set out to challenge the common misperception that slavery was merely a southern phenomenon. While he made clear that he did not intend to downplay the uniquely brutal character of the slave system that was in place in many places in the south, he clearly illustrated northern reluctance in doing away with the institution. Written during a time when the nation faced a movement that brought national and international attention to the gap between U.S. ideals of freedom and equality and the realities of Jim Crow style-racism, Litwack’s book directed the attention toward a little acknowledged fact: the long tradition of racial prejudice and oppression outside the South. His book delineates the pervasive nature of racial prejudice that heavily circumscribed the daily lives and aspirations of African Americans in the northern states. The prejudices were so strong that Blacks even had to struggle …show more content…
In a convincing narrative, he illustrates an apparent paradox: the fact that the increase of rights and privileges on the side of poor Whites usually went hand in hand with the disenfranchisement of African Americans. Whenever law or custom failed to provide the rationale for unequal or derogatory treatment, racist notions provided it. Litwack’s exploration of a subject that was largely removed from both traditional historical accounts and the nation’s public memory addressed not only common misconceptions of the past, but also those of the present. He effectively reminded the people who lived “North of Slavery” that they and the national government were deeply implicated in the Southern racial system. In addition, and of no less importance, the nation needed to take care of the outgrowths of its own racial sins – past and