Reconstruction and the Arc of Racial (in)Justice (Jepson Studies in Leadership series)

This collection of original essays and commentary considers not merely how history has shaped the continuing struggle for racial equality, but also how backlash and resistance to racial reforms continue to dictate the state of race in America. Informed by a broad historical perspective, this book focuses primarily on the promise of Reconstruction, and the long demise of that promise. It traces the history of struggles for racial justice from the post US Civil War Reconstruction through the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights decades of the 1950s and 1960s to the present day. The book uses psychological, historical and political perspectives to put today's struggles for justice in historical perspective, considering intersecting dynamics of race and class in inequality and the different ways that different people understand history. Ultimately, the authors question Martin Luther King, Jr.'s contention that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, challenging portrayals of race relations and the realization of civil rights laws as a triumph narrative. Scholars in history, political science and psychology as well as graduate students in these fields can use the issues explored in this book as a foundation for their own work on race, justice and American history. Contributors include: E.L. Ayers, T.J. Brown, S. Fein, C.N. Harold, J.M. Hayter, C.F. Irons, J.P. Thompson, E.R. Varon, K.E. Williams, E.S. Yellin Front Matter Copyright Contents Contributors Preface Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The arc of racial stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination: social psychological perspectives 2. How the enemies of Reconstruction created Reconstruction 3. Urban Black Protestants and the predicament of emancipation 4. Never get over it: night-riding’s imprint on African American victims 5. Veteran, author, activist: Joseph T. Wilson of Norfolk and black leadership in the Civil War era 6. The post-emancipation city of the dead 7. To end divisions: reflections on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 8. What about us? African American workers and the struggle for economic justice in the age of diversity 9. Forging a unified proletariat: relocating working class agency Conclusion. Reconstructions: lessons for racial (in)justice in America Index