Synopses & Reviews
"Jim Crow" gripped the South for eighty years and race relations today are still deeply marked by its system of repressive law and custom. American RadioWorks Correspondent Stephen Smith examines the neglected "middle years" of the segregation story, through the voices of people both black and white who lived through it. American RadioWorks is the documentary project of Minnesota Public Radio and NPR News.
The Book:
Remembering Jim Crow is an extraordinary opportunity to read the voices of black southerners who were firsthand witnesses to one of the most heartbreaking and troubling chapters in America's history. Based on interviews collected by the Behind the Veil Project at Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies, this remarkable book contains extensive transcripts of the accompanying audio recordings of African Americans who tell their stories about life under segregation.
In vivid, compelling stories, men and women from all walks of life tell how their most ordinary activities were subjected to profound and unrelenting racial oppression in the workplace, on street corners, and above all, in the public facilities and institutions that systematically demeaned, disenfranchised, and disempowered black people, condeming them to second-class citizenship. At the same time, Remembering Jim Crow is a testament to how black southerners fought back against the system, raising children, building churches and schools, running businesses, and struggling for respect in a society that denied them the most basic rights. The result is a powerful story of survival enriched by vivid memories of individual, family, and community triumphs and tragedies.
CD Disc One:
Remembering Jim Crow: An American RadioWorks Documentary
After slavery and Reconstruction, The American South implemented a series of laws and customs designed to deny African Americans their dignity and rights as citizens. "Jim Crow," as it came to be called, gripped the South for eighty years, and race relations today are deeply marked by the experience. In this original one-hour radio documentary from American RadiowWorks, producer Stephen Smith illuminates these neglected "middle years" of America's segregation story, mainly through the voices of the people both black and white who lived it.
CD Disc Two:
Voices from Behind the Veil: Selections from Behind the Veil Project of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
In the early 1990s, dozens of Duke University graduate students fanned out across the South to capture and preserve stories of 20th-century segregation before the black women and men who survived Jim Crow passed away. These African American elders filled up thousands of audio cassettes remembering Jim Crow. This disc offers a selection of their stories.
Synopsis
"Remembering Jim Crow, " the groundbreaking sequel to "Remembering Slavery, " is an extraordinary opportunity to read and hear the voices of black southerners who were firsthand witnesses to one of the most heartbreaking and troubling chapters in America's history. 50 photos.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations / vii
Acknowledgments / xv
Editorial method / xxi
Introduction / xxiii
ONE Bitter Truths / 1
TWO Heritage and Memory / 56
THREE Families and Communities / 89
FOUR Lessons Well Learned / 152
FIVE Work / 205
SIX Resistance and Political Struggles / 268
APPENDIX A Remembering Jim Crow: The Radio Documentary Transcript / 305
APPENDIX B Voices from Behind the Veil: Selections from the Center for
Documentary Studies Track List / 325
APPENDIX C Informant Biographical Information / 328
Suggestions for Further Reading / 331
Index / 337