Ghosts of Jim Crow

A provocative, and timely, solution for ridding America of the traces of Jim Crow policies to create a truly post-racial landscapeWhen America inaugurated its first African American president, in 2009, many wondered if the country had finally become a "post-racial" society. Was this the dawning of a new era, in which America, a nation nearly severed in half by slavery, and whose racial fault lines are arguably among its most enduring traits, would at last move beyond race with the election of Barack Hussein Obama?In Ghosts of Jim Crow, F. Michael Higginbotham convincingly argues that America remains far away from that imagined utopia. Indeed, the shadows of Jim Crow era laws and attitudes continue to perpetuate insidious, systemic prejudice and racism in the 21st century. Higginbotham’s extensive research demonstrates how laws and actions have been used to maintain a racial paradigm of hierarchy and separation—both historically, in the era of lynch mobs and segregation, and today—legally, economically, educationally and socially. Using history as a roadmap, Higginbotham arrives at a provocative solution for ridding the nation of Jim Crow’s ghost, suggesting that legal and political reform can successfully create a post-racial America, but only if it inspires whites and Blacks to significantly alter behaviors and attitudes of race-based superiority and victimization. He argues that America will never achieve its full potential unless it truly enters a post-racial era, and believes that time is of the essence as competition increases globally.

The book largely succeeds in proving that a longstanding racial paradigm continues to prevent equal opportunities for blacks and other people of color in this countryand demonstrating how this paradigm has survived through almost four centuries based on different means of oppression. Higginbotham liberally cites statistics and court cases, making the book an excellent addition as required reading for a university course., A vision of enhancing racial equalityor simply lessening racial inequalityin America. By African-American legal scholar Higginbothams account, it wasnt until he entered a well-heeled private school that he encountered the N-word thrown his way. When it was, a white coach cracked down hard, issuing a zero tolerance policy for racial epithets. No more such epithets were forthcoming, though not necessarily out of any inborn kindness on the part of the man who cast that first stone. The takeaway for Higginbotham: Civil rights movements on the part of the oppressed are well and good, but whites needed to stand up against racism in order for it to cease. Things are better in some respects than in the 1960s, but, writes the author, the formula has changed. Blacksand, to a greater or lesser extent, other nonwhite ethnic groupsare no longer judged and discriminated against strictly on the basis of race, but also on factors of class, education, income and access to political power, among others. For example, regarding sports: Recruited black players could play in games, but & walk-on black players could not. Against such broadband exclusion, Higginbotham mounts a spirited defense of affirmative action policies that is backed by good case law and by common senseor at least a sense of fair play, for, as he notes, few complain about legacy students getting into a particular college, but people certainly do complain when the numbers of blackor Asian or Hispanicstudents go up, particularly if there is a perception that they are somehow undeserving. America may be trending toward justice, but that trend is slow. Otherwise, Higginbotham asks elsewhere in this searching argument, why is there a disproportionate number of homeless blacks? A book worthy of a wide audience and wide discussion., Higginbotham's extensive research demonstrates how laws and actions have been used to maintain a racial paradigm of hierarchy and separation - both historically, in the era of lynch mobs and segregation, and today - legally, economically, educationally, and socially....Using history as a roadmap, Higginbotham arrives at provocative solution for ridding the nation of Jim Crow's ghost, suggesting that legal and political reform can successfully create a post-racial America, but only if it inspires whites and blacks to significantly alter behavior and attitudes of race-based superiority and victimization. He argues that America will never achieve its full potential unless it truly enters a post-racial era, and believes that time is of the essence as competition increases globally., Ghosts of Jim Crowmakes the historical connection between white racism and the law for the continuity in anti-black discrimination. F. Michael Higginbotham contends that the legal construction of race, segregation, and white racial privilege created the template for institutional racism., I suggest this book for everyone. It was interesting to see how the ghosts of Jim Crow are still lurking where they really shouldn't be.

F. Michael Higginbotham is Dean Joseph Curtis Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He is the author of Race Law: Cases, Commentary, and Questions.