In “Partisans,” Nicole Hemmer zeros in on ’90s figures like Pat Buchanan as guiding forces behind the Republican Party’s hard-right, conspiracy-minded turn.
Franken: Jim Crow returns in new guise
By BOB FRANKEN
Former CNN Reporter
Jim Crow is not a real person. He’s a fictional character invented by a white guy for demeaning performances in minstrel shows. But for generations of Black Americans, Jim Crow is very real and ever present in their lives.
It evolved into the name given to whites’ grudging end to slavery. That is, if you consider an end to slavery separate accommodations drinking fountains, restrooms, lunch counters, hotels as if you’re dirty or less than human
That “end to slavery” included separate and substandard schools, racially segregated housing and a lack of equal employment opportunity, thus the lack of realistic means to escape economic bondage. And the ultimate check on the means of escape was the blockade put up to voting.