The Right To Ride

In our class on February 2nd we concluded our discussion of Blair Kelley's The Right to Ride.  Central to our discussion were the ways in which the Jim Crow South established itself in the early days of segregation, and eventually how blacks sought to fight that powerful construct.  First a social phenomenon, the disenfranchisement of African Americans became legalized through a series of laws leading up to and resulting from the definitive Plessy vs. Ferguson decision. By the time of the early 20th century, African Americans faced what seemed to be unbeatable odds: the segregation of the American South (and North, though less extremely) had become so much an indisputable in and inescapable part of American life that resistance felt futile.  White supremacy had become scientific doctrine, and the laws reflected that sentiment. Regardless, and as examined in the book, early black activists would take a great risk of failure as they repeatedly staged boycotts and protests of different sizes and effectiveness.

Perhaps the most harrowing conclusion arrived at during our discussion was that indeed, despite their best efforts, the early transportation boycotts of the Reconstruction era were ultimately a failure. African Americans did not gain more rights as a result of these protests, and, as history would show, segregation would become further ingrained in the national conscience over the next number of decades. Not a result of any one factor, the odds simply were too against black activists of the time to upturn an old feudal system, as push-back was received from not only whites, but also within the black community. And while these efforts were inspiring first-steps, ultimately these early activists would have to face the question of, "What do we do going forward?"

What would eventually become one of the most popular solutions to the problem of black America was to "embrace" (or tolerate) segregation, and to build up community strength outside of and without white or governmental assistance. Having built up a number of strong communities through churches, industry, and education thanks in large part to Booker T. Washington, the segregated black South thus set to bolster its strength from within. The battle of segregation would reach a relative standstill, and many years would pass before the institution would be existentially challenged.