Introduction
Racism in the United States has been present since before the founding of the Republic. However, its characteristics have changed in certain ways, growing more and less odious in different time periods, as the forces of reaction and progress have struggled for change.
Articles
This article discusses the history of lynchings and how it was used to uphold White Supremacy and Jim Crow in the United States.
The Case for Reparations - This 2014 article by Ta-Nehisi Coates was published in The Atlantic. While the author is making a policy argument in favor of reparations to be paid to African-Americans, the article is also a stand-alone, mini-lesson in the challenges that black Americans faced with regards to real estate and Jim Crow. A fascinating, and heart-breaking, read.
The Case Against Reparations - This 2016 article by Adolph Reed, Jr. was written as a rejoinder to Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Case for Reparations. The author is making a policy argument opposed to reparations, citing the political and cultural difficulties such a program would create and instead proposes a non-means-tested, universal application of social programs to all people would have a greater impact on racism and poverty alike.
Web Resources
Brown v. Board at Fifty: "With an Even Hand" - This exhibition was created by the Library of Congress with the goal of discussing the history of Brown v. Board of Education and the impact of segregation, education, and social conditions in America.
History of Lynching in America - Produced by the NAACP, this resource discusses the importance of violence in up-holding the conditions of white supremacy in the United States and its quasi-legal status.
Videos
This 3-minute video details the importance of 'race' as a mechanism for maintaining social control in America.
This 18-minute video discusses the anti-racist town "Soul City," created in the 1970s to actively reject racism.
This 11.5-minute video was produced by ABC News. It provides audio clips of formerly enslaved African-Americans (recorded in the 1930s), who describe their conditions under slavery.
This 13-minute video discusses the racist origins of U.S. Law and the on-going efforts to correct this injustice.
This 10.5-minute video discusses the origins of the race-based lending practices in the United States and how it changed the demographics of the country.
This 5-minute video explains the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943 and its impact on Mexican-Americans.
This 55-minunte documentary from Discovery Science discusses the history of "Human Zoos" in America and "scientific racism."
This 13-minute video discusses the Great Migration and how many African-Americans moved from the South to the North in the early part of the 20th century.
This 8-minute video discusses the history of Blackface and minstrel shows in America.
Books
The Dawning of the Apocalypse by Gerald Horne is a wide-ranging history of the emergence of "race" as a social concept, running from the Spanish Inquisition through chattel slavery. A fascinating read.
Racism: A Short History by George M. Frederickson is a brief history of racism in the Western world. Ranging in topics from Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa, and Jim Crow America, this is an interesting look at how racism retards the development of societies and its damage effects for all.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin is a semi-autobiographical tale of Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a look at the early Civil Rights Movement.
This Vast Southern Empire by Matthew Karp is an interesting history of pre-Civil War America and the outsized influence of the slave-holding elite in shaping America's foreign policy, as well as its culture.