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James W. Loewen (1942-2021)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague and remain committed to the work he began.

Civil Rights Movement to Modern Times: c. 1945 – Now

The photo shows police arresting Tougaloo College students who were trying to use the main Jackson (MS) Public Library in 1961. It was Mississippi’s first sit-in. By 1975 most examples of “de jure” segregation were gone from the Southern states. However, African Americans (and to a degree Native Americans, Latinx, and some others) still faced “mere” discrimination.

I wrote this chapter for a campus-wide one-credit course at the University of Vermont in the 1990s. It tries to show the difference race makes, its title, in six distinct areas of social structure. It needs to be brought up to date with information from the current U.S. Census and other sources. I hereby make it available without restriction to anyone who wants to undertake this update, free of charge. Alter it as you want, so long as you don’t do damage to my intent; please do footnote me. I think you will find it a useful vehicle for getting across the importance of racial disparities even today, in 2020 when I write this introduction, and even in the future, whenever you consider the update.

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