User:Eddie891/The Strange Career of Jim Crow

Writing and publication
C. Vann Woodward delivered the University of Virginia's 1954 James W. Richard Lectures in History. These lectures were developed into The Strange Career of Jim Crow, published in 1955 by Oxford University Press. The first edition was 155 pages long.

A revision was published in 1957. This included a forward and additional chapter, but was otherwise unchanged. The book was republished in 1964 and 1974. The 1964 edition was substantially revised and the 1974 edition added a chapter.

Echoes in Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel about Thomas E. Watson and Origins of the New South.

Content
In the preface Woodward outlined his aim as "to turn a few beams of light into a twilight zone and if possible to light up a few of its corners", about the rise of Jim Crow laws, specifically why and how they were developed. He essentially argues that while the rise of segregation as "grounded upon theories and attitudes" that were not knew, there was a general "recency of the growth and development of the segregated pattern in race relations" and the Southern United States was "the central theatre for this historic development."

Woodward argued that racial segregation in the United States emerged in the 1890s. While such sentiments existed in the United States throughout the 1800s, according to Woodward they did not take hold across the country until McKinley was president at the very end of the century. While racism in the country dates back to its settlement, segregation was not institutionalized until this time, which Woodward notes aligns with America becoming a global nation with the Spanish–American War in 1898. He argues “the South’s adoption of extreme racism was due not so much to a conversion as it was to a relaxation of the opposition,” and many white people supported segregation as a way to maintain the society they were used to. Even New Deal programs did little to combat segregation.

Jim Crow becomes a social movement with broad support. Woodward argues that one of the main reasons segregation became prevalent was to "unify" white Americans. It was not clearly planned out, and many fought its rise as "unnatural, undemocratic, unchristian, and contrary to the principles of Americanism." Woodward continues to argue that it was not until after these laws were passed that many Americans considered the races to be unequal.

To Woodward the gradual end of segregation was due to Black activism, World War II, and the growing national role of the United States on the global stage.

Reception
A reviewer in the American Sociological Review felt the book provided "an excellent description of the development of the social movement called "Jim Crowism" and thought Woodward successfully argued his points. They criticized Woodward for poor citing his sources, including too much "personal philosophy", and not adequately crediting the labor movement's work towards desegregation. A review in the Journal of Negro History of the 1957 edition described the book as "short but exceedingly well written"

A review published in Louisiana History of the 1974 republication noted that exceptions to Woodward's argument "were found time and time again."