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American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow

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_American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow_ (St. Martin's) by Jerrold Packard is in many ways a difficult book to read, for while the picayune and artificial rules by which blacks were kept in their place in the South are now so obviously stupid, they were for years maintained by whites and endured by blacks. As Packard says, this is a history of the worst of America, an examination of how poorly it had lived up to the ideals for which it really stands. There is also inspiration here, in the courage of black Americans who were able to achieve basic justice out of oppression. There is also some need for congratulation; we have not achieved harmony between the races, but the egregious practices described here will never come back.

There was hardly a part of society that the Jim Crow laws or customs did not control. Naturally, the rules were different in different places (leading to confusion for black people who traveled anywhere), but the examples given in the book will remind Southerners who are old enough just how strange the system was. There might be two lines for movie tickets, if blacks were allowed in the theater, and if they were, they had to sit upstairs. In North Carolina and Florida, officials insisted that schoolbooks used by blacks had to be stored in different spaces than those used by whites. Sometimes a town library might have a room for black users, but often they were barred from the library altogether. A 1900 Mississippi law allowed black corpses to be dug up from white cemeteries and sent to black ones. Whereas slaves could have gone to white churches, within a specified section, free blacks were barred from white congregations, who were told that such discrimination was decreed by God himself. Streetcar and bus conductors were given police power to enforce seating regulations; in some places, the front of a streetcar was regarded as the place for inferiors, prompting a white person to remark on the variant: "It isn't important which end of the car is given to a nigger. The main point is that he must sit where he is told." Of course Jim Crow ruled on housing, schooling, and voting. Eventually, Packard demonstrates, the economic and social forces from World War II, and the glare of international embarrassment, provided important reasons for the nation to make changes.

Whatever forms of racism remain, Jim Crow is dead, killed by hundreds of heroic acts large and small. Thus Packard's final chapters are inspiring, showing Rosa Parks refusing to surrender a bus seat to a white passenger in 1955, and the resultant Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. A preacher named Martin Luther King, Jr., was launched into leadership by the boycott, which grew into a movement of freedom riding, lunch counter sit-ins, and voting registration drives. It was no easy victory; though the blacks were constantly accused of violence, they were the victims, not the culprits, of church bombings, lynchings, and police dog attacks. Equal treatment should not have been so long denied, and this battle never should have had to happen, but it is in the end a victorious tale. Packard reflects upon the ambiguous lesson that many young people in the south now have no idea what Jim Crow means, and are astounded to learn how ubiquitous it was. His book is a useful and compelling history of the institution, a reminder that understanding the past will help us confront the current challenges of race relations.

The African American has come a long way, or have they? American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow by Jerrold M. Packard chronicles the very beginnings of the well know, well established Jim Crow system developed in America decades ago. It was a successful system that put into place, laws which kept the African America a second-class citizen even after slavery was abolished. The purpose was to keep sacred and separate any person of color from becoming equal to the white establishment.

American Nightmare is an intense historical recollection of Jim Crow years and the plight of the African American. It is a powerful book and Mr. Jerrold very skillfully details in length the root causes, the rationale, the religious and educational aspects, and the dismantling of the vicious Jim Crow system. This book reminds us how devastating this era was and that we should never allow anything resembling this degrading system to ever surface again.

I applaud Jerrold M. Packard for producing a book that reminds us all of who we are and where we are today. It is an historical and educational guide of the past, present, and for the future of America to strengthen its human rights policies to insure that all citizens are treated equal. As mentioned earlier, the African American has come a long way or have they? Read American Nightmare: The History of Jim Crow and you decide for yourself.

Reviewed by Kalaani

I was brought up in the rural Louisiana south in the 50's. I always wondered about the "White Only / Colored Only" signs, but never knew until I read this book that they were the result of LAWS and not just local custom. The book is factual but interesting. I came away with a lot better realization of how our society was back then. I gave a copy to my brother; he likewise appreciated the book and found it very informative.

Although this book was not the easiest read, it was very informative about our country's history. Not only does it cover all aspects of the Jim Crow laws in the legislative branch , but ties in personal accounts of the laws as well. The book gives detailed descriptions of the events that led up to the Brown vs. Board of Education case, which eventually outlawed the "separate but equal" facilities. The non-fiction book begins with the civil war, and the freeing of the slaves. It goes into detail about when the slaves were finally freed, they had no place to go. President Andrew Johnson vetoed both measures of Congress to aid the former slaves, and some form of help finally came almost three years after the war had ended. The book also explains how the Jim Crow laws came into affect, because the South was still upset that they did not have total control of the African Americans.
The book, written by Jerrold M. Packard, is a present-day account of the history of our country. It explains all the concepts of the Jim Crow laws, and how, even today, the laws affect our country. Packard describes for his audience the horrid details of the segregation in our country, and its affect on society today, 40 years later.

Life in the South in segregaded times wasn't so bad. Life was easier for everyone. No dissension or crime against the other race. No problems of any kind in this town where I grew up. Only a few miles from here, in Oak Ridge, the school was integrated without provocation, as George Wallace was not our governor. It wasn't so easy to make changes in the smaller towns near Alabama, because of his influence, no doubt. I was told that they were driving around town with guns. Most people were afraid to get out at night.

In this town now, it is that way again. No one is safe, but mostly I think it is all about drugs and not race. For thirty years or more, they have had their way with the white trash who wanted the drugs. They have the big cars, Jaguars, Cadillacs, and TownCars as the drug money will allow them to pay cash.