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How Free Is Free?: The Long Death of Jim Crow (Nathan I. Huggins Lectures)

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The American historian Leon Litwack (b.1929) taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1964 until his retirement in 2007. Litwack is best-known for his scathing critiques of segregation in the post-Civil War South in "Been in the Storm so Long: the Aftermath of Slavery" (1979), which received both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, and its sequel, "Trouble in Mind: Black Southerners in the Age of Jim Crow". (1998). A gifted teacher, Litwack writes in a provocative, challenging style which draws freely on popular culture as well as on political and economic history.

Litwack's most recent book, "How Free is Free: The Long Death of Jim Crow" (2009) consists of three lectures Litwack delivered at Harvard following his retirement as the "Nathan I. Huggins Lectures." Huggins (1927 -- 1989) was a distinguished professor of African American history at Harvard. In 1981, he established the W.E.B. DuBois Lecturship in Afro-American Life, History, and Culture.

In three short and lively essays drawn from the lectures, Litwack offers an overview of Jim Crow in the South and in the United States from the conclusion of the Civil War until today. Litwack argues that for all the real gains that African Americans have achieved, Jim Crow remains alive as evidenced by the continued segregation of American public schools, the disparity in economic status between blacks and whites, the substandard living conditions of many blacks, the expanding underclass, the high incarceration rates for black males, among other things. His book concludes with the observation that "Everything has changed, but nothin' has changed." (p. 143)

In the first lecture, "High Water Everywhere", Litwack examines the growth of segregation and Jim Crow in the South following Reconstruction. He tells the chilling story of intimidation, lynchings, economic and personal subordination of blacks to whites, and violence that characterized the South from the late 1900s through WW I. The discussion of the prevalence of lynching during this time is particularly eye-opening. It reminds Americans of a part of our history that is all-too-frequently passed over. This lecture ends with WW I. With African Americans serving in the war to end all wars in great numbers, many became hopeful that they would receive a place of equality in American life. This hope was dashed, but political consciousness was raised.

The second lecture, "Never Turn Back" focuses on WW II and its decisive impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Over 1,000,000 African Americans served in WW II. African Americans noted the apparent incongruity between fighting the brutal and racist German and Japanese regimes on the one hand and living in a deeply segregated society in which their own rights were sorely limited and abused on the other hand. African American troops were subject to humiliation in the United States, as German POWs were allowed to ride in the white only railroad cars and eat in the white only restaurants while the African Americans themselves remained excluded. The African American troops were subject to indignities in the segregated army camps of the South. The experience of WW II, Litwack concludes, was the driving factor that led to the Civil Rights revolution which followed.

The final lecture, "Fight the Power" offers a brief summary of the Civil Rights Movement focusing on Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X, and on places such as Selma and Birmingham which have become ingrained in the American conscience. Litwack fully recognizes the strides that were made during these times. But in the continued economic and social marginalization of many African Americans, Litwack concludes that Jim Crow still has not yet died.

Litwack has written a thoughtful, polemical book with the purpose of getting the reader to examine the questions the book raises afresh, free of preconceptions. There is much to be learned from Litwack's historical account and from the challenge posed by his conclusions. Litwack's command of African American music and his ability to use its words to explain the continuity of African American experience in the United States is illuminating. The first two essays draw heavily upon the blues while the final essay shows as well Litwack's impressive understanding of rap and hip-hop. Litwack writes (p. 137):

"Since its inception, rap, like R&B, the blues, and rock 'n roll, has been subjected to every imaginable charge: it's been called blasphemous, obscene, subversive -- the sound of the social fabric dissolving. Of course, what sets off the most creative rap from the rest is precisely the degree to which it lives up to these charges. It is precisely these qualities that make rap such a vital and indispensable expression, perhaps the most creative force in American music of the past quarter-century, certainly the most disturbing, intimidating, and subversive."

This little book is important both in its own right and as an antidote to complacency in understanding the history of Jim Crow in the United States.

Robin Friedman

Inside this slim volume is a terrifying story, more frightening than any horror novel. The terrifying part is that it's all true. How does one explain the ownership and debasement of a fellow human being?

The first chapter jumps right in, teaching me something new. Did you know that the original "reparations" (the word that jokingly gets tossed around by black comedians like Dave Chappell) were originally compensation that was to go to former slave-owners who had been deprived of their "property" after the civil war?

The entire book is chilling. But I had to stop numerous times because it was difficult to read. I cannot even post some of the quotes in this book, because they would be considered profanity by Amazon's review guidelines. Like this:

"The lynching of Mary Turner... eight months pregnant, a mob of several hundred hung her upside down from a tree. While she was still alive, someone used a knife to cut open the woman's abdomen. The infant fell to the ground, where it cried briefly. A member of the mob crushed the baby's head beneath his heel. Mary Turner was then hanged."

The sad thing is that we know that people are capable of these things, because even if these things aren't happening here, they are happening somewhere. People need to read this, so that we understand that our own humanity is so fragile and so precious. But you need a strong heart and a strong stomach. I don't even know what to say. I'm very upset, even while writing this.

I have to admit, I could not read through some parts. I had to stop.

Mr. Robin Friedman, a voracious reader, rated this book five stars. His review is quite exhaustive and excellent. I rate this book four stars. My comments are about the third essay. The reviewer, Mr. Robin Friedman, writes:

"The final lecture, "Fight the Power" offers a brief summary of the Civil Rights Movement focusing on Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X, and on places such as Selma and Birmingham which have become ingrained in the American conscience. Litwack fully recognizes the strides that were made during these times. But in the continued economic and social marginalization of many African Americans, Litwack concludes that Jim Crow still has not yet died."

These are my thoughts about Professor Litwack's third essay, which Mr. Robin Friedman accurately states that "Litwack concludes that Jim Crow has not yet died."

Jim Crow has died. But the effects of slavery and and one hundred years of Jim Crow practices have impeded blacks from achieving economic equality with white Americans. This is a difficult process. Professor Litwack does not delve into the complexity of the issues. He make inflammatory statements without discussing ways of resolving these matters. For instance, Professor Litwack writes:

"The Supreme Court ended school segregation by law, but it failed to end segregation by income and tradition...By the 1970s, the white exodus into the suburbs, North and South, had made a mockery of racial integration."

Are not both blacks and whites entitled to move to the suburbs? The suburbs offer a more sedate environment than the inner city. Is that not a plausible reason to move to the suburbs? I think it is an incorrect or at least an incomplete assumption that those whites who moved to the suburbs did so to escape going to schools with blacks.

Professor Litwack also writes:

"Today, some 28 per cent of black men can expect to be sent to jail in their lifetime. A black male resident of California is more likely to go to a state prison than a state college."

This statistic is not meaningful as it relates to the existence of Jim Crow laws. Are blacks being denied the opportunity to enroll in California state colleges? Is Professor Litwack advocating that the State of California release all blacks in prison and enroll them in California colleges? Sociological and economic changes to the black population are going to take time because of the efects of Jim Crow practices of the past.

My recommendation to correct the effects of past Jim Crow practices is to continue and expand the the programs already under way. By programs, I am referring to free breakfasts and lunches at school for students of all races that cannot afford to eat meals, public housing, welfare assistance, etc. I would also recommend after school tutoring to children of all colors, so black students have an opportunity to do better in school. I would also try to reach parents, of children of all races, to monitor the progress of their children at school. Education is the major key to success.

Even in the suburbs, the schools in the wealthier neighborhoods generally have a better reputation than the schools located in neighborhoods that are lower in the economic strata. Magnet schools, which require passing an entrance exam, is one way to resolve this. Professor Litwack makes accusations but not recommendations. His accusations are what some would label "playing the race card." Slavery and Jim Crowism are in the past, a shameful past. Let's move ahead and bring the country together and not divide it with inflammatory remarks.

This small book is more substantial than tomes 10 times its size.

Well researched. Brilliantly written.

Best exposition I've read on black civilian and black soldiers' reactions to World Wars I and II.

Without being trite about it, this book is like reading your father's journal, only to discover that he's really "Norman Bates." (Check Mr. Bates on Google, if you don't who he is.)

I bought this book for a history class, it is a must read, it should be required reading for all Americans. Powerful, easy to read book.

This book is exactly what you'd expect from a professor at Berkley. It is indulgence in the type of brainwashing that is stifling creativity and the freedom to think in this country. Heil Obama!