Black in America. Christina Jackson

Black in America

      The Paradox of the Color Line

      Enobong Hannah Branch

      Christina Jackson

      polity

      Copyright © Enobong Hannah Branch and Christina Jackson 2020

      The right of Enobong Hannah Branch and Christina Jackson to be identified as Authors of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      First published in 2020 by Polity Press

      Polity Press

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      Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

      Polity Press

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      Medford, MA 02155, USA

      All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

      ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3141-7

      A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Branch, Enobong Hannah, 1983- author. | Jackson, Christina Renee, author.

      Title: Black in America : the paradox of the color line / Enobong Hannah Branch, Christina Jackson.

      Other titles: Paradox of the color line

      Description: Cambridge, UK ; Medford, MA : Polity, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “To be Black in America is to exist amongst myriad contradictions: racial progress and regression, abject poverty amidst profound wealth, discriminatory policing yet equal protection under the law. This book explores these contradictions to provide a sociology of Black lives in America today”-- Provided by publisher.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2019023981 (print) | LCCN 2019023982 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509531387 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509531394 (paperback) | ISBN 9781509531417 (epub)

      Subjects: LCSH: African Americans--Social conditions. | Racism--United States. | United States--Race relations.

      Classification: LCC E185.86 .B693 2019 (print) | LCC E185.86 (ebook) | DDC 305.896/073--dc23

      LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023981 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019023982

      The publisher has used its best endeavors to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

      Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.

      For further information on Polity, visit our website: politybooks.com

Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.

      W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk