Confronting Jim Crow

Race, Memory, and the University of Georgia in the Twentieth Century

Robert Cohen

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN:
  9781469681405
  9781469681399
• eBook ISBN:
  9781469681412
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: History of Education
• Index: Social Sciences

Since the onset of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd, America has grappled with its racial history, leading to the removal of statues and other markers commemorating pro-slavery sympathizers and segregationists from public spaces. Some of these white supremacist statues had stood on or near college and university campuses since the Jim Crow era, symbolizing the reluctance of American higher education to confront its racist past.

In Confronting Jim Crow, Robert Cohen explores the University of Georgia’s long history of racism and the struggle to overcome it, shedding light on white Georgia’s historical amnesia concerning the university’s role in sustaining the Jim Crow system. By extending the historical analysis beyond the desegregation crisis of 1961, Cohen unveils UGA’s deep-rooted anti-Black stance preceding formal desegregation efforts. Through the lens of Black and white student, faculty, and administration perspectives, this book exposes the enduring impact of Jim Crow and its lingering effects on campus integration.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraphs
• Contents
• Author’s Note on Derogatory Language
• Preface
• Introduction: Race, Memory, and the University of Georgia in the Twentieth Century
• Chapter One: Leading and Misleading Georgia: University of Georgia and Jim Crow Georgia’s Education and Political Power Elite
• Chapter Two: Two, Four, Six, Eight, We Don’t Want to Integrate: White Student Attitudes toward the University of Georgia’s Desegregation, 1961
• Postscript to Chapter Two
• Chapter Three: G-Men in Georgia: The FBI and the Segregationist Riot at the University of Georgia, 1961
• Postscript to Chapter Three
• Gallery
• Chapter Four: Black Memory and University of Georgia’s Desegregation Struggle
• Chapter Five: Freedom Dreams and Segregationist Nightmares: Charlayne Hunter, Walter Stovall, and University of Georgia’s First Interracial Marriage
• Chapter Six: Decades of Desegregation: The Slow Death and Afterlife of Jim Crow at University of Georgia, 1963–1989
• Chapter Seven: New Day or Old South? Late 1990s University of Georgia Student Reflections on Campus Race Relations in Their Time vs. 1961
• Coda: Commemorations
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index