Segregation in Church and Schools
In America racism and segregation had been going on for awhile in both churches and schools. Still today there is racism and segregation in states located in the United States of America. In this blog I will discuss the article by Mathisen and discuss the scholarly article I have found that goes hand in hand with the article from the book. I will also discuss how still today there is segregation in schools. In the Mathisen article it starts out with a quote by Weldon James saying "In the South itself the 1954-57 period demonstrated that perhaps the greatest threat to the unity sought by organized segregationists came from the churches, themselves entangled in all but continuous debate" (Mathisen, 693).
The quote above has proven to be true being that the business man, the lawyer, the teacher and the newspaper man all had their own opinions but were all scarred to actually say what or how they really felt. The business man feared the economic effects that would happen to the community; he feared that violence would break out. The lawyer may have sometimes doubted the Supreme Court but believed the laws were for the right reasons. The teacher may be in having separate schools but would not speak up if it meant public education would be abolished. The newspaper man may see the problems in his own neighborhood but in the grand picture of it all can see inevitability the desegregation national and international perspectives. In the long run the ministers were the biggest threat to organized segregationists because they were the ones that preached and spread the word to large groups of people.
In the article I found it discussed the Jesuits and where they came from which was New Orleans. The Jesuits had researched the racial practices during World War II and decided after the war it was now time to end the segregation in their order and ministries. "By integrating Jesuit-run educational institutions, retreat houses, and parishes as well as the religious order itself, members of the Society of Jesus, however, ran the risk of alienating benefactors, hampering apostolic effectiveness, and decreasing vocations. Nevertheless, the Jesuits had conclude that racial segregation was incompatible with church teachings regarding Christian justice and charity--"Jim Crow" Catholicism was no longer welcomed at church" (Anderson). Just years before the Jesuits had made their decision the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of education had occurred along with the Montgomery Boycott. The Jesuits had decided that racial segregation was morally wrong and was an unexamined case of the civil right movement in the United States. After World War II the Southern Catholics still keep and practiced segregation while the southern Jesuits had changed and came up with a policy statement regarding interracial affairs in 1952.
Still Today in the United States we have to some point segregation, while I was searching around for articles I came upon the story of Charleston High School in Mississippi where until 2008 they had segregated Proms each year. In Mississippi they had integrated their public schools in 1970 but still in this small Delta town they had segregation. Back in 1997 Morgan Freeman had gave an offer to the school that if they had a integrated prom he would pay for the whole thing but the school did not take him up on his offer until 2008. In 2008 a documentary titled Prom in Mississippi was filmed while the planning off the prom went into the works. Charleston High school planned the prom with some parents happy about it and others highly upset about what was going to occur that year. The parents that disagreed with the integrated prom had still paid and had their children attend a white only prom. This just goes to prove that it does not matter how much our nation has grown and changed there will always be people that are racist and feel we should be segregated.
Anderson, B., BLACK, WHITE, AND CATHOLIC: SOUTHERN JESUITS CONFRONT THE RACE QUESTION, 1952, Catholic Historical Review; Jul2005, Vol. 91 Issue 3, p484-505, 22p
This lack of change among certain white communities is where Martin Luther King's frustration partially stemmed from.Laws were being changed, yet racist attitudes remained the same.
ReplyDeleteI do not understand how on earth their was still segregation among high school proms in 2008! I am not naive to the fact that America has many underlying as well as point blank racism problems, but I cannot grasp that there is still segregation especially in schools even now. I agree that this is a prime example of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s frustration, the laws do not encompass every action. I guess I have grown up in not just a community, but also a time, when I am in utter disbelief that people could really do such things.
ReplyDeleteIt is nothing new to me to see that although laws have been put in place to make things better such as equality and such there are still laws that are broken and will always be broken by certain individuals. It is said that although Martin Luther King Juniors dream did come true through law and legislation, yet it is still broken everywhere in the country. Maybe not as much as it was during his time but seldom we do see acts of racism such as this one among high school proms. It is very madding yet it is a fact and racism and inequality truly does thrive in our country although it is illegal these acts are still committed. As a nation we can only do so much to keep order and equality, the rest is just a sad case of individuals being ignorant, racist, sadistic, and uneducated of knowing the truths and greatness of equality, because we as a people are one we are all human.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to believe that such blatant ideas of segregation in the U.S. still exist; however it is not so difficult to see that racism is still prominent within society, no matter the efforts to cover its tracks. Racism seems to be, to a point, a necessary evil for people who do not understand that it is not the color of your skin or your heritage that matters, but how a person is on the inside. As the others have mentioned, this is a prime example of Martin Luther King Jr.'s frustrations and the point he was trying to get across when he was campaigning for civil rights. There will always be someone that is racist or someone that breaks the laws, because that is just how society is; we have done what we can to stop the problem, in terms of the creation of laws, now it is up to the people to change their mind and their outlook.
ReplyDeleteI could never imagine being present in a segregated social event such as prom. Prom is supposed to be a rite of passage to a higher level of social maturity involving all the peers that you have been interacting with throughout your time spent in high school, not only with a fraction of those peers. In Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech he states "I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice." By there being a segregated prom, I believe goes against the fight that MLK was advocating for.
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