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In response to the OP, I'd like to refer everyone to C. Vann Woodward's work on the origins of segregation. I think, if memory serves me correctly, Woodward argues in his books and scholarly articles that segregation became much more common and much more entrenched by the 1880s. Historian Howard Rabinowitz counters this viewpoint somewhat and this debate has continued among historians since the 1950s.
I do know that segregation was not a given after the Civil War. There were vibrant free black communities in Charleston, Richmond, and New Orleans that protested developing segregation laws--but this was much later than 1867--this was in the 1890s. These protest organs were responsible for finding Homer Plessy to challenge a law in Louisiana.
Plessey vs. Ferguson may not have occurred as there would have been an adult population who would have been comfortable sharing public accommodations with blacks. Plessey vs. Ferguson was interpreted (misinterpreted) to mean that segregation was the law of the land.
Plessy desegregated the schools in Boston in 1849.
It appears that you haven't reviewed Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 16 S. Ct. 1138, 41 L. Ed. 256. And by the way, it took place in 1896, not 1849.
Unless, that is, you're referring to a different Plessy case. If so, you need to provide a MUCH more complete citation than you did. Otherwise its nothing more than hot air...
In this counter factual scenario, are we assuming that the schools were successfully integrated, or are we speculating on what would have happened had such an attempt been made?
If the latter, then I think that it would have failed immediately after the war. Being against slavery and being tolerant of blacks did not go hand in hand for most Notherners. Making them citizens and giving the black males the right of enfranchisement, that was about as far as most were willing to go. The ideas of social interaction, social equality, economic equality, educational equality...these rested with a handful of idealists who represented but a minority.
And of course in the South, where most of the integration would have been taking place, it would have been bumping up against the entire Southern cultural theory of the divinely ordained inferiority of blacks. The South contained enclaves of the poorest, least educated people in the nation, but people who had always been able to console themselves that at least they weren't on the absolute bottom...that was reserved for the blacks. Equality of education would have done severe damage to that ego supporting notion. It would not have been welcomed peacefully.
If schools had been forcefully integrated in 1867, then there would have been anti integration violence, followed by the election of 1868 being all about who was going to put a stop to this nonsense the fastest.
America in 1867 was not ready for this sort of step. Consider how difficult it was 100 years later when it actually did come about. George Wallace won the 1972 Florida Democrat primary on the singular issue of being anti bussing.
Grandstander,
Though it seems we seldom agree on anything else, here we are in complete accord. Had it been tried, it would not have been successful in the North, the South or the West...
Henry Corbin an Officer in the 14th US Colored Infantry Went to an intergrated school run by abolitionist. This of course in much prior to 1860 probally while growing up in Ohio. Integrated schools go back to the 1700's (Johann Hienrich Antes)
It appears that you haven't reviewed Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537, 16 S. Ct. 1138, 41 L. Ed. 256. And by the way, it took place in 1896, not 1849.
Unless, that is, you're referring to a different Plessy case. If so, you need to provide a MUCH more complete citation than you did. Otherwise its nothing more than hot air...
My bad---it was Roberts v. Boston, not Plessy that integrated the schools in Boston, the decision in 1849, the fact of Massachusetts desegregation in 1855. Which does not change the reality that Massachusetts banned segregation long before the civil war, which is the salient point I had intended to make with pertinence to this discussion. I.e., American public school were integrated even before 1867, and the "What if" effect is easily observable where it in fact was a reality. You may now proceed to call the relevant fact "hot air", if you disagree with it. The fact that it took three weeks for someone to notice my mis-reference suggests that it doesn't have much bearing on the validity of my conclusion, which has passed unchallenged until now.
My bad---it was Roberts v. Boston, not Plessy that integrated the schools in Boston, the decision in 1849, the fact of Massachusetts desegregation in 1855. Which does not change the reality that Massachusetts banned segregation long before the civil war, which is the salient point I had intended to make with pertinence to this discussion. I.e., American public school were integrated even before 1867, and the "What if" effect is easily observable where it in fact was a reality. You may now proceed to call the relevant fact "hot air", if you disagree with it. The fact that it took three weeks for someone to notice my mis-reference suggests that it doesn't have much bearing on the validity of my conclusion, which has passed unchallenged until now.
Perhaps the number of abolitionist from Massachusetts might be attributed this.
I am also amazed at how progressive some of the policies right after the Civil War were. But it was simply not realistic because of the social realities prevalent at that time.
However, if integration had happened right afterwards and succeeded, I think American race relations would be in a better place right now.
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