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I am asking this question since I always hear people say certain famous figures were considered racist even in their times but I find this somewhat confusing since politicians like the ones I mentioned were often elected and reelected and in some cases were wildly popular. Some like Ben Tillman advocated exterminating "n*gg*rs". I can't help but ask what was considered racist in the pre WWII and civil rights era anyways? And what exactly were the mainstream racial views?
Most northerners didn't go that far, but were quite content to treat the Southern "race question", whatever the Constitution might say, as a local issue in which they should not interfere.
They certainly had no problem with segregation. Indeed, there were many hotels, restaurants and even whole neighbourhoods which excluded Jews as well as Blacks. See the Gregory Peck film "Gentleman's Agreement", for a snapshot of the position even at mid-century.
Most northerners didn't go that far, but were quite content to treat the Southern "race question", whatever the Constitution might say, as a local issue in which they should not interfere.
They certainly had no problem with segregation. Indeed, there were many hotels, restaurants and even whole neighbourhoods which excluded Jews as well as Blacks. See the Gregory Peck film "Gentleman's Agreement", for a snapshot of the position even at mid-century.
Northerners haven't elected anyone to speak for their viewpoint.
I am asking this question since I always hear people say certain famous figures were considered racist even in their times but I find this somewhat confusing since politicians like the ones I mentioned were often elected and reelected and in some cases were wildly popular.
Wildly popular? Where in their home states of South Carolina and Mississippi?!?! States that only allowed African Americans to vote in any significant numbers until the mid-sixties and only at the point of a Federal Court order. Those popular politicians?
While I will be the first to point out that the racial attitudes of white Americans wherever they might be from was, shall we say, less than enlightened well into the post WWII era the form of racism espoused by the four afore mentioned individuals was far and away outside of the norms of American attitudes during their times. While racism de facto existed throughout the north, no northern politician would have dreamed of advocating the enactment of such policies in that time period (Indiana being the strange exception).
@The OP: Among Southern whites? Yes, certainly. Among Northern whites? Somewhat.
With the exception of Georgia and the likes of Lester Maddox, or Alabama's George Wallace even for Southern politicians those rising out of the ooze of South Carolina and Mississippi were outside even the atrocious norm of other Southern racist.
Which on edit, raise and interesting question, who were the real racist to the bone Southern politicians and who were products of their time, or rank opportunist. For example there is no doubt that Lincoln (while technically not a southern) never believed in racial equality in the sense of a Thaddeus Stephens but his actions abolishing slavery is undeniable, the same for Lyndon Johnson's use of racial epithets in his private conversations is undeniable, George Wallace the iconic advocate of segregation who became so after losing his first run for office vowed never to be out n*g*ered again, and never was in his successive campaigns for public office but later recanted and in his last term as governor appointed a record number of African Americans. And then there is the special case of Strom Thurmond whose first child was the product of a sexual relationship with his black maid. So is the complex history of southern racist.
I am asking this question since I always hear people say certain famous figures were considered racist even in their times but I find this somewhat confusing since politicians like the ones I mentioned were often elected and reelected and in some cases were wildly popular. Some like Ben Tillman advocated exterminating "n*gg*rs". I can't help but ask what was considered racist in the pre WWII and civil rights era anyways? And what exactly were the mainstream racial views?
They were mainstream in the Deep South, with the possible exception of Vardaman (who was pretty weird overall, not just on race). They would have been mainstream in Oklahoma, which produced its own racist demagoguic politicians such as William Murray. Maybe also in Texas? In the Upper South, however, they would have been outside the mainstream. In the North they were considered extreme, even if the North had plenty of bigotry of its own.
Even the most extreme racists in office in the north, such as Mayor Orville Hubbard of Dearborn, MI, stopped well short of the southern fire-eaters.
Start by looking up the origin and common use of the term racism. You will find that it was not used until the mid 1930's.
But that doesn't mean people were not prejudiced. They were.
Some of the people the OP refers to, go back to the 1890's. Is there anyone out there who does not believe America was an unfriendly place for Black people in 1900?
Doesn't anyone remember that Black performers had to enter through the back door of theaters in New York?
Black people were thought to be of so little consequence in the mid 30's that FDR left them off his new social program - the one that became AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). They were not included until the 60's.
The single largest race riot in US history was in Tulsa in 1921, not the South. And that riot included barricades and shooting. And it all started over a lynching. In Tulsa.
Electing the group of scoundrels listed is a black eye to the states involved, but those people were populist politicians whose rhetoric reflected what voters would respond to.
Asking, "What was considered racist?" is a good idea and a good question. It appears to me that racism was so ingrained before WW II, that to question the idea of inequality itself never concurred to most people. Assigning racist attitudes to one portion of America while exonerating another misses the mark.
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Black people were thought to be of so little consequence in the mid 30's that FDR left them off his new social program - the one that became AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children). They were not included until the 60's..
You got that one wrong. AFDC was designed to be administrated by the states, there was no racial exclusion placed into the federal law but states found ways to exclude African Americans nonetheless. I hasten to add that Eleanor Roosevelt played a pivotal role in insuring that federal policies did not exclude African Americans from New Deal policies, often pushing Franklin to take steps that he believed were politically harmful to his administration.
Last edited by ovcatto; 12-14-2013 at 06:32 PM..
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