Overview
–Elias Rodriques, Bookforum
A memoir and historical account of growing up Black in the Jim Crow South
The last generation of Americans with a living memory of Jim Crow will soon disappear. They leave behind a collective memory of segregation shaped increasingly by the its horrors and heroic defeat rather than a nuanced understanding of everyday life in Jim Crow America. In The South, Adolph Reed — New Orleans native, political scientist, and according to Cornel West, “the greatest democratic theorist of his generation” — takes up the urgent task of recounting the granular realities of growing up Black in the Jim Crow South.
A unique blend of personal memoir, travelogue, and incisive historical analysis, The South takes readers on a journey through time in Jim Crow America. Recounting moments such his grandmother’s attempt to secure young Reed a pony ride at a segregated zoo, being caught shoplifting by white storeowners in New Orleans, and a frightening overnight bus ride through segregationist strongholds in 1965, Reed masterfully connects the petty apartheid of segregation to the larger, unconstitutional system of discriminatory laws and regulations.
His rich coming of age story maps the ways the Jim Crow order buttressed ruling class power, the processes that led to its unravelling, and its enduring legacy.
With a foreword from Barbara Fields, co-author of the acclaimed Racecraft.
This book title, The South (Jim Crow and Its Afterlives), ISBN: 9781839766275, by Adolph L. Reed, published by Verso Books (February 4, 2025) is available in paperback. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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