Racism and racial justice: Midcentury South Carolina
Channel: Association for Bahá’í Studies
Date: 2022-09-21

June Manning Thomas - 2022 ABS Conference

This talk offers a synopsis of the history of racism and attempts at racial justice during the mid-twentieth century in one U.S. state, South Carolina. It begins by reviewing Bahá’í perspectives about racism and racial equality as expressed during that era by Shoghi Effendi. It will then describe the diversion between these concepts and racial inequity in the U.S. South at that time. Reasons for this situation summarized here include the cumulative effects of racial suppression, such as in public education for Black children and racial segregation in public accommodations. It will note how these conditions spurred Black community activism, but with limitations; these conditions also laid the groundwork for Black South Carolinians to enter the Bahá’í Faith in the 1970s. The talk will end by suggesting implications for today.