The Black towns
By: Norman L. Crockett.
Publisher: Regents Press of Kansas
Published: 1979
Place of publication: Lawrence
Language: eng
Number of pages: 244
Subjects: African Americans -- History -- 1877-1964; Black nationalism -- United States -- History; Cities and towns -- United States -- History; African Americans -- Segregation
Description: From Appomattox to World War I, blacks continued their quest for a secure position in the American system. The problem was how to be both black and American -- how to find acceptance, or even toleration, in a society in which the boundaries of normative behavior, the values, and the very definition of what it meant to be an American were determined and enforced by whites. A few black leaders proposed self-segregation inside the United States within the protective confines of an all-black community as one possible solution. The black-town idea reached its peak in the fifty years after the Civil War; at least sixty black communities were settled between 1865 and 1915. Norman L. Crockett has focused on the formation, growth and failure of five such communities. These include Nicodemus, Kansas; Mound Bayou, Mississippi; Langston, Oklahoma; and Boley, Oklahoma. The last two offer opportunity to observe aspects of Indian-black relations in this area.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 221-231.
Includes index.