The everyday life of segregation

This trip being my second one has raised one general question persistently: why did white church and society experience a deep seated revulsion towards people of color in general and African-Americans in specific? How were this set of beliefs and experiences put in place historically? There are a number of works now that seek to explain this within wider contexts of European civilization, colonial encounters, Christianity, and so on. I would like to read Erskine Clarke’s Dwelling Places, for possible answers to this question. Another question that concerns me: How does this bleed into the fabric of our daily lives today? How does it impact the classroom at Messiah College?

Another question/observation maybe?: the civil war seems to have been fought over the issue of slavery…neither the south nor the north were particularly interested in creating integrated societies. This was something new I had not considered before.

We have been traveling through AL, TN and AK these past two days and been exposed to civil rights history in these states, the local music, food, and culture of the times. Once again the powerful and insurmountable walls of segregation, the comprehensive character of Jim Crow laws, and yet the dignity and the strength of African American communities as they strove to build their worlds. The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock, AK provided a glimpse into the rich social life of African American communities in AK.

In Little Rock we met Phyllis Brown, sister of Minniejean Trickey, one of the original Little Rock 9, who integrated Little Rock High School in 1957. She share with us what it meant to live in Little Rock at that tumultous time. She shared a perspective on American History that i had not really heard about before. For instance, surveillance and terror were what African Americans experienced in the South, long before 9/11 etched those terms in the popular imagination. The migration of African Americans in the early 20th century became flight from terror. All this was quite a lot to process. We also met with Spirit Trickey, Minniejean’s daughter. Spirit came across as a wonderful translator of the experiences of the Little Rock Nine in a manner that was hopeful and redemptive. It also became clear that for many civil rights participants, like the Little Rock Nine, did not share their experiences with their families. In fact they rarely talked about it…and family members often came to learn about this history from others. I suppose, the psychic toll of these events was never really been fully understood.

This much for now. More later.

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