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Separate Pasts-- Growing Up White in the Segregated South

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Submitted By changkim
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Chang Kim
Separate Pasts—Growing Up White in the Segregated South Racism has been a long lasting issue in history that is still relevant to present time. Racism was a huge issue during the segregation period in the 1940s-1950s, which led into other historical events such as the Rosa Parks bus boycott, KKKs, the assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., and etc. These historical events are significant because it demonstrates how racism fuels violence through anger and hatred and impacts the community as a whole by not necessarily having an opinion of their own. The small rural segregated town, Wade, began establishing social patterns after the Reconstruction period. In Separate Pasts, McLaurin illustrates some of the disadvantages the black community had to face during an era segregation existed and how the system of segregation was challenged through the personal relationships he had formed. During the 1950s in the small town Wade of North Carolina, everything was calm and tranquil because there were no media to broadcast the black and white community and the blacks were accepting of the standards. However, once protesters started becoming more noticed up and down the streets of Wade, and the blacks started challenging the systems against racism and segregation. The black community fell into a horrible stereotype of being barbaric, uncivilized, and uncultured. The African Americans also had very small power and authority compared to the whites. They were constantly working and doing chores for the whites when asked like help with cooking, cleaning, farming, and etc. For these reasons a black in Wade to have challenged openly and directly the segregationist regime would have been unthinkable and if resentment was expressed openly, the consequences could’ve been fatal (135). Some instances can include severe violence such as murder or even from an economic standpoint.

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