Brief History of the Subordination of African Americans in the U.S.

<p>This brief history presents the essential story of the subordination of African Americans in the U.S. captured in a 1968 cartoon by Pulitzer-prize-winning cartoonist John Fischetti. The drawing is of a black man handcuffed to a wall with cuffs labeled White Racism. The caption reads Why don’t they lift themselves up by their own bootstraps like we did?<i> Bootstraps</i> shows just how little lift-up there has been and how the handcuffs of white racism have been and continue to be the cause. </p><p></p><p>Unique in its combination of comprehensiveness and brevity <i>Bootstraps</i> is written in language for the general reader; yet its extensive endnotes will make it useful to both scholars and students. Its succinct overview of the subordination history includes an in-depth treatment of residential segregation – a legacy of slavery and a central problem of our time – and a response to the view that today’s racial inequality is due largely to African Americans’ own moral and cultural failures. By addressing a serious omission in the way we have educated our children the book’s narration of our white racism history may make a contribution to a much-needed confrontation with our racist past.</p>