Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Orginal Publication Date
1987
Journal Title
Explorations in Sights and Sounds
Volume
7
Issue
ess/vol7/iss1
First Page
61
Last Page
63
Abstract
Reaping the Whirlwind is a case study of the black American struggle for civil rights and racial democracy in a unique community of the Black Belt South. It is a story of Tuskegee's white political hegemony and the black elite's early cooperation with and later mild challenge to that dominance. In 1880, as a result of collaboration between white politicians and Tuskegee's black leadership, the Democrats secured political control of the Alabama state legislature. The following year, as pay-off for the deal, Tuskegee Institute was established with Booker T. Washington at the helm, and the goal became one of making Tuskegee a model community for safeguarding racial cooperation through black political subordination. Tuskegee's white merchants, former slaveowners, and educators alike encouraged black educational opportunities ("separate and unequal ").
Rights
Copyright, ©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1987