Racial Segregation Essay

There is a common misconception in the United States about racial segregation, some believe that “Historically, segregation in the South was of the de jure variety, whereas segregation in the North and West were de facto in nature”. Basically this statement is saying that the segregation in the South consisted of policy and law while segregation in the north and west was rooted with personal racism. This statement is not valid because all three geographic locations expressed segregation with both de jure as well as de facto. I believe that a more valid statement is that de jure segregation started in the south but quickly spread to the west and north, and de facto was an underlying sentiment that was always present in the United States. The
This personal racism was demonstrated in the south when Senator Tillman attempted to justify violence against black people. He said “We have never believed him (black people) to be equal to the white man..” (Tillman) this “belief” is personal, no matter how widely accepted Tillman is expressing his personal values. In addition, the “Atlanta Compromise” of 1973 started the desegregation of schools and the integration of school staff, however the white citizens of Atlanta still decided to leave the city for suburban life “In 1973,whites still made up 23 percent of the total enrollment. By 1985, however that figure had fallen to just 6 percent (Kruse 239). This strengthens my claim that personal racism was also very prominent in the south, the north also reflected personal racism with racially restrictive housing covenants, the “Seattle civil rights project” lists restrictions from a variety of neighborhoods in Seattle. This personal racism was continuously seen in California during the years 1936-1939, the categorization of ethnic groups served the purpose of measuring the areas worth which derived from personal preference as well as personal