Did You Know?


" As I wrote years ago, somewhere, I doubt many bank hiring committees in the fifties got together and voted not to hire any negro bank managers. Yet, somehow, they didn't hire any negro bank managers.

Why not? Because things like social networks, subtle bias, and tacit norms about what constituted the boundaries of acceptable traits in bank managers did all the work for them. And I doubt they got many black applicants, because after all, why on earth would you bother? Better to try to start a small business, or get a job as a Pullman porter, where you had a realistic shot at making a decent income. A poll of black high school students would probably have indicated a very small number expressing ambitions to fill jobs that realistically simply were not available to non-white, non-male candidates. "


The Google on the "tacit norms of Jim Crow"

1955
Maryland Penalizes Mixed Birth

The Maryland legislature amends an anti-miscegenation statute first passed in 1884. Under the new law, any white woman who births a child conceived with a black or mixed-race man will be imprisoned for up to five years. The law will be renewed in 1957.
1956
Alabama Restricts Games

The city council in Huntsville, Alabama votes to bar whites and blacks from playing cards, dominoes, checkers, pool, baseball, basketball, football, or golf together.
1956
Kentucky Restricts Socials

A Kentucky law prohibits private firms from holding mixed-race dances, social functions, sports contests, or other recreational activities on their premises.
1956
Louisiana Separates Public Places

A Louisiana law requires public halls, movie theaters, opera houses, and all other places of public entertainment to separate white and black patrons.
1956
North Carolina Separates Bathrooms

A North Carolina law requires all factories and plants to maintain separate bathrooms for black employees.
1958
Virginia Closes Schools

The Virginia legislature votes to close any school that enrolls both black and white students.
1958
Mississippi Closes Parks

The Mississippi legislature authorizes the governor to close public parks in order to prevent desegregation.
1959
Arkansas Segregates Buses

An Arkansas law requires all state buses to designate whites-only seating areas.
1963
Birmingham Segregates Bathrooms

In Birmingham, Alabama, a city ordinance mandates segregation in restaurants and recreational facilities and requires separate bathrooms for black employees in places of business.
August 27, 1963
Du Bois Dies

W. E. B. Du Bois dies in Ghana at the age of 95. Word of his death reaches civil rights leaders at the March on Washington, who ask marchers for a moment of silence in his honor.
1967
Saratoga Separates Beaches

The city council of Sarasota, Florida passes an ordinance that authorizes the chief of police to clear any public beach whenever members of two or more races are present.