Separate and Unequal
by An aspect of the subterfuge which was instituted by southern whites to prevent the death and burial of Jim Crow. Moreover, the compelling moves initiated by members of the black community to circumvent discrimination.
Did You Know
Did you know that the construction of the institution which was named Bonds-Wilson High School, and all other black schools, during the latter part of the 1940’s,had absolutely no altruistic intent by those educators and legislators who pushed and approved its creation? Before you assert that this writer is all-wet, please indulge me for a moment.
In 1948, the state of South Carolina recognized the existence of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution, however, due to a United States Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson 1896, a dividing distinction was made in the white interpretation on the issue of the equal protection clause, within the amendment. In the Plessy case, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was completely legal for a separation of the races to prevail, as long as the ‘provider’ of services, provided a similar or like service for “colored” patrons or users. This ruling served to institutionalize racism, and gave legal legitimacy to the birth of Jim Crow.
Throughout the state of South Carolina, and in all other states within the south, white local officials, and citizens, were afforded(as per the law) a broad scope of discretion on their interpretation of the meaning of ‘separate but equal’. Life was almost totally segregated, except when it was convenient for whites. Under “Jim Crow,” the name used for laws and practices that enforced segregation, blacks could not use state parks, except in designated areas, sat in the rear of buses and trains, were restricted to the balcony of theaters, had separate fountains, waiting rooms in doctors’ offices, could not eat in restaurants, and could not use public restrooms except for those specifically marked “colored,” which were invariably in poor condition and often unavailable or unisex. Implied threats restricted blacks in rural areas to going to town on Saturdays only, while whites went when they pleased. In Charleston, police would chase away any black women who dared to push their own children in strollers or carriages around Colonial Lake. But they were allowed to push the white children for whom they served as nannies.
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