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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - VII. Social Inequality - 29. Patterns of Social Segregation and Discrimination - 5. The General Character of Institutional Segregation - 6. Segregation in Specific Types of Institutions
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632 An American Dilemma
in the South.^^®® In Washington the theaters for whites are completely
closed to Negroes, but libraries, public buildings and parks are open.®®
The Border states have fewer restrictive laws than the Southern states but
do not have the general civil rights laws found in the North. Still, there are
a few laws both to restrict association and to prohibit discrimination, and
even more laws making these things optional. According to Charles S.
Johnson: ^‘It is frequently necessary to be more explicit regarding segre-
gatory intent [in the Border states] than in the South.”*^ Still there is
probably more confusion about the behavior required and more rapid break-
down of the various types of segregation and discrimination. But confusion
and breakdown exist in other regions of the country also. The rules are com-
plicated, and they vary locally even when they are kept stable in time.
All Negroes point to this fact, some to argue the irrationality of the
segregation system, others to explain how difficult it is for the Negro to
find his way through the Jim Crow jungle.
6. Segregation in Specific Types of Institutions
It is in government-owned institutions that legal segregation is most
complete in the South. One of the most inclusive definitions of the South
including all the Border states and some localities in such Northern states
as Indiana and New Jersey—is that based on legal segregation in schools.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have two complete sets of
elementary and secondary schools as part of state law. With the exception
of the District of Columbia, nearly every community in these states has a
substantial amount of discrimination coupled with segregation in the provi-
sion of education for Negroes. The buildings and equipment are inferior j
in rural areas most of the schools are not run during the planting or har-
vesting seasons j
the teachers get a lower rate of payj® Negroes have little
control over their school j
many common academic subjects are not offered
in the secondary schools in order to prevent Negroes from getting anything
but a low grade vocational training.**
For higher education, Negroes are still worse off. Some of the Southern
states support small Negro colleges—never comparable in facilities and
personnel with even the average Southern state university. Other Southern
states help to support privately run Negro colleges if these colleges agree
to accept Negro students of that state at low tuition rates. Since many of
these colleges do not have graduate departments, some of the state govern-
ments have paid tuition fees at any university in the United States for
Negro students who wish to pursue certain studies provided for whites
but not for Negroes by the state. Not only is it hard to obtain this out-of-
See Chapter 14, Section 4. At the present time (winter, 1941-1942) Negro teachers
in states of the Uppt.r South are waging successful court battles to get equal pay.
’’See Chapter 41.
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