Segregation and Integration
Were Blacks more self-sufficient during segregation?
Have the forgotten the economic lessons learned? © 2017
Segregation was no picnic for black people. When you think about segregation, you think of separated schools, rampant job discrimination, discrimination in public accommodations, separate water fountains, and other humiliations.
Yet, African Americans were more self-sufficient and self-reliant during segregation. On the surface, this may seem ironic. But when you think about it, you’re reminded of the saying:
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
During segregation, Blacks were denied access to so many rights that Whites took for granted. In response, our people established a parallel economy. Black communities established their own:
• Banks
• Baseball teams
• Beauty supply shops
• Cabs
• Carpenters
• Clubs
• Dry Cleaners.
• Electricians
• Gas stations
• Hospitals
• Insurance companies
• Medical offices
• Party stores
• Plumbers
• Restaurants
• Savings and Loan institutions
• Schools.
• Small businesses
• Theaters
For its part, integration did open many doors, doors that were too often owned and operated by others; not us.Wasn’t it Billie Holiday who sang “God Bless That Child That’s Got His Own?” Integration was presented as a false goal. The real goal was desegregation.
Integration also was presented as some sort of promised land. It was presented like the glitter of gold, and it certainly blinded many African Americans. T be fair, our people were just a blameworthy. They failed to appreciate the fruits of black economic self-sufficiency and the template that created it during segregation. We traded economic self-sufficiency for dependence on others, some of us still don’t have a clue.
To paraphrase Dr. Benjamin Mays, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mentor, segregation was a curse, but under segregation, Blacks achieved a high degree of self-sufficiency. In black communities, the dollar circulated as much as 10 times due to a parallel economy. That parallel economy led to black employment and relative prosperity. Contrast that to what’s going on today.
Shouldn’t we learn lessons from our past? Shouldn’t we learn what we did right, and what we did wrong?
Were Blacks more self-sufficient during segregation?
Have the forgotten the economic lessons learned? © 2017
Segregation was no picnic for black people. When you think about segregation, you think of separated schools, rampant job discrimination, discrimination in public accommodations, separate water fountains, and other humiliations.
Yet, African Americans were more self-sufficient and self-reliant during segregation. On the surface, this may seem ironic. But when you think about it, you’re reminded of the saying:
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
During segregation, Blacks were denied access to so many rights that Whites took for granted. In response, our people established a parallel economy. Black communities established their own:
• Banks
• Baseball teams
• Beauty supply shops
• Cabs
• Carpenters
• Clubs
• Dry Cleaners.
• Electricians
• Gas stations
• Hospitals
• Insurance companies
• Medical offices
• Party stores
• Plumbers
• Restaurants
• Savings and Loan institutions
• Schools.
• Small businesses
• Theaters
For its part, integration did open many doors, doors that were too often owned and operated by others; not us.Wasn’t it Billie Holiday who sang “God Bless That Child That’s Got His Own?” Integration was presented as a false goal. The real goal was desegregation.
Integration also was presented as some sort of promised land. It was presented like the glitter of gold, and it certainly blinded many African Americans. T be fair, our people were just a blameworthy. They failed to appreciate the fruits of black economic self-sufficiency and the template that created it during segregation. We traded economic self-sufficiency for dependence on others, some of us still don’t have a clue.
To paraphrase Dr. Benjamin Mays, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s mentor, segregation was a curse, but under segregation, Blacks achieved a high degree of self-sufficiency. In black communities, the dollar circulated as much as 10 times due to a parallel economy. That parallel economy led to black employment and relative prosperity. Contrast that to what’s going on today.
Shouldn’t we learn lessons from our past? Shouldn’t we learn what we did right, and what we did wrong?