“Good Race Relations”: A road Block for the Civil Rights Movement

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During the Jim Crow Era, racial tension was at an all time high. Many caucasians, along with a small number of African Americans, believed that the tension between whites and Negroes could be abrogated with the practice of “good race relations.” The practice of “good race relations” was a racial harmonization, and a unity among interests of African Americans and their white counterparts. Some believed that this practice would create a society where African Americans and whites could live in a state of tranquility. However, “good race relations” are what would enable African Americans from speaking out against the mistreatment they received during the Jim Crow Era, and keep them in the “Negro’s Place.” Any form of African American protests, voting, or political agitation that would challenge the social hierarchical system of the time was considered practicing “bad race relations.” The most two most successful events in African American history, the Reconstruction Period that followed the abolishment of slavery and the civil rights movement, ignored the practice of “good race relation...

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