Vann Woodward's The Strange Career of Jim Crow

Vann Woodward's The Strange Career of Jim Crow

Martin Luther King Jr. believed that The Strange Career of Jim Crow was, 'The historical bible of the civil rights movement.' Any book that graces a quote, of such intense backing etched across the cover has much to live up to. If an author can get the support of such a predominant figure in American society, like Martin Luther King Jr., the message behind the book will reach an ever growing population. When Martin Luther King Jr. put his stamp of approval on the book written by C. Vann Woodward, he provided a base for the book to reach people that may have never picked up and read the words that Woodward put out.

Woodward himself was born in the south just after the start of the 1900?s and his inquisitive nature brought about the research that went into his book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow. Every person struggles to find out where he or she comes from and what the history of that area is. Woodward was no different, he was born in the south and immediately found out that there was a deep history rooted in prejudices and fighting. Although he wrote many other works, it wasn?t until his research during his stay with the NAACP, as a part of the controversial Supreme Court trial, Brown verses The Board of Education, that he himself made his mark in history. He based his whole book on the Jim Crow laws and their relationship with segregation. His direct contact with these unjust laws and how they were affecting the population of his home, created the setting for what some would consider his greatest work. His view that segregation started after the Civil War and that it began in the North, helped to open reader?s eyes to what really might have occurred.

The Strange Career of...

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...ble make a change. Woodward marks a new philosophy in American history with his book and for that reason it will remain a must read. By writing, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, Woodward put himself, his family, and his career on the line to make a statement. It is easy for others to see how an idea is received and then decide whether they then want to show support for it or not. It is, however, enormously different to be the first person to put a controversial idea out to the public. In a sense Woodward threw himself to the wolves, but this time instead of being eaten alive, he changed the way in which the wolves lived. He took a chance by thinking differently and used his abilities as a historian to change the way people were thinking on the Jim Crow Laws.

Works Cited:

Woodward, Vann C. The Strange Career of Jim Crow. Oxford University Press:New York, 1966.