Colorism and Racism are two words I didn’t hear until I was in junior high school although I experienced both during elementary school. Today, April 14, 2024, political pundits, conservatives, republicans, and America’s 45th President are all pushing the idea of Make America Great Again. Many others, including me, want to know “What time are they referring to: Enslavement, Reconstruction, Black Codes, Jim Crow, or Segregation?”
Colorism and racism existed during each of those periods. They looked different during each period, but the negative, psychological, emotional, and physical toll in each era was similar and left a lasting impact upon Blacks and other marginalized groups.
When I think of how they impacted me, I recall my educational experiences and two legal cases: Cumming v. Richmond County Board of Education (1899) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
Cumming v. Richmond CountyCumming v. Richmond County, 175 U.S. 528, was a class action suit decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. It is a landmark case, in that it sanctioned de jure segregation of races in American schools. The decision was overruled by Brown v. Board of Education.”
From its inception, Blacks in Augusta, GA, were more assertive than in some segregated Black communities in other parts of Georgia and the South. Black schools existed in Augusta during enslavement and afterwards. Churches and small community groups established private schools at the same time as they established Ware High School, a public school for Blacks.
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