Houston and the Permanence of Segregation : An Afropessimist Approach to Urban History.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ponton, David.

Series:

Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture.

Jack and Doris Smothers series in Texas history, life, and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Afropessimism (Philosophy).

Black people--Civil rights--Texas--Houston--History.

Black people.

Black people--Civil rights--United States--Cases.

Black people--Segregation--Texas--Houston--Historiography.

Black people--Segregation--Texas--Houston--History.

Black people--Segregation--United States--Cases.

Black people--Texas--Houston--Social conditions--History.

Racism against Black people--Texas--Houston--History.

Racism against Black people.

Houston (Tex.)--Social conditions--History.

Houston (Tex.).

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (290 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2024.

Summary:

"Through the 1950s and beyond, the Supreme Court issued decisions that appeared to provide immediate civil rights protections to racial minorities as it relegated Jim Crow to the past. For black Houstonians who had been hoping and actively fighting for what they called a "raceless democracy," these postwar decades were often seen as decades of promise. In Houston and the Permanence of Segregation, David Ponton argues that these were instead "decades of capture": times in which people were captured and constrained by gender and race, by faith in the law, by antiblack violence, and even by the narrative structures of conventional histories. Bringing the insights of Black studies and Afropessimism to the field of urban history, Ponton explores how gender roles constrained thought in black freedom movements, how the "rule of law" compelled black Houstonians to view injustice as a sign of progress, and how antiblack terror undermined Houston's narrative of itself as a "heavenly" place. Today, Houston is one of the most racially diverse cities in the United States, and at the same time it remains one of the most starkly segregated. Ponton's study demonstrates how and why segregation has become a permanent feature in our cities and offers powerful tools for imagining the world otherwise"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : decades of capture

Captured by gender roles : Christia Adair's fight for inclusion

Captured by the rule of law : Johnnie Lee Morris's trouble on the bus

Captured in the Impossible American Dream : Dorothy and Jack Caesar buy a home

Captured by the role of gender : Carter Wesley's "frustrating compromises" and the establishment of Texas Southern University

Captured by blackness : prior tortures and law enforcement's reign of terror at Texas Southern University.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-4773-2849-1

1-4773-2848-3

OCLC:

1407313115