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PBS explores segregation this month in "The Rise and Fall
of Jim Crow."
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On PBS: The Rise
and Fall of Jim Crow
By Esther Iverem
SeeingBlack.com Editor and Film Critic
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about "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow" and other recent
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The new documentary series, "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow," airing
on PBS this month, seems tailor-made for these times of war, violence
and rhetoric. In four taut, often harrowing segments, the producers
correctly refer to the 100 years between the Emancipation Proclamation
and the thick of the Civil Rights Movement as a time of "domestic
terror' for African Americans, especially in the South. Analogies
between America's social reality and South African apartheid are
as clear as day. Comparisons some Blacks made between Adolf Hitler
and certain rabid Southern politicians are clearly not hyperbole.
Starting with the betrayal of Blacks after the Civil War, and ending
with the birth of the modern civil rights movement, "The Rise and
Fall of Jim Crow," tells a story that your whole family should see.
Even those of us who think we know do not recall it all. We might
not remember that the term Jim Crow derived from a derogatory minstrel
characterization of a dancing darkie. We might have a vague notion
about disenfranchisement during the era of post-Reconstruction in
the South but we might not remember that this frightful era was
fully supported by the United States government. We might remember
some contributions of Booker T. Washington but not remember that
his famous or infamous "Atlanta Compromise" speech was a signal
to some Whites that their system of social apartheid was supported
by a Black leader. We might know in some way that horror of lynching
but not remember the story of Mary Turner, a woman nine months pregnant
was tortured, burned, and lynched before her unborn fetus was cut
from her body and crushed.
Obviously, this subject matter is not for the faint of heart but
the producers, Richard Wormser, Bill Jersey and Sam Pollard, also
make the story of Jim Crow one of hope. Early heroes include educator
Charlotte Hawkins Brown who saw the need to provide education in
impoverished Southern communities; W.E.B. DuBois who used his pen
and piercing intellect to wage war against the dehumanization of
an entire people and Ned Cobb, a farm owner who fought for better
conditions for exploited Southern sharecroppers.
The battle fronts were many, including employment, the criminal
(in)justice system, education, public accommodations and the simple
right over your own body and life. The four episodes also make very
clear the over-arching power of news organizations and institutions
of popular culture—which we still do not control even in the
post-Civil Rights era—to shape not only our present but also
our future. Time and time again, all four episodes illustrate how
lynching and race riots—including the infamous burning down
of the Greenwood section of Tulsa—were precipitated by an erroneous
and inflammatory news article or cultural presentation that depicted
Black men as murderers or rapists. Though this series ends with
the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. the Board of Education,
it also makes clear that the power over information and culture
has shaped Black history as much as politics, the legal system or
the educational system. This is a tour de force of history that
reaches us here in the present.
The second episode of "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow," titled
"Fighting Back (1896-1917)," is now airing on PBS. Episode Three,
"Don't Shout Too Soon (1917-1940)," premieres October 15 at 10 p.m.
and the final installment, "Terror and Triumph (1940-1954)," premieres
October 22 at 10pm. Check your local listings.
Esther Iverem's film reviews also appear on BET.com
Related Web Sites:
-- October 10, 2002
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