Chapter Eighteen

American Apartheid

“Each time a man stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope . . . those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

—Robert F. Kennedy in Capetown, South Africa

“Jim Crow” was the name of a song sung by Thomas Rice in a Negro minstrel show before the Civil War. Thomas Rice was a white actor who, in black face played the part of Jim Crow. During the minstrel show, he sang, “Wheel about, turn about, do just so. Everytime I wheel about I jump Jim Crow.”

Jim Crow came to signify...

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