Barbara Diggs - Race Relations: The Struggle for Equality in America

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Social Issues of the Twentieth Century set

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FOREWORD

Race has roiled America since the countrys birth more than four centuries ago. It is a dynamic forceone that has been wielded by those in power across the political and social spectrum to assign burdens and benefits, justify behavior and treatment, and determine the nature of relationships between all people. Race shapes institutions, informs decisions, and drives the policies and laws that determine the trajectories of countless lives. Simply put, it is impossible to overstate the importance of race, or the central role it plays in America. It is woven into the countrys DNA.

Despite the centrality of race to American life, the ways in which it has been weaponized to produce inequality and injustice have engendered deep embarrassment and shame. These feelings are understandable. The idea that ones skin color could determine ones lot in life is dramatically out of step with the lofty ideals that rest at the heart the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, however, these feelings stunt thoughtful reflection on how the racial dynamics of the past have shaped the present and yield complex challenges for our collective future. Today, it is convenient to downplay or ignore the effects of race. Yet if we ever hope to overcome Americas original sin, and to craft a future that produces equality, liberty, and justice for all, we must engage in the difficult work of honestly and unflinchingly confronting our racialized past and present.

Race Relations takes on that challenge in an accessible and thoughtful mannerone that young people can understand. By examining the history of race in America, this volume teaches young readers how race was constructed, how it determined the distribution of power, and how its lasting influence is felt today. The text, key questions, and Inquire & Investigate segments force young readers to interrogate the meaning of race throughout history. They also stimulate the type of critical, nuanced thinking rarely associated with fleeting conversations on race that so often produce more heat than light.

Notably, Race Relations examines race through the lens of the African American experience, while incorporating perspectives across the racial mosaic that comprises the American body politic. This approach provides readers with insights about race that have broad applicability to all people. It views history through a racial lens that is often ignored. It helps young people understand the work and sacrifice needed to chart a positive path forward. And it teaches them that the story of race in America is marked by peaks of progress and valleys of despair, buoyed by a resilience rooted in the reasonable hope and understanding that the ongoing struggle to perfect the American union must be grounded in an honest, comprehensive reckoning with the role race plays in American society. Race Relations accomplishes all of this for young peoplethe same young people who embody the hope that America will, someday, own up to its history and chart a positive path into the future.

Vincent Southerland,

Executive Director, The Center on Race,

Inequality and the Law, New York University