Ryan Ward's Reviews > The South: Jim Crow and Its Afterlives

A good overview, based on Reed's own experience, of how varied the Jim Crow system was. Rather than a fixed and immovable system of segregation, the experience depended largely on location, and on who you happened to have to interact with as a black person. Some people were super racist, others not so, others friendly. Reed also describes how the Jim Crow system was imposed not just on black people, but also on whites and was largely based on reinforcing and perpetuating a ruling class. He also has a lot of discussion about how a history of this time period and system based solely on race falls down as race was constantly being negotiated and renegotiated both by whites and minorities. It was always in flux. A good overview, if a bit brief and superficial.