The Color Line: Legacy for the Twenty-First Century

Stronger on historical analysis than on in-depth assessments of current politics, this series of three lectures delivered in April 1992 at the University of Missouri examines America's tragic preoccupation with race. Echoing W.E.B. Du Bois's 1903 assertion that the problem of the 20th century ``is the problem of the color line,'' historian Franklin ( From Slavery to Freedom ) argues that this will be the problem of the 21st century as well. He demonstrates how the Reagan administration ``encouraged policies and measures that denied equal opportunity and equal treatment''; traces such steps toward progress as school desegregation; and explains how opponents of affirmative action frequently base their attacks on false assumptions (``A color-blind society does not exist in the United States and has never existed,'' the author declares). Although his necessarily brief remarks do not address such complicating factors as tensions between minority groups, class divisions and black separatism, his cogent observations will spur further discussion. (Feb.)