Jim Crow Terminals

The Desegregation of American Airports

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Politics, Civil Rights, Social Science, Discrimination & Race Relations, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book Jim Crow Terminals by Anke Ortlepp, University of Georgia Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Anke Ortlepp ISBN: 9780820350943
Publisher: University of Georgia Press Publication: July 1, 2017
Imprint: University of Georgia Press Language: English
Author: Anke Ortlepp
ISBN: 9780820350943
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Publication: July 1, 2017
Imprint: University of Georgia Press
Language: English

Historical accounts of racial discrimination in transportation have focused until now on trains, buses, and streetcars and their respective depots, terminals, stops, and other public accommodations. It is essential to add airplanes and airports to this narrative, says Anke Ortlepp. Air travel stands at the center of the twentieth century’s transportation revolution, and airports embodied the rapidly mobilizing, increasingly prosperous, and cosmopolitan character of the postwar United States. When segregationists inscribed local definitions of whiteness and blackness onto sites of interstate and even international transit, they not only brought the incongruities of racial separation into sharp relief but also obligated the federal government to intervene.

Ortlepp looks at African American passengers; civil rights organizations; the federal government and judiciary; and airport planners, architects, and managers as actors in shaping aviation’s legal, cultural, and built environments. She relates the struggles of black travelers—to enjoy the same freedoms on the airport grounds that they enjoyed in the aircraft cabin—in the context of larger shifts in the postwar social, economic, and political order. Jim Crow terminals, Ortlepp shows us, were both spatial expressions of sweeping change and sites of confrontation over the renegotiation of racial identities. Hence, this new study situates itself in the scholarly debate over the multifaceted entanglements of “race” and “space.”

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Historical accounts of racial discrimination in transportation have focused until now on trains, buses, and streetcars and their respective depots, terminals, stops, and other public accommodations. It is essential to add airplanes and airports to this narrative, says Anke Ortlepp. Air travel stands at the center of the twentieth century’s transportation revolution, and airports embodied the rapidly mobilizing, increasingly prosperous, and cosmopolitan character of the postwar United States. When segregationists inscribed local definitions of whiteness and blackness onto sites of interstate and even international transit, they not only brought the incongruities of racial separation into sharp relief but also obligated the federal government to intervene.

Ortlepp looks at African American passengers; civil rights organizations; the federal government and judiciary; and airport planners, architects, and managers as actors in shaping aviation’s legal, cultural, and built environments. She relates the struggles of black travelers—to enjoy the same freedoms on the airport grounds that they enjoyed in the aircraft cabin—in the context of larger shifts in the postwar social, economic, and political order. Jim Crow terminals, Ortlepp shows us, were both spatial expressions of sweeping change and sites of confrontation over the renegotiation of racial identities. Hence, this new study situates itself in the scholarly debate over the multifaceted entanglements of “race” and “space.”

More books from University of Georgia Press

Cover of the book North Carolina's Amazing Coast by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Daring to Write by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book River of Lakes by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Stuck by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Finding Charity's Folk by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book The Nashville Way by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book The Philosopher King by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Virginia Women by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Oil Sparks in the Amazon by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Alabama Women by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Marsh Mud and Mummichogs by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Borges's Poe by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Blind No More by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Slavery in the Caribbean Francophone World by Anke Ortlepp
Cover of the book Howard Zinn's Southern Diary by Anke Ortlepp
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy