Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw: The Real Story of Hayes’ “Compromise” with White Supremacists

Prof. Kimberlé Crenshaw appeared in a segment of On the Media that aired today, on how post-Civil War appeasement allowed for the perpetuation of white supremacy in the United States. Prof. Crenshaw is doing the compelling historical analysis we all need of the end of Reconstruction under Hayes’ “Compromise,” which further encouraged and enabled white supremacists, and effectively ended Reconstruction and civil rights for African Americans. Hayes (like Biden) was “a moderate” and even “progressive” in his professed attitudes to Black Americans.

We need to lift this segment up and get the history out there, if we are ever going to move beyond our racist roots.

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw [@sandylocks], is Professor of Law at UCLA, and Columbia Law School in the City of New York.

Also notable, for those taking the opportunity right now to read or re-read W.E.B. Du Bois’ classic, Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880 (purchase a copy). Du Bois was writing this book in 1930-1935, during the Great Depression.

Reading Black Reconstruction in America: Entry 1