Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Washington and Lee Law Review

Abstract

This political market was not kind to the blacks, either in the south, or nationwide. The systematic exclusion of blacks from the electorate that shifted the voting population in favor of whites has been well documented. Within that white population, racists and bigots could, and did, outvote more moderate whites who were willing to do business with blacks. Within a market, however, that same majority could not bind a minority. Yet in the political setting, the majority can bind the minority by passing laws that require segregation, discrimination, unequal taxes and biased enforcement of the laws. The South of Jim Crow must be understood as a comprehensive network of interlocking institutions. The Supreme Court's routine willingness, prior to 1937, to defer to political judgments of state legislatures allowed a virulent majority to choke off the improvements that blacks and others could achieve among themselves and prevented business transactions between blacks and whites who were sympathetic to black interests and aspirations. The local situation was further aggravated because the existence of hostile laws made the South a less attractive place for new entrants from outside the region who otherwise might have made substantial profits from doing business with local blacks. Similarly, exiting the old system (by migration to the north) was a costly option and was blocked further by the use of public and private force. The political process, unconstrained by constitutional safeguards, brought on the intolerable situation of monopoly control with the wrong monopolist in control.

First Page

741

Volume

46

Publication Date

1989

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