All eyes are upon us: race and politics from Boston to Brooklyn

Description

From the 19th century, when northern cities were home to strong abolitionist communities and served as a counterpoint to the slaveholding South, through the first half of the 20th century, when the North became a destination for African Americans fleeing Jim Crow, the Northeastern United States has had a long history of acceptance and liberalism. But as historian Jason Sokol reveals in All Eyes Are Upon Us, northern states like Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut were also strongholds of segregation and deep-seated racism. In All Eyes Are Upon Us, historian Jason Sokol shows how Northerners—black and white alike—have struggled to realize the North's progressive past and potential since the 1940s, efforts that, he insists, have slowly but surely succeeded. During World War II, the Second Great Migration brought an influx of African Americans to Northern cities, forcing residents to reckon with the disparity between their racial practices and their...