In this book, Thomas Adams Upchurch presents the true story of a white youth's experiences with race relations in the early years of integration in Mississippi. Upchurch, a first-generation product of the integrated public schools in Mississippi, describes what it was like to be white in a public school that was 70% black. The book offers a glimpse into the triumphs, challenges, and failures of integration in the 1970s and 1980s and beyond, from one 'white minorityOs' perspective. By analyzing the factors of prejudice, academics, sports, masculinity, religion, and attempts at racial reconciliation, this book vividly shows why race relations must be kept in the context of the larger picture of southern life and society. It hopes to bring more attention to this little-discussed and infrequently written-about period and topic of American history.

" The Civil War and Reconstruction were characterized by two lasting legacies -- the failure to bring racial harmony to the South and the failure to foster reconciliation between the North and South. The nation was left with a festering race problem, as a white-dominated society and political structure debated the proper role for blacks. At the national level, both sides harbored bitter feelings toward the other, which often resulted in clashes among congressmen that inflamed, rather than solved, the race problem. No Congress expended more energy debating this issue than the Fifty-First, or "Billion Dollar," Congress of 1889-1891. The Congress debated several controversial solutions, provoking discussion far beyond the halls of government and shaping the course of race relations for twentieth-century America. Legislating Racism proposes that these congressional debates actually created a climate for the first truly frank national discussion of racial issues in the United States. In an historic moment of unusual honesty and openness, a majority of congressmen, newspaper editors, magazine contributors, and the American public came to admit their racial prejudice against not only blacks, but all minority races. If the majority of white Americans -- not just those in the South -- harbored racist sentiments, many wondered whether Americans should simply accept racism as the American way. Thomas Adams Upchurch contends that the Fifty-First Congress, in trying to solve the race problem, in fact began the process of making racism socially and politically acceptable for a whole generation, inadvertently giving birth to the Jim Crow era of American history.

The history of the American twentieth century is largely one of race relations. As the twentieth century unfolded, racial tensions between major racial and ethnic groups often exploded. From the backlash against Eastern and Southern European immigration in the early part of the century to the Civil Rights movement and race riots of the 1960s to the backlash against Latino immigration at the century's end, understanding race relations is central to meeting curricular U.S. history standards. The five-volume Race Relations in the United States in the Twentieth Century set incomparably encapsulates the explosive century, with a desirable decade-by-decade overall organization especially tailored for student assignments. The set provides comprehensive reference coverage of the key events, influential voices, race relations by group, legislation, media influences, cultural output, and theories of inter-group interactions that have been evident in the last century and related to race. Each volume, written by an historian, covers two decades. The set format includes this coverage per decade: Timeline, Overview, Key Events, Voices of the Decade, Race Relations by Group, Law and Government, Media and Mass Communications, Cultural Scene, Influential Theories and Views of Race Relations, Resource Guide, allowing comparison of topics through the century. The bulk of the coverage is topical essays, written in a clear, encyclopedic style. Each volume contains a selected bibliography and index. Historical photos complement the text. Volumes include: BLRace Relations in the United States, 1900-1920 BLRace Relations in the United States, 1920-1940 BLRace Relations in the United States, 1940-1960 BLRaceRelations in the United States, 1960-1980 BLRace Relations in the United States, 1980-2000.