EIHS Lecture: “Ordered to Leave”: Expulsion and the Origins of Jim Crow in Small-town America, 1890s-1920s
Stephen Berrey (University of Michigan)
Why is small-town America overwhelmingly white? While we know much about the history of Jim Crow in the South and increasingly in the urban North and South, we know little about the
racial system that emerged in small towns outside the South. Focusing on towns in Indiana and Napa Valley, California, this talk considers how a culture of expulsion became a distinguishing feature of Jim Crow in small towns. Tensions related to migration, labor, and morality fueled racial discourses and practices as expulsion quietly and legally became part of the routine of daily life in small-town America.
Stephen A. Berrey is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Professor of American Culture and History at the University of Michigan. He is chair of the James W. Loewen Foundation, and Director of the Sundown Towns Project ( https://justice.tougaloo.edu), a public engagement initiative begun by Loewen to document places that have intentionally excluded some racial groups. He is the author of The Jim Crow Routine: Everyday Performances of Race, Civil Rights, and Segregation in Mississippi (2015). With the Singing Justice Collective, a collaboration of scholars and performers, he is co-author of Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice (forthcoming 2026).
This event presented by the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible in part by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.
racial system that emerged in small towns outside the South. Focusing on towns in Indiana and Napa Valley, California, this talk considers how a culture of expulsion became a distinguishing feature of Jim Crow in small towns. Tensions related to migration, labor, and morality fueled racial discourses and practices as expulsion quietly and legally became part of the routine of daily life in small-town America.
Stephen A. Berrey is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Professor of American Culture and History at the University of Michigan. He is chair of the James W. Loewen Foundation, and Director of the Sundown Towns Project ( https://justice.tougaloo.edu), a public engagement initiative begun by Loewen to document places that have intentionally excluded some racial groups. He is the author of The Jim Crow Routine: Everyday Performances of Race, Civil Rights, and Segregation in Mississippi (2015). With the Singing Justice Collective, a collaboration of scholars and performers, he is co-author of Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice (forthcoming 2026).
This event presented by the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible in part by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.
| Building: | Tisch Hall |
|---|---|
| Event Type: | Lecture / Discussion |
| Tags: | African American, african and african american studies, african and afroamerican studies, american culture, Anthropology, History, Humanities |
| Source: | Happening @ Michigan from Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies, Department of History |
