Racial Cleansing, American Style

Interview with Elliot Jaspin: Racial Cleansing in America

from History News Network (hnn.us)



Elliot Jaspin, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize (1979), is the author of the just-published book, Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hiden History of Racial Cleansing in America (Basic Books)





"What I found was that from as early as 1864
until at least 1923 white Americans engaged in campaigns of racial
cleansing. The white community would issue an ultimatum to blacks that
they would have to leave within a certain amount of time – usually
measured in hours – or they would be killed. These racial cleansings
occurred both in the North and South and in at least 12 cases emptied
whole counties. Because this has been a very painful chapter in
America’s history, the story of these expulsions has largely been
hidden. Yet the legacy of these events has been enduring. The twelve
countywide racial cleansings I describe in my book have all been
successful. That is to say the counties remain virtually all-white
today."

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