New Books In African American Studies

In this groundbreaking work, Professor Brandon T. Jett unearths how police departments evolved with the urbanization of the Jim Crow South, to target African Americans through a variety of mechanisms of control and violence, such as violent interactions, unjust arrests, and the enforcement of segregation laws and customs. Race, Crime, and Policing in the Jim Crow South, published by Louisiana State University in July 2021, provides explanation and context to show the way that modern institution of policing in the United States has evolved from, but clings to historical patterns and attitudes that situate African Americans in positions of relative vulnerability in their interactions with police.  Still, what surprises in Jett's work is the way that Black residents co-operated and even manipulated the police in aid of crime reduction and to extract services in the urban spaces that they lived. Vivid examples and rich detail provides the reader with a thorough understanding of criminal justice and the way that p