Racism on Campus A Visual History of Prominent Virginia Colleges and Howard University

Drawing on content from yearbooks published by prominent colleges in Virginia, this book explores changes in race relations that have occurred at universities in the United States since the late 19th century. It juxtaposes the content published in predominantly White university yearbooks to that published by Howard University, a historically Black college. The study is a work of visual sociology, with photographs, line drawings and historical prints that provide a visual account of the institutional racism that existed at these colleges over time. It employs Bonilla-Silva’s concept of structural racism to shed light on how race ordered all aspects of social life on campuses from the period of post-Civil War Reconstruction to the present. It examines the lives of the Black men and women who worked at these schools and the racial attitudes of the White men and women who attended them. As such, Racism on Campus will appeal to scholars of sociology, history and anthropology with interests in race, racism and visual methods.

1. Using Visual Sociology to Study Institutional Racism at Virginia Universities 2. Jim Crow Racism on Campus: Post-Civil War Reconstruction to World War II (1890-1942) 3. Academic Culture and Race Perspectives at Howard University before World War II (1914-1941) 4. Resistance to Racial Integration at Virginia Colleges after World War II (1945-2000) 5. Social Movement Activism at Howard University and Virginia Colleges 6. Conclusion and Future Questions: The Case for Reparations

Stephen C. Poulson is Professor of Sociology at James Madison University, USA. He is the author of Why Would Anyone Do That? Lifestyle Sport in the Twenty-First Century and Social Movements in Twentieth-Century Iran: Culture, Ideology and Mobilizing Frameworks.