Injustice sheltered: Race relations at the University of Illinois and Champaign-Urbana, 1945-1962

This is a case study of the history of race relations at the University of Illinois and Champaign Urbana from the World War II era to the early 1960s. It tells the story of racial injustice perpetuated within this town-and-gown community and how those who were disconcerted with it struggled, resisted, challenged, and changed aspects of this system. Playing host to major overlapping institutional spheres and linked together in fundamental ideological, economical, political, and social ways, Jim Crow was manifest in blatant and institutionalized ways, teetering dangerously on the imaginary Mason-Dixon line, taking on characteristics of Southern and Northern racism. Just as Jim Crow was both overt and covert in real life, so, too, was the evidence as to its existence. Many rich archival sources were openly-shelved and logically-labeled; many, however, were housed under obscure titles, and it was by chance and much reading that they were discovered.The three major institutional arenas of housing, employment and public accommodations were the major focal point of the study. The patterns and practices of housing discrimination set the tone which had a detrimental effect on race relations in all other areas of living and remain the most difficult to change. Like housing, the institution of employment was also laden with discriminatory practices with the university largely mirroring the community in its racial practices, and these too remain difficult to rectify. Finally, Jim Crow existed in everyday college life as well as in everyday society, yet it was here that protest organizations made the most strides. Placed in the context of American apartheid and resistance to it, this case study reveals how the beliefs and stereotypes of Jim Crow were stubbornly perpetuated in this Northern academic community well into the twentieth century.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio