The Changing Status of the Negro

Surely the most curious paradox in recent U.S. history is the breakdown of caste relations between the races. It is curious because it is occurring under official auspices—under the sponsorship of a government not noted, at least in recent years, for bold and imaginative social innovation. It is paradoxical because it is occurring at a time when reaction has the initiative in all other political spheres.

Whatever one’s interpretation of this paradox, no one can doubt that a rev...