David Clodfelter
Coastal Carolina University
April 13, 2018 South of Freedom
South of freedom refers to a book authored by a young African journalist named Carl Rowan. He wrote the book mainly to report the day to day life of the black people in Minneapolis region. This includes what the blacks were going through in their day to day life. He focused on major hotspots where racial tension was rampant during that time such as Columbia, Tennessee which was the scene of the race riot in 1946 as well as Birmingham, Alabama, a brutal racist city in the region. In this book, Carl Rowan describes the racial mood situation in the south including the high rate of discrimination practiced in hotels and restaurants, railroad stations as well as on buses and trains (Rowan, pp.14-37). In this paper, I will mainly provide a book review of the discussing the main themes of the
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During this time, the blacks experienced high levels of racism from the whites. This included experiences such as racial discrimination, economic exploitation, segregation and humiliation among others. The blacks were also denied the right to practice their own taboos and forced to leave their culture (Rowan, pp.14-37). All this was in violation of the civil rights and therefore forced the author to write and report what the blacks were going through in the south region. According to the book, the blacks experienced high levels of racism in the hands of the white people. For example, the blacks were highly segregated in public places such as schools, health care centers, residential areas and bus stations as well as in the buses and trains. This indicates that there were specific areas set for the blacks and they were not allowed to interact freely with the white people. This shows a high level of discrimination and was in total violation of the civil rights and rights of black