Examining Structural Racism in the Jim Crow Era of Illinois

This chapter examines the contours of racial ideologies and their impacts on social dynamics in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Illinois by undertaking historical, archaeological, and comparative studies of three African American communities. In addition to overt acts of racism and racial violence, African American communities in the 19th century combated various forms of structural and aversive racism that diverted economic opportunities away from them and presented challenges for households to overcome. I examine such dynamics using examples from archaeological and historical analysis of three communities in Illinois: New Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and the Equal Rights settlement outside of Galena. This study employs research questions that confront multiple social dynamics that impacted dispositions in the past and continue to influence the present.