During the Great Migration, Black Americans sought new lives in midwestern small towns only to confront the pervasive efforts of white residents determined to maintain their area’s preferred cultural and racial identity. Jennifer Sdunzik explores this widespread phenomenon by examining how it played out in one midwestern community. Sdunzik merges state and communal histories, interviews and analyses of population data, and spatial and ethnographic materials to create a rich public history that reclaims Black contributions and history. She also explores the conscious and unconscious white actions that all but erased Black Americans--and the terror and exclusion used against them--from the history of many midwestern communities.

An innovative challenge to myth and perceived wisdom, The Geography of Hate reveals the socioeconomic, political, and cultural forces that prevailed in midwestern towns and helps explain the systemic racism and endemic nativism that remain entrenched in American life.

Preface

Introduction: How White Desires Determine the Fate of the Great Migration in America’s Heartland

1. Manifesting White Indiana
2. Crossroads of Desires
3. Erasing Histories: A Black Church and a White Pool
4. Silencing Memories: White Desires and Black Terror
5. When Black Folk Make the Record
Conclusion: The Geography of Hate—Mapping Whiteness

Notes

Bibliography

Index