The Man on the Cliff Summary and Analysis

Southern segregation had reached such complete realization by 1915, that many compared it to the strict apartheid policies of South Africa. And it appeared that any Northern opposition, except for a few journalists, had withered away. Indeed, in the North, de facto discrimination and segregation was so commonplace that it did, in fact, encourage the South to press on. World War I brought new hope for the Negro, however. About 360,000 enlisted and, although segregated during service, they began to receive a good wage. Many others migrated North and were quickly employed in war industry jobs. This new prosperity, along with the national theme of the preservation and promotion of democracy worldwide, gave blacks the expectation that their status had and would continue to improve. They could not have been more incorrect.

As the war...