"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:QeCTe.315690$_o.142396@attbi_s71...
Let's see. In the 1950's, there were hardly any black police,
firefighters, TV characters... let alone doctors, lawyers, judges,
justices, secretaries of state... It was legal, and widely practiced, to
refuse to hire any African Americans, or rent or sell housing to them, or
serve them in restaurants... In much of the nation, blacks were even
forbidden by law to use the public drinking fountains designated for
whites. So that was quite a "peak".

Well, Gary, no one will argue that America has come a long ways from the
Jim Crow 1950s. And a huge percentage of blacks (and Latinos, and
immigrants) have continued to live the American Dream, and have made it
out of initial poverty through hard work and ingenuity.

But that's not what we're talking about. And if you take a long view of
black culture, the 1950s did represent something of a crest, with Jazz,
the Blues, Harlem, and all sorts of other cultural icons flying high.

In fact, some black celebrities have put forth that this era was a
cultural peak for blacks precisely *because* of segregation...

So, in fact, both you and Tom ("Doof") are correct.

No, we're not both correct. Yes, it is possible to point to *some* good
things happening in virtually *any* era or circumstances (which is not to
agree with the specifics of your view on that, or the view of your unnamed,
unquoted "black celebrities"). But to summarize by saying, as "Doof" did,
that the progress of African Americans "peaked" in the 1950s is just a
travesty.

--Gary