Could it be that the institutional racism of Jim Crow occurred not despite the Progressive era but because of it? Not only did the Progressive reforms create new economic rents that could be exploited by whites and by the politicians who enacted those reforms, but many leading Progressives espoused views on racial purity and segregation that put them in the vanguard of the American apartheid system.

William L. Anderson is professor of economics at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland.
David Kiriazis is an assistant professor in and chair of the Department of Economics at Frostburg State University.
Culture and SocietyFreedomGovernment and PoliticsGovernment PowerLaw and LibertyPhilosophy and ReligionPolitical HistoryPolitical TheoryRace Issues
Other Independent Review articles by William L. Anderson
Winter 2020/21 Same Players, Different Game: An Examination of the Commercial College Athletics Industry
Summer 2004 Law as a Weapon: How RICO Subverts Liberty and the True Purpose of Law
Summer 1998 The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation