Jim and José Crow: Conversations on the Black/Brown Dialogue

Abstract

This paper explores the parallel experiences of Black and Brown Americans which are often regarded as mutually exclusive. In discussing the divergent but similar histories of Chicanos and Afro-Americans, I utilize the notion of ‘improvisation’, a re-examination of the 1930 desegregation court case, Roberto Alvarez v. Lemon Grove focusing on how Jim Crow laws also affected the Mexican American Southwest as José Crow custom. Utilizing George Bond’s critical narrative, I argue that the Black/Brown struggle is co-joined in history and the social justice movement. In the Bond tradition, my aim here is to refresh our historical understanding and also to reinvigorate the Black/Brown dialogue.