Political Science Quarterly
Volume 115 No. 2 (Summer 2000)

 

The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America
By Philip A. Klinkner and Rogers M. Smith. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1999
Reviewed by Charles Hirschman

 

In spite of the history of enslavement, hostility, and continued discrimination experienced by African Americans, it is possible to put together an optimistic portrait of racial progress in the United States. In a series of constitutional amendments following the Civil War, former slaves were recognized as American citizens and promised constitutional rights, including full political participation. And in spite of many setbacks along the way, there have been significant improvements in the social, political, and economic conditions for most black Americans over the last fifty years.

However, it is also possible to assemble a very pessimistic account of the historical and contemporary status of African Americans. The promise of racial freedom and progress of the Reconstruction Era ended in little more than a decade after the Civil War. The rise of Jim Crow, sanctioned by state law throughout the South, and the system of de facto segregation and semi-official discrimination in the rest of the country were only ended by the power of the Civil Rights movement and the threat of a second civil war. In spite of significant economic improvements and the creation of a sizable black middle class, there has been only modest progress in the racial integration of neighborhoods, schools, churches, and other social institutions. Playing the race card to mobilize white voters based on their fears of blacks has been a perennial feature of American politics.

Social science has not had an easy time providing a plausible theoretical explanation of this complex and often contradictory history of race relations in the United States. Any theory of continuity, whether of unremitting white racism or of gradual enlightenment, is inconsistent with the zigs and zags of history. Historians tend to eschew broad theoretical accounts in favor of interpretations of trends and events in specific periods. Most social scientists focus on the contemporary period that usually allows for an assumption of stability or only one major historical change that requires an explanation. In a very bold volume, political scientists Philip Klinkner and Rogers Smith take on the task of explaining the entire fabric of American race relations, from seventeenth century Virginia to the political dynamics of the Reagan and Clinton administrations of the late twentieth century. Even though the authors fall short of their ambitions, The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America is a book with a novel interpretation that deserves serious discussion and debate.

In a nutshell, Klinkner and Smith argue that African Americans have only made progress when black soldiers were essential for winning a war. During the Revolutionary War, somewhere between five and eight thousand blacks served as soldiers; and perhaps one-hundred thousand slaves, about one-fifth of the total slave population, gained their freedom through one means or another during this period. The authors argue that the service of black soldiers combined with the ideological fervor of the revolution led to the end of slavery in the northern states in the late eighteenth century. Just as the manpower shortage of soldiers during the revolution had forced George Washington to recruit slaves as soldiers, President Lincoln's initial refusal to enlist black soldiers was overridden by military pressures caused by the heavy casualties experienced by the Union army in the first year of the Civil War. Approximately 180,000 black men eventually served in the Union Army and are thought to have provided the margin of victory for the North.

Klinkner and Smith provide similar accounts of the importance of black soldiers during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Progress during wartime is produced by political concessions from the government (for example, the Emancipation Proclamation) necessary to recruit black soldiers and by the growth of militancy among blacks who are asked to risk their lives but are denied basic rights as citizens. A recurring theme is that the bravery of black soldiers in battle inevitably makes a profound impression on white soldiers (and politicians) that erodes, at least temporarily, their prejudices and assumptions of black inferiority. The overall interpretation of American history is one of short-term racial progress during periods of war (or because of international pressures during the cold war) followed by longer periods of backsliding as race baiting is used for political gains by unscrupulous politicians.

The book also provides a solid history of American race relations, which is based on the standard references in the field. While much of this history will be familiar to scholars in the field, the novel thesis of wartime progress adds a new dimension to the standard accounts. In general, the book is well written and would provide an excellent supplementary reading for upper division courses on American race relations.

Charles Hirschman
University of Washington