{"product_id":"elusive-utopia-the-struggle-for-racial-equality-in-oberlin-ohio-9780807176245","title":"Elusive Utopia: The Struggle for Racial Equality in Oberlin, Ohio","description":"\u003cp\u003eBefore the Civil War, Oberlin, Ohio, stood in the vanguard of the abolition and black freedom movements. The community, including co-founded Oberlin College, strove to end slavery and establish full equality for all. Yet, in the half-century after the Union victory, Oberlin's resolute stand for racial justice eroded as race-based discrimination pressed down on its African American citizens. In \u003ci\u003eElusive Utopia, \u003c\/i\u003e noted historians Gary J. Kornblith and Carol Lasser tell the story of how, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Oberlin residents, black and white, understood and acted upon their changing perceptions of race, ultimately resulting in the imposition of a color line. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFounded as a utopian experiment in 1833, Oberlin embraced radical racial egalitarianism in its formative years. By the eve of the Civil War, when 20 percent of its local population was black, the community modeled progressive racial relations that, while imperfect, shone as strikingly more advanced than in either the American South or North. Emancipation and the passage of the Civil War amendments seemed to confirm Oberlin's egalitarian values. Yet, contrary to the expectations of its idealistic founders, Oberlin's residents of color fell increasingly behind their white peers economically in the years after the war. Moreover, leaders of the white-dominated temperance movement conflated class, color, and respectability, resulting in stigmatization of black residents. Over time, many white Oberlinians came to view black poverty as the result of personal failings, practiced residential segregation, endorsed racially differentiated education in public schools, and excluded people of color from local government. By 1920, Oberlin's racial utopian vision had dissipated, leaving the community to join the racist mainstream of American society. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDrawing from newspapers, pamphlets, organizational records, memoirs, census materials and tax lists, \u003ci\u003eElusive Utopia\u003c\/i\u003e traces the rise and fall of Oberlin's idealistic vision and commitment to racial equality in a pivotal era in American history.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-11747140\"\u003eGary Kornblith\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=AUTH-781039\"\u003eCarol Lasser\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e LSU Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/04\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 344\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.12lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.77d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780807176245\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0807176249\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBISAC Categories:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS036040\"\u003eUnited States | 19th Century\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS036060\"\u003eUnited States | 20th Century\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=CAT-HIS\"\u003eHistory\u003c\/a\u003e | \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/sureshotbooks-com.myshopify.com\/search?type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage\u0026amp;q=BISAC-HIS056000\"\u003eAfrican American \u0026amp; Black\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGary J. Kornblith, emeritus professor of history at Oberlin College, has published \u003ci\u003eSlavery and Sectional Strife in the Early American Republic, 1776-1821\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCapitalism Takes Command: The Social Transformation of Nineteenth-Century America.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCarol Lasser, emeritus professor of history at Oberlin College, has published \u003ci\u003eEducating Men and Women Together: Coeducation in a Changing World\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAntebellum American Women: Private, Public, Partisan.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"LSU Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44707118743789,"sku":"9780807176245","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/8097\/6621\/products\/img_fbc7bcf9-9d86-47f4-abf4-c1a19bc5df97.jpg?v=1703964835","url":"https:\/\/sureshotbooks.com\/products\/elusive-utopia-the-struggle-for-racial-equality-in-oberlin-ohio-9780807176245","provider":"SureShot Books Publishing LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}