32 – Jim Crow I from 1877 TO 1964
How much do readers really know about Jim Crow I? Do people today want to know the ugliness, hatred, and violence that existed in our nation?
Dr. David Pilgrim thinks we should know and gain understanding through observing how common physical objects were used to engrain false thinking about blacks being inferior humans and should be second-class Americans.
Pilgrim is best known as the founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum located at Ferris State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is currently temporarily closed while being renovated and increased in size and scope. It is scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2026. In the following 22-minute video Dr. Pilgrim discusses the museum’s concept and goals.

After reviewing slavery from the colonial era through to the end of Jim Crow I, are there some things Americans might learn and put into practice?
It is possible that peoples’ frameworks of thinking must first be changed before laws and constitutional amendments can become effective in improving society? Could America have followed the French approach for eliminating slavery without a civil war? Is it possible that hatred and violence have been “the American way” for centuries?
After viewing the Jim Crow museum video, did you start planning ways to hurt someone or think about ways to constructively deal with our existing social problems? Is there an important religious concept based on, “Love your neighbor as yourself as long as you can pick your neighbors?” Did Dr. King say, “Let’s build bridges, not walls?”
Does our greatest national improvement opportunity involve developing patterns of dialoging among us to peacefully discuss our social problems in place of the usual pattern of violence?
Joseph L. Bass 1/29/2026