The New Jim Crow to Now
If slavery and Jim Crow are over, why does so much remain unequal — and what now?
Why this month matters
The final month connects the whole journey to your child's own world: the news they see, the music they love, the country they're inheriting. It refuses two easy stories — "racism is over" and "nothing ever changes" — for the harder, truer one: enormous progress and deep, deliberate inequality, both at once. And it ends where it should: with your child as the next person to carry the story forward.
The story
A new system of control. Beginning in the 1980s, the War on Drugs drove an era of mass incarceration: the United States now imprisons more people than any nation on earth, and Black Americans far out of proportion. Harsh laws (like the crack-versus-powder sentencing gap and the 1994 crime bill) filled prisons. The legal scholar Michelle Alexander called it "The New Jim Crow."
The wealth gap. Generations of slavery, Jim Crow, and redlining left a racial wealth gap of roughly ten to one — not because of anything Black families did, but because of what was done to them, and who profited.
Culture conquers the world. At the same time, Black culture became the culture: hip-hop is the world's most popular music; Oprah Winfrey, Black film (Spike Lee, later Black Panther), and Black athletes and writers shape global life.
Politics and protest. Barack Obama was elected the first Black president in 2008 — followed by a fierce backlash. Black Lives Matter rose after the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown (Ferguson, 2014), and George Floyd (2020), the largest protests in U.S. history. Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, even as fights erupted over how this very history should be taught.
The story isn't finished. From African kingdoms to this morning's headlines, the throughline holds: a people made into property by greed, who have never stopped insisting on their full humanity — and who built much of America in the process.
This month’s stack
Showing picks for Explorers · Grades 3–5. Free options first, with where to buy or borrow.
Read together
Marianne Celano, Marietta Collins, Ann Hazzard, illus. Jennifer Zivoin, 2018. Two neighborhood families — one Black, one White — talk through their feelings after a police shooting. Written by three child psychologists; the book includes a robust guide for parents and educators on facilitating follow-up conversations. Preview with a caregiver before reading aloud; some children may need extra emotional support. Ages 4-8. ISBN 9781433828546.
Watch
CBC Kids News contributor Elijah Sandiford explains the origins of Black Lives Matter — from Trayvon Martin to the global 2020 protests — in a calm, factual, kid-friendly style. Approximately 4 minutes; no graphic content.
Listen
BBC Newsround traces hip-hop from the South Bronx in the 1970s to a global art form — breakdancing, DJing, MCing, graffiti. Accessible for grades 3-5; pairs well with a discussion about how Black artists changed world culture.
Do together
Choose one event from this era — Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday, Obama's election, a BLM march, or Black Panther's premiere. Design a newspaper front page: write a headline, draw a picture, and add two or three sentences explaining why it was important. Share and compare pages as a family.
Talk about it
- In 'Something Happened in Our Town,' the two families react differently at first. Why might people see the same event in different ways, and how can talking help?
- Hip-hop started in a neighborhood where people had very little money. How did music and art become a way to tell the world what life was like?
- Black Lives Matter began because people felt Black lives were not being protected equally. What does 'equal protection' mean to you?
Fall down the rabbit hole
Visit it
The throughline
The arc is real but it does not bend on its own — people bend it. Your child now knows the whole story: where it began, what was done, who resisted, and what remains. The last chapter is unwritten, and they are one of its authors. Each one, teach one.