Review of Images of America: African-American Life in Jacksonville, by Herman “Skip” Mason Jr.

 Review of

Images of America: African-American Life in Jacksonville, by Herman “Skip” Mason Jr., ISBN 0752408836

Five out of five stars

A look back at a thriving black community

 Some time ago, I read what seemed to be a bizarre comment on the days of segregation in the south. It quoted an elderly black person as lamenting the loss of the days of segregation. Yet, when reading the article, their point of view made sense. The person pointed out that in the days of segregation, blacks owned many of the local businesses, including the banks. Those banks catered primarily to local black people and so were flexible in their financing arrangements. In the years since segregation ended, so did the era of locally-owned banks. They were now branches of multi-state megabanks that had little to no thoughts of catering to local needs. Profits that used to stay local are now shipped away.

 This book contains a series of images with cations describing the African-American community in Jacksonville, Florida in the first half of the twentieth century. There are images of black men and women posed at their place of work or the businesses and buildings that they owned. The range of organizations is vast, from financial institutions, schools, to stores of all kinds, to places of worship and other forms of social congregation.

 It is a reminder that despite the downward pressure that segregation placed on black people at the time, there were areas where they were very successful, both financially and in the creation of a close knit community.