AH challenge: less racial animosity in North WWI

[Melvin Loh]

I remember reading a WWI Encyclopedia article which stated that Rockford, Illinois, during the WWI yrs, was an island of racial tranquility in the North amidst a sea of underlying race tensions, since this town's mayor in 1916 as a racial progressive had outlawed segregation, in such ways as forbidding local shops from displaying signs of not accepting colored trade, and encouraging an atmosphere of accomodation towards new black migrants from the South. The article speculated that had more Northern towns been like Rockford, then there could possibly have been less racial violence from 1917 onwards as occurred with East St Louis, Chicago, etc.

What POD would've been required for the example of Rockford to have been more the norm than the exception in the WWI North ? Larger nos. of racially accomodating white officials willing and able to take a stand against Jim Crow, or more far-reaching factors ?

 

[NHBL]

Mabe this would be a good start

Suppose that Rockford became a prosperous town--prosperous enough that nearby towns wanted to attract its citizens' business. In addition, the residents of Rockford, over time, begin to actualy accept the idea of equality being behind the prosperity.
(No longer needing to build two elementary schools, two high schools, and two of every public facility would lower the taxes, and any given business has a larger cstomer base.)
Over time, biggots move out, and people with more tolerant beliefs move in.
Some businesses in nearby towns, in order to attract Rockford's citizens' business, make some changes. (Most don't, they don't want to drive off their regular customer base.)
Rockford grows some, perhaps annexing a neighbor town or two, and its laws come into effect.
The next time there is an economic downturn, some other towns decide to try and save some money by combining the schools, dispite protest from the bigots. A few more towns suffer changes in the population as bigots move out, and more tolerant people move in. (The new policies make land cheaper at first, as there is a lot of property for sale, hence people move in. Lots of peole love bargains.)
It's sad, but economic incentives (major ones) are the fastest way I see to bring about such a change on a large scale.
Naturally, protesters from all over, but especially from the south, will be in Rockford making trouble.

 

[DuQuense]

Laws, Laws, and More Laws,

We discussed this in Ecom class one day, Almost all Business men in the South realized that opening their Stores to the Blacks, would double the Customer Base. Unfortunally the bigots were in charge of the Political Machine. [Politic's eforcement trumps Ecom's efficentcy] That is why there were so many Laws, dealing with Preventing the Business sector from eroding segergation.