Making the Legal Visible: Wilhelmina Griffin Jones' Experience of Living in Alabama During Segregation

Using Delaney's conception of the legalized landscape, this paper seeks to understand the intersection of race and power in the everyday experiences of an African-American woman. Using Delaney's theory to understand the Jim Crow-era experiences of Wilhelmina Griffin Jones and her interaction with a white police officer offers clues about how the visible, legalized landscape and the metaphysical, conceptualized legalized landscape are manifest in the everyday realm. Furthermore, by asserting the importance of the everyday experiences of African Americans and whites during segregation, this paper comes to a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which resistance and power became enacted through these interactions.