Dictionary definition of “cotton curtain”

cotton curtain

n. a political, social, and cultural divide, especially concerning race, between the American South and the rest of the country. Subjects: English, United States, Politics, Race

Editorial Note: A similar term is Orange Curtain. Etymological Note: Patterned after Iron Curtain, defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as “the notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989.”

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Citations: [1946 Time (July 8) “Cotton Curtain”: Cotton Curtain. Five thousand miles apart, two men speaking different languages were last week discussing “free voting.” Said one: “I will arrest any man who is against us…on election day….” Said the other: “Let a handful vote this year and two handfuls will vote next year. You will be justified in going to any extreme on election day…to keep them from voting.” The first man was Colonel Moczar, chief of Security Police of Communist-run Lodz in Poland. He was trying to keep followers of the Polish Peasant Party’s Stanislaw Mikolajczyk from voting (see FOREIGN NEWS). The second was Theodore C. ("The Man") Bilbo, inciting fellow Mississippians to “take care of” any Negroes who might want to vote in his state’s primaries.] 1956 George Daniels Chicago Defender (Illinois) (Jan. 14) “Dr. Howard Gives 3-Point Program To Alpha Confab” p. 3: From behind the “cotton curtain” of the Mississippi Delta last week came Dr. Theodore R. (for Roosevelt) Mason Howard.…Rated as Mississippi’s “most hated” Negro leader because of his refusal to buckle under pressure applied by anti-desegregationists, Dr. Howard is described “as a man who lets the chips fall where they may.” 1966 Walker Percy The Last Gentleman p. 130: This very afternoon he had left the office of his agent in New York, tonight would stop off at his house in Bucks County, and tomorrow would head south, under the “cotton curtain,” as he expressed it. 1984 Fay S. Joyce @ Atlanta, Georgia New York Times (Mar. 12) “Reporter’s Notebook: Jackson In South”: When the cotton curtain stood between us, and people were hateful and mean, I was here. When we didn’t have public accommodations, I was here. When the doors of opportunity had never been opened, I was here. When it was time to get the right to vote, I was here.

Posted 15 Sep 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend