--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was illegal for black people and white…" description: "\"It was illegal for black people and white people to play checkers together in Birmingham. And there were even black and white Bibles to swear to tell t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/isabel-wilkerson-10765_birmingham_it-was-illegal-for-black-people-and-whit_3104871.jpg" --- # It was illegal for black people and white people to play… ![“It was illegal for black people and white people to play checkers together in Birmingham. And there were even black and white Bibles to swear to tell the truth on in many parts of the South.” quote by Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/isabel-wilkerson-10765_birmingham_it-was-illegal-for-black-people-and-whit_3104871.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/isabel-wilkerson-10765_birmingham_it-was-illegal-for-black-people-and-whit_3104871.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c59/isabel-wilkerson-10765_birmingham_it-was-illegal-for-black-people-and-whit_3104871.jpg) > “It was illegal for black people and white people to play checkers together in Birmingham. And there were even black and white Bibles to swear to tell the truth on in many parts of the South.” [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Segregation extended beyond schools to everyday activities, even games, reflecting deep racial divisions. **In simple terms:** Racial segregation affected daily life, even simple games. Key Takeaway Recognize and confront lingering segregation. Themes racism segregation history Mood reflective somber Type historical social commentary When to use this quote - education - recreation - public spaces - legal systems Key Concepts social stratification systemic inequality Questions to Reflect On - How did such bans shape community interactions? - What parallels exist today? A Different Perspective Segregation laws varied regionally, limiting universal applicability. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Birmingham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/birmingham/) [Black and white](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-and-white/) [Black people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-people/) [Checkers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/checkers/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Play](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/play/) [Telling the truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-the-truth/) [White people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-people/) ## Related quotes > [Don't come over somebody's house at f\*ckin' 5am & expect to play checkers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/the-situation/don-t-come-over-somebody-s-house-at-f-ckin-5am-expect-to-play-checkers/) [The Situation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/the-situation/) > [“I am angry. It is illegal for me to be angry. Remember: Don't get angry. It is illegal to be a black man and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kara-lee-corthron/i-am-angry-it-is-illegal-for-me-to-be-angry-remember-don-t-get-angry/) [Kara Lee Corthron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kara-lee-corthron/) > [“Deal me in. If they want to play checkers, we’ll play chess. Fuck them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dick-lehr/deal-me-in-if-they-want-to-play-checkers-we-ll-play-chess-fuck-them/) Dick Lehr > [“No matter who you are or what may be your lifework, you are playing checkers with TIME! It is always your next move. Move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill-author/no-matter-who-you-are-or-what-may-be-your-lifework-you-are-playing/) Napoleon Hill (Author > [The dog becomes the repository of those model human properties that we have cynically ceased to find among humans. Where today can we find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marjorie-garber/the-dog-becomes-the-repository-of-those-model-human-properties-that/) [Marjorie Garber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marjorie-garber/) > [The farmer doesn't care for the pitchers' battle that resolves itself into a checkers game. The farmer loves the dramatic, and slugging is more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/home-run-baker/the-farmer-doesn-t-care-for-the-pitchers-battle-that-resolves-itself/) [Home Run Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/home-run-baker/) > [“Looking at the sky, he suddenly saw that it had become black. Then white again, but with great rippling circles. The circles were vultures…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-m-g-le-cl-zio/looking-at-the-sky-he-suddenly-saw-that-it-had-become-black-then/) [J.M.G. Le Clézio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-m-g-le-cl-zio/) > [“Bathing Checkers was a strenuous occupation and not to be lightly undertaken. Checkers hated being bathed, partly because he couldn't see where he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/livi-michael/bathing-checkers-was-a-strenuous-occupation-and-not-to-be-lightly/) [Livi Michael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/livi-michael/) > [A reckoning is coming on the state of the internet journalism, because right now, the way it's set up, there is so much room…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rod-lurie/a-reckoning-is-coming-on-the-state-of-the-internet-journalism-because/) [Rod Lurie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rod-lurie/) > [I'm like Bush, I see the world more like checkers than chess.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-miller/i-m-like-bush-i-see-the-world-more-like-checkers-than-chess/) [Dennis Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-miller/) > [In the barber shop you start playing checkers, and eventually you want to learn how to play chess. The pieces look a little more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/o-j-mayo/in-the-barber-shop-you-start-playing-checkers-and-eventually-you-want/) [O. J. Mayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/o-j-mayo/) > [It's the horsey-shape piece that moves in an L shape. It's what makes chess complicated, and why stupid people can't play chess. Go play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/courtney-love/it-s-the-horsey-shape-piece-that-moves-in-an-l-shape-it-s-what-makes/) [Courtney Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/courtney-love/) > [My dad's the type of guy when I was 5 years old, we played checkers and he would not let me win. That's just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/austin-rivers/my-dad-s-the-type-of-guy-when-i-was-5-years-old-we-played-checkers/) [Austin Rivers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/austin-rivers/) > [“Don’t get too hung up on working with any one person, because it’s like a game of checkers where dudes are hopping over one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ice-t-2/don-t-get-too-hung-up-on-working-with-any-one-person-because-it-s/) [Ice-T](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ice-t-2/) > [He sank into the rocking chair, the same one in which Rebecca had sat during the early days of the house to give embroidery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/he-sank-into-the-rocking-chair-the-same-one-in-which-rebecca-had-sat/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) ## More by Isabel Wilkerson > [“That one over this is the one for the use of the white people,” Judge Amistead Jones said. “Not that I am a stickler…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-one-over-this-is-the-one-for-the-use-of-the-white-people-judge/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“...they speak like melted butter and their children speak like footsteps on pavement...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/they-speak-like-melted-butter-and-their-children-speak-like-footsteps/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Many immigrants do not talk about what they endured back home. They were fleeing that world, and when they left they didn't want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-immigrants-do-not-talk-about-what-they-endured-back-home-they/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Many of the people who left the South never exactly sat their children down to tell them these things, tell them what happened and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/many-of-the-people-who-left-the-south-never-exactly-sat-their/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“Fifteen thousand men, women, and children gathered to watch eighteen-year-old Jesse Washington as he was burned alive in Waco, Texas, in May 1916. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/fifteen-thousand-men-women-and-children-gathered-to-watch-eighteen/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [It occurred to me that no matter where I lived, geography could not save me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/it-occurred-to-me-that-no-matter-where-i-lived-geography-could-not/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [Well, I'm a daughter of the great migration as, really, the majority of African Americans that you meet in the north and west are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/well-i-m-a-daughter-of-the-great-migration-as-really-the-majority-of/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [There were colored and white waiting rooms everywhere, from doctor's offices to the bus stations, as people may already know. But there were actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/there-were-colored-and-white-waiting-rooms-everywhere-from-doctor-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“I don’t see one white person in this block selling drugs. They got the nerve to be mad at the blue-eyed devil. You don’t…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-don-t-see-one-white-person-in-this-block-selling-drugs-they-got-the/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“That the Negro American has survived at all is extraordinary —a lesser people might simply have died out, as indeed others have. — DANIEL…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/that-the-negro-american-has-survived-at-all-is-extraordinary-a-lesser/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“The reality was that Jim Crow filtered through the economy, north and south, and pressed down on poor and working-class people of all races.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/the-reality-was-that-jim-crow-filtered-through-the-economy-north-and/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [I mean my mother migrated from Georgia -Rome, Georgia, to Washington, D.C., where she then met my father, who was a Tuskegee Airman who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/i-mean-my-mother-migrated-from-georgia-rome-georgia-to-washington-d-c/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [You must leave this world a better place than it would have been if you had not existed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/you-must-leave-this-world-a-better-place-than-it-would-have-been-if/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [“County supervisors relented only after losing their case in the U.S. Supreme Court, choosing finally to reopen the schools rather than face imprisonment.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/county-supervisors-relented-only-after-losing-their-case-in-the-u-s/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) > [My parents sent me to a school across town, an integrated school, where I had the chance to meet and grow up with people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isabel-wilkerson/my-parents-sent-me-to-a-school-across-town-an-integrated-school-where/) [Isabel Wilkerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) [Explore all 63 Isabel Wilkerson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isabel-wilkerson/) ## More Birmingham quotes > [I don't think anything happens without the press, one way or the other. I think it's all done for it. You saw it start,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garry-winogrand/i-don-t-think-anything-happens-without-the-press-one-way-or-the-other/) [Garry Winogrand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garry-winogrand/) > [I remember I played Birmingham and I'd been awake for about a week and I was walking about like a raving lunatic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerry-cinnamon/i-remember-i-played-birmingham-and-i-d-been-awake-for-about-a-week/) [Gerry Cinnamon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerry-cinnamon/) > [I admire Tom Ades: he's a brilliant conductor, and he gets just the right hard, brilliant sound from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-hazlewood/i-admire-tom-ades-he-s-a-brilliant-conductor-and-he-gets-just-the/) [Charles Hazlewood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-hazlewood/) > [“Nobody wants a house in Osaka,' he said, and it was strange to hear him switch suddenly to foreign pronunciation in the middle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/natasha-pulley/nobody-wants-a-house-in-osaka-he-said-and-it-was-strange-to-hear-him/) [Natasha Pulley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/natasha-pulley/) > [I went to university in the north of England at University of Birmingham to do an English literature degree, and I knew I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-riley/i-went-to-university-in-the-north-of-england-at-university-of/) [Tom Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-riley/) > [Obviously it's very hard to leave a club that you've supported all your life. But the reason that I've come to Birmingham is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-dunn/obviously-it-s-very-hard-to-leave-a-club-that-you-ve-supported-all/) [David Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-dunn/) > [When I first began visiting West Germany in the early 1980s, I was startled by the contrast between Birmingham, where I went to school,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luke-harding/when-i-first-began-visiting-west-germany-in-the-early-1980s-i-was/) [Luke Harding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luke-harding/) > [I get on with Joe Hart really well. He joined Birmingham on loan when I was there and to see him working day-in, day-out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-butland/i-get-on-with-joe-hart-really-well-he-joined-birmingham-on-loan-when/) [Jack Butland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-butland/) > [I just didn't feel like there would be a lot of opportunities for me in Birmingham.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kim-hawthorne/i-just-didn-t-feel-like-there-would-be-a-lot-of-opportunities-for-me/) [Kim Hawthorne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kim-hawthorne/) > [I was born in segregated Birmingham, Alabama. I didn't have a white classmate till we moved to Denver.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/condoleezza-rice/i-was-born-in-segregated-birmingham-alabama-i-didn-t-have-a-white/) [Condoleezza Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/condoleezza-rice/) > [“Birmingham was a dirty industrial city, and from the plane it had a delicate rose-pink aura of pollution, like the chiffon scarf around the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-follett/birmingham-was-a-dirty-industrial-city-and-from-the-plane-it-had-a/) [Ken Follett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-follett/) > [All I've got on my iPod is every single Queen song and every single Judas Priest song. Queen were an incredible heavy metal band.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-halford/all-i-ve-got-on-my-ipod-is-every-single-queen-song-and-every-single/) [Rob Halford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-halford/) > [South Africa used to seem so far away. Then it came home to me. It began to signify the meaning of white hatred here.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-jordan/south-africa-used-to-seem-so-far-away-then-it-came-home-to-me-it/) [June Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-jordan/) > [I've probably read maybe by now fifteen, twenty books on Matthew. I'd say the authors I like best are an English fellow named Michael…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-shelby-spong/i-ve-probably-read-maybe-by-now-fifteen-twenty-books-on-matthew-i-d/) [John Shelby Spong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-shelby-spong/) > [I told Birmingham I don't want nothing, I'm not interested in the money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-redknapp/i-told-birmingham-i-don-t-want-nothing-i-m-not-interested-in-the-money/) [Harry Redknapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-redknapp/) [Browse all 130 Birmingham quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/birmingham/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It was illegal for black people and white people to play checkers together in Birmingham. 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