The world is full of tangled threads. We point to big, showy ones, leaders and laudable causes, landmark legislation and dramatic moments, and figure that's the entire picture needed to see how the world is changed.
But sometimes it's more subtle thing, smaller and even unintentional, that can have a dramatic effect as well. Such as how the Sears catalog inadvertently fought against the economic and social effects of Southern and rural race prejudice, by enabling poor blacks to directly purchase items that the local general store (owned by whites, of course) wouldn't sell them.
The Sears catalog transformed retail as we know it. It also may have unintentionally combatted white supremacy.
The Sears catalog brought city goods to the country. It also unintentionally combatted white supremacy.
Yep, heard that last week, very interesting.