LAMC | AFRO 4
5/24/2010
The Pursuit of
Democracy
COMPANY PRODUCTS
What does Freedom Actually Mean?
1
Daniel White Hodge PhD
LOOKING FOR FAMILY
Many freed blacks
returned to the South
looking for family who
had been sold away.
I. THE END OF SLAVERY
|
Differing Reactions of Former Slaves
y
Slaves
|
|
|
Some black people quick to reveal inner feelings
Others, especially elderly, fearful about leaving
Reuniting Black Families
Many left in search of family members
| Slave owners
| Dismayed when freedmen left
y
Confused servants’ affection with support for slavery
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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5/24/2010
II. LAND
| Economic
y
|
|
Independence
Not possible without federal help
| Special
y
security
Self sufficiency
Field Order #15
General William T. Sherman
|
|
“Forty acres and a mule”
Families work together
|
| Port
Black women not to work in fields as slaves had
Royal Experiment
A VILLAGE NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C
Former slaves assembled in a village near Washington, D.C. Black
people welcomed emancipation, but without land, education, or
employment, they faced an uncertain future.
III. THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU
|
Federal agency to help ex-slaves, est. 1865
y
Obtain land, education
Negotiate labor contracts with white planters
Settle legal and criminal disputes
Provide food, medical care, and transportation
y
General Oliver O. Howard
y
y
y
|
Helped thousands of white and black southerners
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2010
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OFFICE OF THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU,
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE
Freedmen’s Bureau agents often found themselves in the middle of
angry disputes over land and labor that erupted between black and
white Southerners. Too often the Bureau officers sided with the
white landowners in these disagreements with former slaves.
SOURCE: Harper’s Weekly, July 25, 1868.
SOUTHERN HOMESTEAD ACT
|
Provide land for freedmen, 1865
y
y
Much of the land was swampy, unsuitable for
farming
Many blacks purchased land
|
|
Lacked financial resources
F il d
Failed
SHARECROPPING
|
Labor system emerged in the 1870
y
Paid in crops
|
|
y
Variations
Often cheated out of their share
Freedmen worked land as families
No gangs
Not under direct white supervision
| See Map 12-1
|
|
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2010
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CHARLOTTE FORTEN
5/24/2010
Charlotte Forten came
from a prominent
Philadelphia family of
color. She joined hundreds
of black and white teachers
who migrated South during
and after the Civil War to
instruct the freed people.
Some teachers remained
for a few months. Others
stayed for a lifetime.
Charlotte Forten—shown
here in an 1866
photograph—taught on the
South Carolina Sea Islands
from 1862 to 1864.
HAMPTON INSTITUTE STUDENTS LEARN MILK
PRODUCTION
Black and white land-grant colleges stressed training in agriculture
and industry. In this late-nineteenth-century photograph, Hampton
Institute students learn milk production. The men are in military
uniforms, which was typical for males at these colleges. Military
training was a required part of the curriculum.
VI. VIOLENCE
| Backlash
y
Violence and brutality
|
|
y
y
Widespread
Large-scale
Memphis, May 1866
N
New
Orleans,
O l
July
J l 1866
| The
System of Injustice
500 white men indicted in Texas for killing
black people
y Not one conviction
| White Southerners
y
y
y
y
Opposed black men in the political system
Did not accept the Fourteenth Amendment
Blamed Republicans for waste and corruption
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2010
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VII. THE CRUSADE FOR
POLITICAL AND CIVIL RIGHTS
|
Black franchise
y
y
Lincoln supported limited black suffrage
The last days of the Civil War filled with hope
|
|
Black participation in postwar politics promising
See PROFILE
IX. BLACK CODES
| Relegated
freedmen to a subordinate role
in society
| Imposed severe restrictions
Sign labor
Si
l b contracts
t t
Black children (2 to 21-years-old) apprenticed
y Corporal punishment was legal
y Prohibited vagrancy, using alcohol or firearms
y
y
| Guaranteed
y
rights slaves did not have
Marry, sign contracts, buy property, sue,
testify in court
MONTICELLO, FLORIDA
Bearing a remarkable resemblance to a slave auction, this scene in
Monticello, Florida, shows a black man auctioned off to the highest bidder
shortly after the Civil War. Under the terms of most southern black codes,
black people arrested and fined for vagrancy or loitering could be “sold” if
they could not pay the fine. Such spectacles infuriated many Northerners
and led to demands for more rigid Reconstruction policies.
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
With the adoption of radical Republican policies, most black men eagerly
took part in political activities. Political meetings, conventions, speeches,
barbecues, and other gatherings also attracted women and children.
HISTORIC SESSION OF THE SUPREME COURT
An AfricanAmerican attorney
confers with white
colleagues during a
historic session of
the Supreme Court
in the late 1800s.
I. CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
|
Delegates
y
y
Former Confederate states elect delegates,1867-68
265 black men in ten Southern states
y
Mostly Republicans
|
|
|
|
|
Carpetbaggers
p
gg
Scalawags
African Americans
Progressive Constitution
y
y
y
|
First time black men cast ballots
All adult males vote
Statewide public education
State support for private businesses
Elections
y
y
y
y
Democratic responses varied
Boycotted
Some voted for ratification
Others voted against ratification
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2010
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BLACK MEN CAST BALLOTS
5/24/2010
Southern black men cast
ballots for the first time
in 1867 in the election of
delegates to state
constitutional
conventions. The ballots
were provided by the
candidates or political
parties, not by state or
municipal officials. Most
nineteenth-century
elections were not by
secrett ballot.
b ll t
BLACK POLITICAL LEADERS
| White
y
Republicans dominate
1,465 black men held political office
|
|
378 free blacks before the Civil War
Most from Mississippi and South Carolina
Majority of representatives in state houses were black
men
| Did not dominate any state politically
|
|
None elected governor
|
14 served in the U.S. House of Representatives
|
Six lieutenants
STATES SUBJECT TO CONGRESSIONAL
RECONSTRUCTION
THE
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2010
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HIRAM R. REVELS
5/24/2010
Hiram R. Revels represented Mississippi in
the U.S. Senate from February 1870 until
March 1871, completing an unexpired term.
He went on to serve as Mississippi’s
secretary of state. He was born free in
Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1822. He
attended Knox College in Illinois before the
Civil War. In 1874 he abandoned the
Republican Party and became a Democrat.
By the 1890s he had acquired a sizable
plantation near Natchez.
II. THE ISSUES
|
Promote the welfare of all citizens
y
Education and social welfare
|
Improve literacy and education for black people
| Public schools
y
y
y
Segregated (except New Orleans)
Compulsory
Co
p so y eeducation
ca o
Uneven results
Establish state supported schools
| The deaf, the blind, and the insane
| Criminal reform
|
THE ISSUES (CONT.)
|
Civil rights
y
Public facilities for all people
Introduce laws to prohibit discrimination
| Seen by white people as an attempt at social equality
| White politicians defeated anti-discrimination bills
| South Carolina passed but not effectively enforced
|
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2010
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III. ECONOMIC ISSUES
|
Black politicians
y Supported economic development
y Enacted laws to prevent abuse of laborers
y Paid
P id b
before
f
or when
h crop sold
ld
|
y
Some even wanted to regulate laborers’ wages
Stay laws
Protect land and property of small farmers against
seizure
| Republicans hoped to gain support from white
yeomen
|
ECONOMIC ISSUES (CONT.)
|
Land
y
No programs to provide land to landless
|
Except South Carolina
| State land commission, 1869
y
y
y
|
Loans on generous terms
14,000 families gain land
Corrupt and inefficiently managed
High property taxes
| Forced landowners to sell
ECONOMIC ISSUES (CONT.)
|
Business and industry
y
Expanding railroad network
Employment
Prosperity
| Corrupt financing
|
|
y
Black entrepreneurs
|
Difficult to get financing
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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IV. BLACK POLITICIANS:
AN EVALUATION
|
Failed to significantly improve lives
y
Outnumbered by white Republicans
|
|
Could not enact their own agenda
Disagreement among black leaders
| Divided by class and prewar status
V. REPUBLICAN FACTIONALISM
|
Southern Republicans
y
y
Factious
Disagreements
|
Who should run and hold political office
| Desperate
p
for an office that p
paid a salary
y
| Ran against each other
| Re-nomination and re-election unusual
y
Inexperienced leadership
VI. OPPOSITION
|
White Southerners
y
y
y
y
Opposed black men in the political system
Did not accept the Fourteenth Amendment
Blamed Republicans for waste and corruption
Redeemers
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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THE KLANSMEN OF THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA
The flowing white robes and cone-shaped headdresses associated with the
Ku Klux Klan today are mostly a twentieth-century phenomenon. The
Klansmen of the Reconstruction era, like these two men in Alabama in
1868, were well armed, disguised, and prepared to intimidate black and
white Republicans. The note is a Klan death threat directed at Louisiana’s
first Republican governor, Henry C. Warmoth.
VII. THE KU KLUX KLAN
|
Militant terrorist organizations
y
y
y
Knights of the White Camellia
The White Brotherhood
The Whitecaps
|
|
|
A campaign of violence
y
y
Nott well-organized
N
ll
i d or unified
ifi d
Reduced support for the Republican party
|
y
Eliminated leaders
| Benjamin F. Randolph
| Robert F. Scott
Enforcement
|
|
Remove black men from politics
Accepted the use of violence
| Threats, intimidations, rapes, beatings, and murder
Generally weak
Ku Klux Klan
y
Establish in Pulaski, Tennessee, 1866
Social club
y
Attracted all classes of white society
y
|
|
|
Confederate veterans
General Nathan Bedford Forrest
Active in areas they could influence voting
| Never appeared in Carolina and Georgia Low Country
VIII. THE WEST
Native Americans
y Fought for the confederacy
y Resented sharing land with freedmen
| Black people struggled for rights
y Creeks/Seminoles
y Choctaw/Chickasaw
y Other territorial governments
|
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2010
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FEDERAL RECONSTRUCTION LEGISLATION: 1868–
1868–
1875
IX. THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT
| Forbade
states from excluding citizens
from voting “on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude.”
y
Does not guarantee the right to vote
Women
Poll taxes
| Literacy tests
| Property qualifications
|
|
y
Northern men
THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT
This optimistic 1870 illustration exemplifies the hopes and aspirations
generated during Reconstruction as black people gained access to the
political system. Invoking the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and John Brown,
it suggests that African Americans would soon assume their rightful and
equitable role in American society.
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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X. THE ENFORCEMENT ACT
| Northern
| Increased
| 1870
y
Act
Outlawed disguises and masks
| Ku
y
response to Southern terrorism
federal authority
Klux Klan Act, 1871
Federal offense to
Interfere with voting, hold office, serve on jury
Authorize President to send in federal troops
| Suspend the writ of habeas corpus
| South Carolina up country
|
|
XI. THE NORTH AND RECONSTRUCTION
|
Northern commitment weakened
y
Other issues
y
Legislation could not create equality
y
Economy
|
|
|
Patronage, veterans benefits, tariffs
Blacks must work to achieve acceptance
p
Panic of 1873
XII. THE FREEDMEN’S BANK
Founded 1865
Many black employees
| Only white men served on board of directors
| Unwise investments
|
|
y
Closed June 1874
|
African American depositors
| Lost more than $1 million
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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XIII. THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1875
|
“Full and equal enjoyment”
y
Prohibit racial discrimination
y
No attempt to enforce
|
|
|
Public facilities, conveyances, theaters, and others
U.S. Supreme
p
Court ruled unconstitutional,, 1883
See VOICES
ROBERT BROWN ELLIOTT DELIVERED A RINGING
SPEECH
SOURCE: P.S. Duval and
Son, Come and join us
brothers; Civil War;
Philadelphia, PA; ca. 1863.
Chicago Historical Society
ICHi-22051.
On January 6, 1874, Robert Brown Elliott delivered a ringing speech in
the U.S. House of Representatives in support of the Sumner civil rights
bill. Elliott was responding in part to words uttered the day before by
Virginia congressman John T. Harris who claimed that “there is not a
gentleman on this floor who can honestly say he really believes that the
colored man is created his equal.”
XIV. THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION
| Violent
y
Redemption
In every Louisiana election, 1868-1876
|
|
Colfax Massacre
White League
| Shotgun
y
Policy
Mississippi declared open war on black majority
Masks and hoods discarded
Black voters hid on election day
| Adelbert Ames
|
|
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION (CONT.)
|
Hamburg Massacre, July 1876
y
y
y
y
Rifle clubs
Red Shirts
Federal troops sent to South Carolina
South Carolina adopts “Shotgun
Shotgun Policy”
Policy
THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION (CONT.)
| The
y
Compromise of 1877
Election 1876
|
|
Samuel J. Tilden, one vote shy of victory
Rutherford B.
B Hayes
Hayes, needed nineteen electoral votes
|
|
Election fraud
y Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina
Republican North and Democratic South compromise
|
Hayes wins
y Removal of federal troops
y See Map 13-2
DATES OF READMISSION AND REESTABLISHMENT
Map 13–1. Dates of
Readmission of Southern
States to the Union and
Reestablishment of
Democratic Party Control.
Once conservative white Democrats regained political control of a state
government from black and white Republicans, they considered that state
“redeemed.” The first states the Democrats “redeemed” were Georgia, Virginia,
and North Carolina. Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina were the last.
(Tennessee was not included in the Reconstruction process under the terms of the
1867 Reconstruction Act.)
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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THE ELECTION OF 1876
Map 13–2. The Election of 1876.
Although Democrat Samuel Tilden
appeared to have won the election
of 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes and
the Republicans were able to
claim victory after a prolonged
political and constitutional
controversy involving the disputed
electoral college votes from
Louisiana, Florida, and South
Carolina (and one from Oregon).
In an informal settlement in 1877,
Democrats agreed to accept
electoral votes for Hayes from
those states, and Republicans
agreed to permit those states to
be “redeemed” by the Democrats.
The result was to leave the entire
South under the political control of
conservative white Democrats.
For the first time since 1867, black
and white Republicans no longer
effectively controlled any former
Confederate state.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN — NATIONAL EVENTS
AFRICAN-AMERICAN — NATIONAL EVENTS
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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AFRICAN-AMERICAN — NATIONAL EVENTS
AFRICAN-AMERICAN — NATIONAL EVENTS
FREEDOM & THE CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN
AMERICAN
A profile of the Black Family
|
y
y
y
y
“The African American family and community are in trouble…despite
great strides made by individual African Americans over the past 50
years and moderate gains, especially in terms of access– attained by
the hard-fought struggles of the civil rights movement—the overall
picture for African American men, women, and children is dismal”
(Hattery & Smith p. 17).
Family structure (size of family, the stability of family units, fertility
rates, number of adults in the household)
Intimate partner violence
Health, well-being, & access to health care
|
|
y
Work & education
|
y
Bureau of Labor Statistics reports Black men are more than twice as likely
to report being unemployed as their White counterparts (11% compared to
5%)
Poverty & wealth
|
y
Black babes are twice as likely to die in their first year of birth than White
babies
Higher rates of HIV/AIDS & diseases
Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that a White male living in 1962 makes
more than a Black male in 2008 (Median)
Incarceration
|
|
African Americans make up only 13% of the population, but African
American men make up nearly half of all inmates, men & women.
New report finds that the murder rate of young Black men (14-17) rose by
more than 31% from 2000 to 2007.
53
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2010
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XV. CONCLUSION: WHAT DOES FREEDOM
MEAN?
“A revolution but half-accomplished”--Carl Schurz, 1865
|
Despite the gains, freedom, citizenship, and
the right to vote, Reconstruction was not a
success
y
y
Bloody era
Persistent racism
|
|
|
Black people not prepared for roles in government
W ld i
Worldviews
th
thatt still
till persist:
i t
y
y
y
y
Inferiority
Black males are scary
Racism as Black’s problem
Forget the past; I never owned slaves!
y
y
Split the classes
Created disconnects with large swatches within African
American culture
Class struggles
Generational disconnects
Integration & its effects on the African American:
y
y
VISUALIZING THE PAST - HIGHER EDUCATION
FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS BEGINS
INTERPRETING THE PAST – REALITIES OF
FREEDOM
Copyright Daniel White Hodge PhD
2010
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