Kari Frederickson's work, The Dixiecrat Revolt, examined the growing disenchantment of Southern Democrats to the federal government, President Truman, and ultimately, the Democratic Party. These Southern conservatives rebelled against the Democratic Party in the 1948 Presidential election resulting in the eventual political realignment of the South to a two-party system, and the rise of the Republican Party within that system. The two chapters of Robin D.G. Kelley's book, Race Rebels, studied the rebellion of blacks in Birmingham over the segregated public transportation system. He also examined the plight of poor blacks in the post-war period, as they received little aid from civil rights organizations and increased repression from the police that culminated in alternative forms of resistance. Both of these works insightfully analyzed the causes of rebellion, displacement that motivated the rebellions, and how each group resisted the perceived oppression. Frederickson's work primarily studied the states of the Deep South, with some discussion offered about states in the Upper South, and it began in the 1930's, continuing to the presidential election in 1968. By covering this period in such detail, she set up the social and political conditions existent in Kelley's Birmingham of the war years and immediate post-war years. The reforms of the New Deal and the economic re-vitalization and modernization of the South during the war years "unleashed forces" that demanded greater racial equality, economic parity, and political participation on behalf of blacks in the South. Kelley focused on the efforts of blacks, both poor and middle-class, in Birmingham demonstrating the agitations and desires of these people and the seg... ... middle of paper ... ... May of 1963. The poor blacks participated in this event, "on their own terms." They taunted the police, retaliated with fists, profanity, rocks, and bottles in a clear demonstration of their contempt for the police. Kari Frederickson's The Dixiecrat Revolt and Robin D. G. Kelley's Race Rebels both demonstrated that similarities occurred between these widely different groups. These two groups were rebelling against perceived threats to their status from mainstream society, both were motivated by the "undemocratic" nature of these threats, and both were displaced from their parent group, be it the Democratic Party or black society in general. These books demonstrated that the rebellions, while not initially successful, led to long-term upheavals, as the Southern racial and political environments grew less segregated and a two-party system developed.
In his book, Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee, Robert James Norrell clearly points out that the Negro citizens of Tuskegee had begun to fight for their Civil Rights in 1870. By reading this book, one could infer that his purpose for writing it would be to inform his readers how the Negro Citizens of the City of Tuskegee gained their right as citizens in which they were entitled to enjoy. He particularly emphasized how they would demand for their right to vote as it is spelled out in the Constitution of this great nation. He also tells the story about power. How whites tried to keep control of their society and blacks kept seeking more independence. The subject of the book was how black votes could change the way of living in a community that was accustom to white supremacy. It focused on people who were a threat to whites being in control. Anybody who tried to change the way of living in the interests of whites of that time in the Tuskegee was considered a threat to their society.
The first part of this book looks into African American political activity during the pre-Civil War and Civil War periods. He uses this part of the book to show that blacks, even while in slavery, used their position to gain rights from their slaveholders. These rights included the right to farm their own plots, sale of their produce, and to visit neighboring plantations. This was also the period
The author points out that southern societies did evolve, however, they resented this evolution. Foner uses the example of Southern Unionists to illustrate this point stating that, “In 1865, Southern Unionism, of whatever kind, did not imply a willingness to extend civil and political equality to the freedmen.” (Foner, 87) This resentment continues throughout the book, and shows that while evolution of Southern society happened, it was met with contentment, and individuals hope that things would go back to the way they used to be, hoping for the plantation slave way of life to return. This is most evident when Foner discusses the Ku Klux Klan, stating that “The Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic party, the planter class, and all those who desired the restoration of white supremacy.” (Foner,
South Carolina was one of the only states in which the black slaves and abolitionists outnumbered their oppressors. Denmark Vesey’s slave revolt consisted of over nine-thousand armed slaves, free blacks, and abolitionists, that would have absolutely devastated society in South Carolina for slave owners, and could have quite possibly been a major step towards the abolishment of slavery in the United states. Robertson succeeded in describing the harsh conditions of slaves in pre-civil war Charleston, South Carolina. This book also helped me to understand the distinctions between the different groups. These groups including the black slaves, free blacks, extreme abolitionists, and the pro-slavery communities.
From the start of the American Civil War, 1860, until the end of the Reconstruction, 1877, the United States of America endured what can be considered a revolution. Prior to the year 1860, there was a lack of union because of central government power flourishing rather than state power. Therefore, there was a split of opposite sides, North and South, fighting for authority. One major issue that came into mind was of slavery. At first, there were enactments that were issued to limit or rather prevent conflict to erupt, such as the numerous compromises, Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. They did not fulfill the needs of the states, South states in particular; therefore, in the year 1860, the Civil War had commenced. There was the issue of inequality of Blacks in suffrage, politics, and the use of public facilities. However, much constitutional and social advancement in the period culminated in the revolution. To a radical extent, constitutional development between 1860 and 1877 amount to a revolution because of events like the Emancipation Proclamation, Civil Rights Act, the amendments that tried to change African Americans lives in American Society and contributed to get the union together. There is the social developments as well that to a lesser extent had amounted to the revolution because of organizations like the Klu Klux Klan, Freedmen’s Bureau lacking, and discrimination against African Americans that caused progression of violence and white supremacy.
Imagine a historian, author of an award-winning dissertation and several books. He is an experienced lecturer and respected scholar; he is at the forefront of his field. His research methodology sets the bar for other academicians. He is so highly esteemed, in fact, that an article he has prepared is to be presented to and discussed by the United States’ oldest and largest society of professional historians. These are precisely the circumstances in which Ulrich B. Phillips wrote his 1928 essay, “The Central Theme of Southern History.” In this treatise he set forth a thesis which on its face is not revolutionary: that the cause behind which the South stood unified was not slavery, as such, but white supremacy. Over the course of fourteen elegantly written pages, Phillips advances his thesis with evidence from a variety of primary sources gleaned from his years of research. All of his reasoning and experience add weight to his distillation of Southern history into this one fairly simple idea, an idea so deceptively simple that it invites further study.
He does this by examining Adelbert Ames rise to Governor along with his use of racist but real terminology. Also, he describes the violent outbreaks that arose due to the mass amount of racism. Leemann illustrates the brutality of the violence used in attempt to scare Republicans from voting. The events that occurred in Leemanns book have results that have changed our nation forever. Nicholas Leeman does an excellent job recounting how life was like in the southern states during the end of the Reconstruction
The second phase of the Civil War was a victory for the south, for their political ideas of former slave owners stayed far after the war. The south was dependent on slave labor and with the slave population now free they had to forcibly change tactics to control this population. Southern whites used legal, political, and violent means to whip the black population into submission. Laws like the black codes were in the south to restrict the black population from becoming a strong community. Common practices like sharecropping crippled the black community’s only field in which they had experience in. Violence from southern whites increased the fear stricken society and crippled their potential for any civil liberties.
Following the death of Lincoln and the Surrender of Lee from Freedman’s Bureau a wave of antagonism between Johnson and the Congress arose. The black people who were previously granted protection and power by the Federal Govern were recognized incoherent by the Whites. The whites began for to form a big rift between them and the blacks. The whites from North invaded the Southern soil and strived hard to fulfill their interests forcing the Black to flee away back to their masters who had brought them as captives (Du Bois Par 2).
Since the beginning, the United States` government, racial slavery had conquered various American identities. “Racism sprung early colonial times due the slavery riot incidence misinterpretations, leading full men, women, and children racial slavery of all different ethnic backgrounds” (Hooker 1). African-Americans held a life long work and Caribbean island shipment originating and affective progression to American colonies. “An importation of 4,000,000 Negroes were held in bondage by Southern planters” (Webstine).Advanced time went, and Northern states nurtured a rapid industrial revolution; Factory introduction, machines, and hired workers replaced any agricultural need of existing slaves. Southern states, however, maintained their original work, continuing the previous circular agricultural system. This suited the firm economic foundation of United States government. However, even continuing economic growth, some Americans still recognized moral rights. The moving disagreement era, America’s Antebellum period grew a deep internal struggle within the American society’s families. “Abolitionists, anti-racial discrimination groups, demanded an end to dehumanized labor treatment in the Southern states” (James 94). However, during this time, women discrimination was also another hot topic taking place. These movements pursued, and women joined numerous groups, and became more society perceived, standing with the thousands African-Americans, immigration workers, and women’s rights, demanding their societal rights. One particular woman advocating her own level in society, gender, race, and all, bringing her standing beliefs was Sojourner Truth. A former run away slave, Sojourner Truth, who originally contemplated no Ameri...
Venet, Wendy Hamand. Neither ballots nor bullets: women abolitionists and the Civil War. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1991.
Tragically, however, very few of these goals were achieved. It seems as if every time the African Americans manage to move one step closer to reaching true equality among the Southern whites, whether it be in a social, political, or economic fashion, the whites always react by committing violent acts against them. Initially, the Southern whites (in fear of black supremacy in Southern politics) fought to preserve the white supremacy Southern politics had always functioned by. This “ushered most African Americans to the margins of the southern political world” (Brinkley, 369). Secondly, African Americans struggled to survive once they were set free; they had nowhere to live and nothing to eat. Because of such reasons, most former slaves decided to remain living on their plantations as tenants, paying their tenancy by working the crop fields. Sadly, even this failed for the African Americans due to the birth of the crop-lien system. Lastly, the Southern whites counteracted the effects of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments by establishing the Jim Crow laws, which aided them with upholding, if not increasing, the steady level of segregation in the South. Ultimately, out of the very few accomplishments made by the African American population during and following the Era of Reconstruction, there existed one achievement significant enough to change the course of American history: the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. As a result of these amendments, “would one day serve as the basis for a “Second Reconstruction” that would renew the drive to bring freedom to all Americans” (Brinkley,
...oned in this paper this new life was unfortunately not a life of equality but it was a change from being a slave. This of course was the most important success of the Reconstruction. This unfortunately was overlooked and southern whites began for example using segregation, lynching, and codes in place of the former slave days to keep blacks "under control".
The mid 60’s was the era when there was an outburst of riots. In the summer of 1964, Blacks rioted in Harlem, Rochester and Philadelphia. They attacked both police and property. The violence and destruction became more massive the following summer. There were riots in the Watts section of LA, and then in Chicago, Springfield, Mass and again in Philly. Ghetto violence rose again in 1966 with 18 different riots, and peaked in 1967 with 31 riots, of which Newark and Detroit were the worst. The assasination of Martin Luther King Jr.
...bers fired upon police forces. Despite the controversy of May 13th, it exemplifies criminalization. The authorities felt threatened by a particular group, in this case MOVE, an organization predominantly African-American with radical political notions. Although race may not have been affected the motives of the group it is possible that they affected the actions taken against them. Keep in mind that although African-Americans had equal rights in the 1970s and 1980s, they were still a minority and heavily discriminated against.