Reconstructing Democracy: Grassroots Black Politics in the Deep South after the Civil War

376 Pages·2015·2.47 MB·English

by  Justin Behrend

Reconstructing Democracy
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Reconstructing Democracy
Grassroots Black Politics in the Deep South
after the Civil War
JUSTIN BEHREND
The University of Georgia Press Athens and London
© 2015 by the University of Georgia Press
Athens, Georgia 30602
www .ugapress .org
All rights reserved
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2014952577
isbn- 13: 978- 0- 8203- 4033- 3 (hardcover)
ISBN for digital edition: 978-0-8302-4785-1
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data available
FOR MARIA, ZACHARY, AND MAYA
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments / ix
Introduction. “Wise in Time” / 1
Part One. Constructing Democracy
Chapter 1. Into the Arms of Strangers / 13
Chapter 2. Emancipated Communities / 42
Chapter 3. New Friends / 77
Part Two. Maintaining Democracy
Chapter 4. “A New Machinery of Government” / 119
Chapter 5. “True to One Another” / 147
Chapter 6. A Deep Interest in Politics / 174
Part Three. Constricting Democracy
Chapter 7. “Organized Terrorism and Armed Violence” / 207
Chapter 8. Return of Oligarchy / 235
Notes / 257
Index / 343
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I owe a great deal of gratitude to a number of institutions and individuals who
saw the value in this book and helped to see it to completion. Northwestern
University, where this project began as a dissertation, provided essential funds
for research and writing. A Faculty Grant from Mount Holyoke College, a Presi-
dential Summer Fellowship from suny Geneseo, and additional grants from
Geneseo’s Research Council offered important resources to transform my dis-
sertation into a book. I also wish to thank the librarians and archivists at the
Northwestern University Library; the National Archives, Washington, D.C.,
and College Park; the Mississippi Department of Archives and History; the Hill
Memorial Library at Louisiana State University; the Historic Natchez Founda-
tion; the Moorland- Spingarn Research Center, Howard University; the Center
for American History, University of Texas at Austin; the Rutherford B. Hayes
Presidential Center; and Milne Library, suny Geneseo, who helped me to locate
relevant primary sources. I especially wish to thank Anne Webster at the Mis-
sissippi Department of Archives and History and Mimi Miller at the Historic
Natchez Foundation for making me feel at home in their respective archives.
Although I didn’t know it at the time, the seeds for this project were first
planted in Ron Davis’s graduate seminar on the U.S. South at California State
University, Northridge. He introduced me not only to Natchez but also to the
problems and debates of southern history. It has been fourteen years since I
was a student at csun, yet Ron has been a continual source of guidance and
encouragement. At Northwestern I benefited immensely from great faculty and
a supportive cohort of graduate students. Steven Hahn, Stephanie McCurry,
Dylan Penningroth, Darlene Clark Hine, and Kate Masur not only guided my
dissertation toward completion but also gave me cogent advice in developing
this book. I couldn’t have made it through the PhD program without friend-
ship and support from Aaron Astor, David Brodnax, Katherine Burns- Howard,
Debs Cane, Mike Crane, Greg Downs, Carole Emberton, Erik Gellman, Erik
Mathison, Shuji Otsuka, Jarod Roll, Tobin Shearer, David Sellers Smith, Owen
Stanwood, Rhiannon Stephens, Erik Taylor, and Dana Weiner.