"That our government may stand": African American politics in the postbellum South, 1865-1901

This dissertation provides a fresh examination of black politics in the post-Civil War South by focusing on the careers of six black congressmen after the Civil War: John Mercer Langston of Virginia, James Thomas Rapier of Alabama, Robert Smalls of South Carolina, John Roy Lynch of Mississippi, Josiah Thomas Walls of Florida, and George Henry White of North Carolina. It examines the career trajectories, rhetoric, and policy agendas of these congressmen in order to determine how effectively they represented the wants and needs of the black electorate. The dissertation argues that black congressmen effectively represented and articulated the interests of their constituents. They did so by embracing a policy agenda favoring strong civil rights protections and encompassing a broad vision of economic modernization and expanded access for education. Furthermore, black congressmen embraced their role as national leaders and as spokesmen not only for their congressional districts and states, but for all African Americans throughout the South. Black political leaders during the postwar Reconstruction years placed particular importance on the significance of black military service during the war and the lasting legacy of emancipation for the newly freed population. Local developments, especially antiblack violence and tumultuous electoral contests, conditioned newly elected black congressmen and shaped the policies that they embraced, whether it was expanded educational opportunities, stronger federal protections for civil rights, or the tactical decision to support amnesty for ex-Confederates. Despite political pressures and frequent intimidation, black congressmen performed their work admirably, particularly during debates over Charles Sumner’s Civil Rights Act of 1875. As Reconstruction gave way to Redemption, a fracturing took place within the black political establishment as black leaders and their constituents searched for effective ways to respond to white supremacy, disfranchisement, segregation, and lynching. The two most viable avenues available to them, fusion voting and emigration, were both applied in various settings but were ultimately unable to stave off the loss of black citizenship rights by the century’s end. Nevertheless, black congressmen challenged the barriers of prejudice, paving the way for future black struggles for equality in the twentieth century.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Luis-Alejandro Dinnella-Borreg