Journalist Charles Lane learned about the Colfax Massacre case while he was on The Washington Post case. In his book “The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, The Supreme Court, and The Betrayal of Reconstruction”, Lane spotlights the Colfax Massacre of 1873 and the result of that event. Lane gives an insightful and detailed analysis of the conditions in Louisiana during this time of reconstruction, both politically and socially. He describes the death of over 60 blacks as a result of the horrific attack that took place at the Colfax court house. Lane recounts the Federal and the Supreme Court trials and the aftermath of the criminals’ not guilty verdict. In Grant Parish Louisiana after the Civil War racial violence and expulsions was the …show more content…
Republicans made a last attempt to embed Negro freedom in federal law; they tried but failed to strengthen. On March 31, after many disputes and bloodshed between Democrats and Republicans, whites and Negroes, the Supreme Court sat down to hear the Colfax case. Attorney General George Williams would argue the Colfax case, he promised “he was not going to lose this case without showing the court what he could do…he wasn’t going to lose it without a fight.” Williams reminded the court of the massacre that happened in Colfax and that though Beckwith’s indictment was imperfect it was valid. Williams had to demonstrate that the constitution authorized congress to enact section 6 of the Enforcement Act, which protects whites and blacks voters from conspiracies. Williams made sure to remind the court million of people’s lives depended on the case and if they decided in favor of this law it will do a lot to bring peace and quiet to the south. But when the Supreme Court finally reached a conclusion, they were unanimous in the decision that Beckwith’s indictments were fatally flawed. Chief Justice Waite in his draft dismissed every count and not one mentioned the massacre in it. It broke whatever force the Enforcement Act
Carnival of Fury taught me that Louisiana's foundations supported injustice by overlooking murder, promoted racial segregation, and condoned the murder of human beings. William Ivy Hair., Carnival of Fury: Robert Charles and the New Orleans
Currently in the United States of America, there is a wave a patriotism sweeping across this great land: a feeling of pride in being an American and in being able to call this nation home. The United States is the land of the free and the home of the brave; however, for the African-American citizens of the United States, from the inception of this country to midway through the twentieth century, there was no such thing as freedom, especially in the Deep South. Nowhere is that more evident than in Stories of Scottsboro, an account of the Scottsboro trials of 1931-1937, where nine African-American teenage boys were falsely accused of raping two white girls in Scottsboro, Alabama and no matter how much proof was brought forth proving there innocence, they were always guilty. This was a period of racism and bigotry in our country that is deeply and vividly portrayed though different points of view through author James E. Goodman.
On August 28, 1955, fourteen year old Emmett Till was beaten, tortured and shot. Then with barbed wire wrapped around his neck and tied to a large fan, his body was discarded into the Tallahatchi River. What was young Emmett’s offense that brought on this heinous reaction of two grown white men? When he went into a store to buy some bubblegum he allegedly whistled at a white female store clerk, who happened to be the store owner’s wife. That is the story of the end of Emmett Till’s life. Lynchings, beatings and cross-burning had been happening in the United States for years. But it was not until this young boy suffered an appalling murder in Mississippi that the eyes of a nation were irrevocably opened to the ongoing horrors of racism in the South. It sparked the beginning of a flourish of both national and international media coverage of the Civil Rights violations in America.
In her Fire in a Canebrake, Laura Wexler describes an important event in mid-twentieth century American race relations, long ago relegated to the closet of American consciousness. In so doing, Wexler not only skillfully describes the event—the Moore’s Ford lynching of 1946—but incorporates it into our understanding of the present world and past by retaining the complexities of doubt and deception that surrounded the event when it occurred, and which still confound it in historical records. By skillfully navigating these currents of deceit, too, Wexler is not only able to portray them to the reader in full form, but also historicize this muddled record in the context of certain larger historical truths. In this fashion, and by refusing to cede to a desire for closure by drawing easy but inherently flawed conclusions regarding the individuals directly responsible for the 1946 lynching, Wexler demonstrates that she is more interested in a larger historical picture than the single event to which she dedicates her text. And, in so doing, she rebukes the doubts of those who question the importance of “bringing up” the lynching, lending powerful motivation and purpose to her writing that sustains her narrative, and the audience’s attention to it.
On July 25, 1946, two young black couples- Roger and Dorothy Malcom, George and Mae Murray Dorsey-were killed by a lynch mob at the Moore's Ford Bridge over the Appalachee River connecting Walton and Oconee Counties (Brooks, 1). The four victims were tied up and shot hundreds of times in broad daylight by a mob of unmasked men; murder weapons included rifles, shotguns, pistols, and a machine gun. "Shooting a black person was like shooting a deer," George Dorsey's nephew, George Washington Dorsey said (Suggs C1). It has been over fifty years and this case is still unsolved by police investigators. It is known that there were atleast a dozen men involved in these killings. Included in the four that were known by name was Loy Harrison. Loy Harrison may not have been an obvious suspect to the investigators, but Harrison was the sole perpetrator in the unsolved Moore's Ford Lynching case. The motive appeared to be hatred and the crime hurt the image of the state leaving the town in an outrage due to the injustice that left the victims in unmarked graves (Jordon,31).
In Eric Foner’s book, The Story of American Freedom, he writes a historical monograph about how liberty came to be. In the book, his argument does not focus on one fixed definition of freedom like others are tempted to do. Unlike others, Foner describes liberty as an ever changing entity; its definition is fluid and does not change in a linear progress. While others portray liberty as a pre-determined concept and gradually getting better, Foner argues the very history of liberty is constantly reshaping the definition of liberty, itself. Essentially, the multiple and conflicting views on liberty has always been a “terrain of conflict” and has changed in time (Foner xv).
C. Vann Woodward’s book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, has been hailed as a book which shaped our views of the history of the Civil Rights Movement and of the American South. Martin Luther King, Jr. described the book as “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” The argument presented in The Strange Career of Jim Crow is that the Jim Crow laws were relatively new introductions to the South that occurred towards the turn of the century rather than immediately after the end of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Woodward examines personal accounts, opinions, and editorials from the eras as well as the laws in place at the times. He examines the political history behind the emergence of the Jim Crow laws. The Strange Career of Jim Crow gives a new insight into the history of the American South and the Civil Rights Movement.
In this story it clearly shows us what the courts really mean by freedom, equality, liberty, property and equal protection of the laws. The story traces the legal challenges that affected African Americans freedom. To justify slavery as the “the way things were” still begs to define what lied beneath slave owner’s abilities to look past the wounded eyes and beating hearts of the African Americans that were so brutally possessed.
The thesis “The New View of Reconstruction”, Eric Foner reviews the constantly changing view on the subject of the Reconstruction. The postwar Reconstruction period has been viewed in many different lights throughout history but one fact remains true, that it was one of the most “violent, dramatic and controversial” times in US’s history (224). In the beginning of his thesis, Eric Foner talks about the way the Reconstruction was though as before the 1960 as a period of intense, corruption and manipulation of the freedman. After mentioning the old way of thinking before the 1960’s, Eric Foner reveals the reason for this train of thought, the ignored testimonials of the black freedman.
In chapter 12, Douglass explains to the readers and gives the details of his long journey from freedom and how he was successful . However, Douglass explains to the readers he was unable to give a complete account of his flight, because disclosing all the facts of the escape would compromise those who helped him and make it more difficult for other slaves to escape. Frederick Douglass also expresses the frustration he’s feeling with the way in which the In the chapter Douglass explains appreciative the bravery of those slaves who are bold enough to run the Underground Railroad in their indiscretion makes it much more difficult for slaves to escape the freedom. Douglass recommends keeping the slaveholder ignorant of the means by which slaves
The reconstruction period of United States history is a direct outcome of the conclusion of the Civil War. Philosophies generated within the reconstruction period on the part of the Republican Party, resulted in the creation of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments respectively. Did the government however, continue to reinforce the values perpetuated through the creation of these amendments, following their establishment? If not what implications do these interpretations have for 21st century constitutional conflicts regarding civil rights and civil liberties? This paper sheds light on the answers to the above-mentioned questions through a thorough examination of the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases and
The North’s negligence also contributed to the end of Reconstruction. The North had failed to notice the many racially motivated atrocities that occurred in the South durin...
The civil rights movement of the 1960’s is the center of attention in the southern United States.Racism and segregation are still a way of life in Jessup County, Mississippi. The disappearance of three civil rights workers, who are sent to Jessup during the “Freedom Summer Project” in 1964, causes a huge investigation. The disappearance of the activists, the ignorance of the townspeople and the horrible methods used by the police and the Ku Klux Klan, brings the F.B.I. in to investigate. The movie shows how morally wrong the southern judicial system really is.
Throughout history freedom has had many different meanings and definitions; based on race, gender, and ethnicity. According to the dictionary freedom means the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint (“freedom” def. 1). Freedom may seem like something given to everyone however it was something workers had to fight for. Not everyone believed that workers’ rights needed to be changed, which led to a long battle between workers, employers and the government. To the working class people freedom meant making higher wages, having regulated hours, workable conditions and the right to free speech.
2007 drama film, Freedom Writers, directed and written by Richard LaGravenese (whose previous screenplays include The Fisher King and The Bridges of Madison County) starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton and Patrick Dempsey. It is based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by Erin Gruwell (teacher by profession) who wrote the story based on Woodrow Wilson Classical High School in Long Beach, California. Hilary Swank stars in this enthralling movie of ghetto kids raised on street corners, underprivileged boys and girls who use drugs, have served time in prison, and are very angry about living in a war zone where people are killed regularly on the streets. She gives them what they need to be successful independently, a voice of their own. Erin Gruwell turned this story around from immense struggles to a successful ending by revolving a rough furious classroom situation into an educational achievement.