Transcript

6.12.26 · History Hour

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. This is a radioized history show, and
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I am your host and reader for this week, Joseph
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both so happy to be with you for this time.
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And before we begin, we need to remind you as
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always that RADIOI is listener driven, so that means you
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and we love to hear your comments or suggestions about
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our programming and in particular this particular show history. And
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so if you have any suggestions about what you'd like
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to hear from a history standpoint, I would love to
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hear it and call it in and request it and
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I'll research it and try to get it try to
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get it to you. So call us at eight five
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nine four two two six three nine zero with any
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suggestions that you have. RADIOI is a reading service intended
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for people who are blind or have other disabilities and
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make it difficult to read printed material. I will cite
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the sources from my reading today, So let's get started.
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The first story that I have today is from history
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dot com and it's called the Coal Facts Massacre, which
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I'd never heard of before. Maybe you have, but it's
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written by the history dot com editors and then was
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done so in May of twenty twenty five. So let's
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read about the Colfax massacre. In the years following the U.
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S Civil War, a number of freedmen and white candidates
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sympathetic to the cause of racial equality were elected to
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office across the South. This progress stirred up deep resentments
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among other white Southerners, who were bitter over the loss
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of a civil war and eager to once again enshrine
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white supremacy endto law. During this period, known as Reconstruction,
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federal troops were stationed throughout the South to pacify the
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region and protect elections. The Enforcement Acts of eighteen seventy
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and seventy one prohibited people from congregating with the purpose
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of disrupting an election, and gave the federal government the
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authority to use its troops in defense of African Americans
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and their recently granted constitutional rights. In eighteen sixty or
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rather seventy two eighteen seventy two, Louisiana voters went to
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the polls to choose a new governor, but the Republican
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and Democratic candidates split the votes, leaving both contestants claiming victory.
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Although the pro Reconstruction Republicans had more votes, The Democrats
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formed a militia the sea's power. President Ulysses S. Grant
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ordered federal troops to Louisiana to enforce order, the Smithsonian reports,
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but before they broke up the militia, the tense situation
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erupted in Colfax. A courthouse sat at the center of
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a small town of Colfax, Louisiana, which was the seat
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for Grant Parish County. The parish was divided like man
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in the post Civil War South. In the eighteen seventy
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two election, forty six hundred Colfax voters cast ballots. Around
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twenty four hundred, mostly black voters supported the Republican candidate,
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while twenty two hundred mostly white voters pulled the lever
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for the Democrats. At the end of March eighteen seventy three,
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white Democratic officials called for a militia to seize the
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Colfax courthouse and prevent Republicans, including elected officials, from taking office.
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In response, a group of black men surrounded the courthouse
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to prevent the white militia from the seizing control of government.
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On April thirteenth, the white mob fought back, firing a
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cannon at the courthouse. Easter Sunday fell on April thirteenth,
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eighteen seventy three, and on that day the Colfax Courthouse
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became the site of a race massacre. Around sixty black
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men surrounded the courthouse to stop the white mob from
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seizing political power ill legitimate. More than three hundred white
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men marched on the courthouse. The white mob included members
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of a klu Klux klan and former Confederate soldiers. James
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had not led the white militia, and when one of
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his followers accidentally shot him, had not militia began slaughtering
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their black prisoners. After seizing control of the courthouse. The
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white militia promised pardons to any black residents who surrendered,
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yet when dozens surrendered, the white mob executed them. The
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massacre soon spread beyond the court house, and the mob
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killing recently freed and slave people across Grant Parish. At
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the end of the day, three white men died, while
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around a hundred and fifty black people were slaughtered, including
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at least fifty after the court house showdown ended. Across
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the country, newspapers reported on the Colfax massacre. However, many
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so oftened the impact by calling it a riot, and
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many blamed the black victims for the massacre. One Southern
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paper laid the blame at the feet of the scallawags
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and carpet bakers, common terms for Southern and Northern Republicans
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who supported reconstruction. The citizens who cleaned them out acted
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by virtue of law and under orders of the sheriff.
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The paper proclaimed in his honery. The white mob, state
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and local authorities refused to prosecute the murderers. Federal authorities, meanwhile,
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stepped in and arrested ninety seven white members of the militia.
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The perpetrators were charged under the klu Klux Klan Acts,
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but only a handful of defendants faced conviction, which the
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Supreme Court overturned. In eighteen seventy six, the High Court
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ruled that the federal government could not charge individuals with
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the nine Constitutional rights to black people. The Supreme Court
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ruled ended the federal government's best tool to fight the
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hate crimes against Black Americans. In the aftermath, hate groups
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like the KKK had little to fear when terrorizing their
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black neighbors. In the eighteen fifty or rather nineteen fifties,
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as states once again fought over segregation, Jim Crow and
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the civil rights. The city of Colfax arrested or rather
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erected a historic marker to remember the massacre. Yet the
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marker celebrated the massacre, declaring that the slaughter was quote
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marked the end of carpetbag misrule in the South in quote.
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As the years passed, white Southerners remembered the Colfax massacre
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very differently than their black neighbors. Decades after the slaughter,
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eye witness John I. McCain placed the blames squarely on
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quote a mob of armed negroes who began to make
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open threats to the effect that they would kill all
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the white men and appropriate the women and girls to
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fiendish desires. In quote. A monument in the Colfax cemetery
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praised the three dead white men as heroes who quote
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fell in the Colfax riot fighting for white supremacy end quote.
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Even as late as the two thousands, white residents of
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Colfax remembered the massacre in racially loaded terms. One man
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told an Atlantic reporter that the black mob tried to
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seize power rather than uphold the election results. You heard
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the expression getting uppity, Well that's what these people did.
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They got uppity and decided they would run things, and
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of course they couldn't end quote by placing the blame
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on the shoulders of black Louisianas, generations of white Louisianans
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twisted the truth. After losing an election to a racially
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diverse party, white supremacists turned to violence, and in Colfax,
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more than one hundred and fifty people lost their lives
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attempting to uphold a valid election. The Colfax massacre had
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wide reaching consequences, even as the specific clash faded from
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the headlines. By undermining the klu Klux Klan Acts, the
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Supreme Court closed the door on reconstruction. Tragically, racial terrorism
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would dominate the former Confederacy for generation to come. In
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twenty twenty one, Colfax finally removed the historic marker outside
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the courthouse. The second story for today comes again from
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history dot Com, entitled Carpetbaggers and Scalawags from the History
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dot Com editors in February of twenty twenty five. During
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and immediately after the Civil War, many Northerners headed to
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the Southern States, driven by hopes of economic gain a
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desire to work on behalf of the newly emancipated, enslaved people,
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or a combination of both. These quote carpetbaggers end quote,
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whom many in the South viewed as opportunists looked to
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exploit and profit from the region's misfortunes, supported by the
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Republican Party, and would play a central role in shaping
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new Southern governments during Reconstruction. In addition the carpetbaggers and
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freed African Americans, the majority of Republican support in the
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South came from white Southerners, who, for various reasons, saw
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more of an advantage in backing the policies of Reconstruction
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than in opposing them. Critics refer word derisively to these
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Southerners as quote scalawags end quote. In the two years
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following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in the end
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of the Civil War in April of eighteen sixty five,
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Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, angered many Northerners and Republican members
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of Congress with his conciliatory policies toward the defeated South.
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Freed African Americans had no role in politics, and the
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new Southern legislatures even passed black codes restricting their freedom
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in forcing them into repressive labor situations, a development they
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strongly resisted. In the congressional elections of eighteen sixty six,
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Northern voters rejected Johnson's view of reconstruction and handed a
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major victory to the so called Radical Republicans, who now
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took control of reconstruction. Congress's passage of the Reconstruction Acts
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of eighteen sixty seven marked the beginning of the Radical
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Reconstruction period, which would last for the next decade. That
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legislation divided the South into five military districts and outlined
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how new state governments based on universal male suffrage, that is,
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for both whites and blacks, were to be organized. The
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new state legislatures formed in eighteen sixty seven through eighteen
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sixty nine reflected the revolutionary changes brought about by the
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Civil War and emancipation. For the first time, blacks and
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whites stood together in political life. In general, the Southern
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state governments formed during this period of reconstruction represented a
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coalition of African Americans, recently arrived Northern whites or carpetbaggers,
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and Southern white Republicans or scalawags. In general, the term
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carpetbagger refers to a traveler who arrives in a new
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region with only a satchel or a carpet bag of possessions,
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and who attempts to profit from or gain control over
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his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of
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the original inhabitants. After eighteen sixty five, a number of
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Northerners moved to the South to purchase land, lease plantations,
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or partner with down and out planters in the hopes
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of making money from cotton. At first, they were welcomed
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as Southerners saw the need for northern capital and investment
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to get the devastator region back on its feet. They
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later became an object of much scorn, as many Southerners
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saw them as low class and opera tunistic newcomers seeking
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to get rich on their misfortune. In reality, most Reconstruction
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era carpetbaggers were well educated members of the middle class.
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They worked as teachers, merchants, journalists, and other types of businessmen,
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or at the Freedmen's Bureau, an organization created by Congress
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to provide aid for newly liberated black Americans. Many were
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former Union soldiers. In addition to economic motives. A good
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number of carpetbaggers saw themselves as reformers and wanted to
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shape the post war South in the image of the North,
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which they considered to be a more advanced society. Though
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some carpetbaggers undoubtedly lived up to their reputation as corrupt opportunists,
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many were motivated by a genuine desire for reform and
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concern for the civil and political rights of free blacks.
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While Southern Republicans, known to their enemies as Scalawags, made
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up the biggest group of delegates to the radical Reconstruction
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era legislatures, Some Scalawags were established planters, mostly in the
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Deep South, who thought that whites should recognize blacks civil
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and political rights while still retaining control of political and
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economic life. Many were former Whigs conservatives who saw the
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Republicans as the successors to their old party. The majority
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of the Scalawags were non slave holding small farmers, as
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well as merchants, artisans, and other professionals who had remained
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loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Many lived
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in the northern states of the region, and a number
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had either served in the Union army or been imprisoned
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for Union sympathies. Though they differed in their views on race,
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many had strong anti black attitudes. These men wanted to
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keep the hated rebels from regaining power in the post
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war South. They also sought to develop the region's economy
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and ensure the survival of its debt ridden small farms.
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The term scalawag was originally used as far back as
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the eighteen forties to describe a farm animal of little value.
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It later came to refer to a worthless person. For
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opponents of reconstructions, Scallawags were even lower on the scale
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of humanity than carpetbaggers, as they were viewed as traitors
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to the South. Scalawags had diverse backgrounds and motives, but
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all of them share the belief that they could achieve
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greater advancement in a republican South than they could by
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opposing reconstruction. Taken together, scalawags made up roughly twenty percent
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of the white electorate and welded a considerable influence. Many
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also had political experience from before the war, either as
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members of Congress or as judges or local officials. The
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final article for this chapter of RADIOI history is was
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Jim Crow a real person. The term Jim Crow typically
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refers to repressive laws and customs once used to restrict
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Black American rights, but the origin of the name actually
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dates back to before the civil In the early eighteen thirties,
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the white actor Thomas Dartmouth Daddy Rice was propelled to
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start him for performing menstrual routines as the fictional Jim Crow,
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a caricature of a clumsy, dim witted, black enslaved man.
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Rice claimed to have first created the character after witnessing
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an elderly black man singing a tune called Jump Jim
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Crow in Louisville, Kentucky. He later appropriated the Jim Crow
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persona into a minstrel act, where he donned blackface and
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performed jokes and songs in a stereotypical dialect. For example,
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jump Jim Crow included the popular refrain wheel about and
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turn about and do just so every time I wheel about,
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I jump Jim Crow. Rice's minstrel act proved a massive
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hit among white audiences, and he later took it on
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tour around the United States and Great Britain. As the
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show's popularity spread, Jim Crow became a widely used derogatory
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term for black people. Jim Crow's popularity as a fictional
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character eventually died out, but in the late nineteenth century
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the phrase found new life as a blanket term for
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the wave of anti black laws laid down after reconstruction.
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Those laws included restrictions on voting rights, bans on interracial relationships,
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while clauses allowed businesses to separate their black and white clientele.
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The segregationist philosophy of separate but equal was later upheld
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in the famous eighteen ninety six Supreme Court decision Plessy
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versus Ferguson, in which the court ruled that the state
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of Louisiana had the right to require different railroad cars
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for blacks and whites. The Plessy decision would eventually lead
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to widespread adoption of segregated restaurants, public bathrooms, water fountains,
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and other facilities. Separate but Equal was eventually overturned in
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the nineteen fifty fourth Supreme Court case Brown versus Board
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of Education, but Jim Crow's legacy continued to endure in
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some Southern states for decades. That article came from history
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dot Com was Jim Crow ull Person, written by Evan Andrews.
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In May of twenty twenty five. I also read from
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the website Allthisinteresting dot Com the little known story of
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the Colfax Massacre, the worst episode of racial violence during reconstruction,
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written by Guinevere Coulton in January of twenty twenty three. Well,
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that about does it for this chapter of Radio I history.
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I sure hope you enjoyed the reading to day as
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much as I did reading it to you. I'm your host,
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Joseph Bolt, and I'll be back with another chapter of
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Radio I history. Until then, happy trails to you.