The work of mobs was a rabid and violent rendition of prejudices that extended even into the upper reaches of American government
This country was formed for the white, not for the black man, John Wilkes Booth wrote, before killing Abraham Lincoln. And looking upon African slavery from the same standpoint held by those noble framers of our Constitution, I for one have ever considered it one of the greatest blessings (both for themselves and us) that God ever bestowed upon a favored nation.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, Radical Republicans attempted to reconstruct the country upon something resembling universal equality-but they were beaten back by a campaign of Redemption, led by White Liners, Red Shirts, and Klansmen bent on upholding a society formed for the white, not for the black man. A wave of terrorism roiled the South. In his massive history Reconstruction, Eric Foner recounts incidents of black people being attacked for not removing their hats; for refusing to hand over a whiskey flask; for disobeying church procedures; for using insolent language; for disputing labor contracts; for refusing to be tied like a slave. Sometimes the attacks were intended simply to thin out the niggers a little.
Terrorism carried the day. Federal troops withdrew from the South in 1877. The dream of Reconstruction died. For the next century, political violence was visited upon blacks wantonly, with special treatment meted out toward black people of ambition. Black schools and churches were burned to the ground. At the end of World War I, black veterans returning to their homes were assaulted for daring to wear the American uniform. The demobilization of soldiers after the war, which put white and black veterans into competition for scarce jobs, produced the Red Summer of 1919: a succession of racist pogroms against dozens of cities ranging from Longview, Texas, to Chicago to Washington, D.C.Continue reading
