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Mississippi: Difference between revisions
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Democrats had regained control of the state legislature in 1875, after a year of expanded violence against blacks and intimidation of whites in what was called the "white line" campaign, based on asserting [[white supremacy]]. Democratic whites were well armed and formed [[paramilitary]] organizations such as the [[Red Shirts (southern United States)|Red Shirts]] to suppress black voting. From 1874 to the elections of 1875, they pressured whites to join the Democrats, and conducted violence against blacks in at least 15 known "riots" in cities around the state to intimidate blacks. They killed a total of 150 blacks, although other estimates place the death toll at twice as many. A total of three white Republicans and five white Democrats were reported killed. In rural areas, deaths of blacks could be covered up. Riots (better described as massacres of blacks) took place in Vicksburg, Clinton, Macon, and in their counties, as well-armed whites broke up black meetings and [[lynching|lynched]] known black leaders, destroying local political organizations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wharton|first=V. L.|date=1941|title=The Race Issue in the Overthrow of Reconstruction in Mississippi: A Paper Read before the American Historical Association, 1940|journal=Phylon|volume=2|issue=4|pages=362–370|doi=10.2307/271241|jstor=271241}}</ref> Seeing the success of this deliberate "[[Mississippi Plan]]", South Carolina and other states followed it and also achieved white Democratic dominance. In 1877 by a national compromise, the last of federal troops were withdrawn from the region. | Democrats had regained control of the state legislature in 1875, after a year of expanded violence against blacks and intimidation of whites in what was called the "white line" campaign, based on asserting [[white supremacy]]. Democratic whites were well armed and formed [[paramilitary]] organizations such as the [[Red Shirts (southern United States)|Red Shirts]] to suppress black voting. From 1874 to the elections of 1875, they pressured whites to join the Democrats, and conducted violence against blacks in at least 15 known "riots" in cities around the state to intimidate blacks. They killed a total of 150 blacks, although other estimates place the death toll at twice as many. A total of three white Republicans and five white Democrats were reported killed. In rural areas, deaths of blacks could be covered up. Riots (better described as massacres of blacks) took place in Vicksburg, Clinton, Macon, and in their counties, as well-armed whites broke up black meetings and [[lynching|lynched]] known black leaders, destroying local political organizations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wharton|first=V. L.|date=1941|title=The Race Issue in the Overthrow of Reconstruction in Mississippi: A Paper Read before the American Historical Association, 1940|journal=Phylon|volume=2|issue=4|pages=362–370|doi=10.2307/271241|jstor=271241}}</ref> Seeing the success of this deliberate "[[Mississippi Plan]]", South Carolina and other states followed it and also achieved white Democratic dominance. In 1877 by a national compromise, the last of federal troops were withdrawn from the region. | ||
Even in this environment, black Mississippians continued to be elected to local office. However, black residents were deprived of all political power after white legislators passed a new state constitution in 1890 specifically to "eliminate the nigger from politics", according to the state's | Even in this environment, black Mississippians continued to be elected to local office. However, black residents were deprived of all political power after white legislators passed a new state constitution in 1890 specifically to "eliminate the nigger from politics", according to the state's Democratic governor, [[James K. Vardaman]].<ref name=NRMcMillenP43>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIN1gR92_SIC&pg=PA41|title=Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow|first=Neil R.|last=McMillen|page=43|chapter=The Politics of the Disfranchised|date=1990|publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06156-1}}</ref> It erected barriers to voter registration and instituted electoral provisions that effectively [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised]] most black Mississippians and many poor whites. Estimates are that 100,000 black and 50,000 white men were removed from voter registration rolls in the state over the next few years.<ref>Stephen Edward Cresswell, ''Rednecks, Redeemers and Race: Mississippi after Reconstruction'', Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006, p. 124, {{ISBN|978-1578068470}}.</ref> | ||
The loss of political influence contributed to the difficulties of African Americans in their attempts to obtain extended credit in the late 19th century. Together with imposition of [[Jim Crow]] and racial segregation laws, whites increased violence against blacks, with lynchings occurring through the period of the 1890s and extending to 1930. | The loss of political influence contributed to the difficulties of African Americans in their attempts to obtain extended credit in the late 19th century. Together with imposition of [[Jim Crow]] and racial segregation laws, whites increased violence against blacks, with lynchings occurring through the period of the 1890s and extending to 1930. | ||