Oshinsky, "Worse Than Slavery" David Oshinsky's history of "convict labor" in the Reconstruction-era American South bears the title Worse Than Slavery. The title itself raises questions about the role played by moralistic discourse in historiography, and what purpose it serves. Oshinsky certainly paints a grim picture of the systematic use of African-American prisoners at Parchman Farm -- the focus of his study -- and throughout the South after the Civil War.

Louisiana: Race Relations During Reconstruction Reconstruction and Race Relations Louisiana: A Case Study in Race Relations during Reconstruction Louisiana: A Case Study in Race Relations during Reconstruction Southern Louisiana during the Civil War was quickly occupied by Union troops and the slaves began to flee plantations to Union-controlled cities like New Orleans and Natchez (Steedman, 2009). The influx created problems for the Army since they were both wartime refugees and de facto free, despite

Racism Shelby Steele and Gerald Early are firmly on the side of liberal individualism and equal rights in their essays, as opposed to nationalism or racial group identities, and argued that this was exactly what Martin Luther King and the early civil rights movement were trying to achieve. Steele was a conservative Republican and supporter of Ronald Reagan, which was most unusual for any black intellectual, and argued that blacks

Civil War After the last shots of Civil War were heard, and following the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln, the South had been humiliated and devastated. The repercussions of war included loss of life, land, and livelihood. Patriarchy and racism remained entrenched, but the emancipation of slaves significantly transformed the social landscape of the South. Liberated slaves started from scratch without access to cultural or social capital, and

Weld and Truth: Speaking Their Minds Angelina Grimke Weld and Sojourner Truth were two 19th century women who spoke up for abolition. Weld was a white Southerner; Truth was a runaway slave who became an itinerant preacher. Both women supported women’s rights and an end to slavery. One was white and from a wealthy family, another was black and poor—but both shared the same spirit and ideas, and both had seen

Uncle Tom's Cabin - Fiction as a Catalyst for Fact The Origins of a Living Document Stage Night North and South Polarized: Critics Respond The Abolitionist Debates The Tom Caricature The Greatest Impact The Origins of a Living Document In her own words, Harriet Beecher Stowe was compelled to pen Uncle Tom's Cabin "....because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt