The Abolitionist Legacy

by McPherson, James M.

• ISBN13: 9780691100395
• ISBN10: 069110039X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1976-02-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

Building on arguments presented inThe Struggle for Equality, James McPherson shows that many abolitionists did not retreat from Reconstruction, as historical accounts frequently lead us to believe, but instead vigorously continued the battle for black rights long after the Civil War. Tracing the activities of nearly 300 abolitionists and their descendants, he reveals that some played a crucial role in the establishment of schools and colleges for southern blacks, while others formed the vanguard of liberals who founded the NAACP in 1910. The author's examination of the complex and unhappy fate of Reconstruction clarifies the uneasy partnership of northern and southern white liberals after 1870, the tensions between black activists and white neo-abolitionists, the evolution of resistance to racist ideologies, and the origins of the NAACP.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 1995 Edition
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Introduction	p. 3
Unfinished Task: The Civil Rights Act of 1875	p. 13
Reconstruction Reconfirmed? The Election of 1872	p. 24
Reconstruction Unravels, 1873-1876	p. 35
Time, Education, and Bootstraps	p. 53
The Compromise of 1877	p. 81
Crosscurrents and Confusion, 1877-1880	p. 95
The New South	p. 107
Good-bye to the Bloody Shirt	p. 121
The Roots of Freedmen's Education	p. 143
Between Black and White: Puritans in Babylon	p. 161
Paternalism and Piety	p. 184
Detour or Mainstream? The Curriculum of Missionary Schools	p. 203
The Segregation Issue	p. 224
Berea College	p. 244
The Struggle for Black Control	p. 262
The Shattering of Hope	p. 299
Women's Rights and Anti-Imperialism	p. 318
History and Biology	p. 333
Booker T. Washington and the Reaffirmation of Gradualism	p. 354
The Rejection of Gradualism and the Founding of the NAACP	p. 368
Abolitionists on Whom This Book is Based	p. 395
Southern Negro Colleges and Secondary Schools Established by Northern Mission Societies	p. 409
A Note on Sources	p. 417
Index	p. 423
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