Bittersweet Legacy : The Black and White Better Classes in Charlotte, 1850-1910

by Greenwood, Janette Thomas

• ISBN13: 9780807849569
• ISBN10: 0807849561
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-12-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

"Bittersweet Legacy is the dramatic story of the relationship between two generations of black and white southerners in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 1850 to 1910. Janette Greenwood describes the interactions between black and white business and professional people--the 'better classes, ' as they called themselves. Her book paints a surprisingly complex portrait of race and class relations in the New South and demonstrates the impact of personal relationships, generational shifts, and the interplay of local, state, and national events in shaping the responses of black and white southerners to each other and the world around them.Greenwood argues that concepts of race and class changed significantly in the late nineteenth century. Documenting the rise of interracial social reform movements in the 1880s, she suggests that the 'better classes' briefly created an alternative vision of race relations. The disintegration of the alliance as a result of New South politics and a generational shift in leadership left a bittersweet legacy for Charlotte that would weigh heavily on its citizens well into the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
"A Magic Influence"	p. 8
"The New State of Things"	p. 37
Black and White Together	p. 77
Industrialization	p. 114
Fusion Politics	p. 147
White Supremacy	p. 185
In the Wake of Disfranchisement and Jim Crow	p. 214
Epilogue	p. 238
Appendix	p. 245
Notes	p. 251
Bibliography	p. 293
Index	p. 303
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