Arsenio Jordan
Before the civil war began slavery and white supremacy violence hindered any chance of African-American development. However after the civil war ended we find that slavery has now demolished and African-American labor takes its place. Black people were transitioning from slaves to labor workers. They now had the option to continue work on the fields and receive minimum wage or leave an enslaved society and start a new life. At the same time after the civil war we notice the motives for white supremacy violence transitioning from discipline to acts of terrorism. White supremacy violence could no longer be used in a sense of ownership towards a black person but rather a form of terrorism. These two transformations help us to understand how African-American development was viewed as a threat to white southerners and how they were intimidated by the growing society of educated and business wise blacks. To elaborate more on this I will use texts from When I Was A Slave Edited by Norman Yetman and then I will go into Southern Horrors Edited by Jacqueline Jones Royster.
Between the years of 1861 and 1865 the civil war had already began and the Yankee soldiers started their mission of freeing slaves. However most slaves shunned the idea of leaving behind an enslaved lifestyle that offered free food and shelter. Not only did they have these resources but as slaves they developed their own self sustainable work culture. In the book When I Was A Slave Edited by Norman Yetman the reader will encounter recorded memoirs of former slaves being interviewed about their previous lives in captivity. Former slave Millie Evans was interviewed at the age of 88 in El Dorado, Arkansas where she explained growing up on the plantation as a rather pleasant experience. She quotes “We had such a good time, and everybody cried when the Yankees cried out free” (Yetman pg.35). Millie also gives examples of a work culture that developed in the slave society when she says “We made vinegar out of apples” and “We used rotten vines for clotheslines” (Yetman pg.34). Together both quotes illustrate the reason why freed slaves wanted to return back to captivity as well as describe the work culture that developed amongst them. With that being said, the fact that a society populated by blacks who originally formed their own a self-sustainable system could reap the benefits of either leaving the slave plantation or working for money would appear to be the start of the negro coming up in society. This piece of evidence is crucial to remember because that is exactly what the whites feared. or Before the civil war white men controlled society and designed it so that they could always remain superior over black people. How could they continue to prevail if black slaves who were now freed had these opportunities to benefit from?.
During the times of slavery white supremacy violence were used on slaves as a disciplinary. If a slave refused to reach a masters expectations then they would be severely whipped or beaten. After the civil war ended the level of white supremacy violence changed as well as the reasons for it . Instead of being severely beaten or whipped, southern whites were now killing black people by lynching’s which is the painful fatality of being hung at the neck from a tree. White supremacy violence could no longer be used in a sense of ownership towards a black person so it was then used as a form of terrorism. Although the white southerners wouldn't call it terrorism. Their alleged reason for the killing of black men was to punish them for supposedly raping their white women.
Ida B. Wells, an African-American journalist and newspaper editor would dig deeper into this theory of “protecting white honor” by mentioning certain cases that she found to be unreasonable and unlawful. One case dealt with Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart. All three men had owned and operated “The People's Grocery” and were accused of wounding three white men in defense of their property being raided. Wells expresses her concerns when she mentions “By law the wounding of a white person was not punishable by death. None the less on March 9, lynch law prevailed” (Royster pg. 3). Wells reveals that even though wounding a white person is not punishable by death Those three black men became victims of a lynching which was followed by a programme, the act of filling hundreds of bullets into the lifeless bodies that had been hung.
Surely rape couldn't possibly be the reason for all of this black man named Benjamin Jackson who was accused of poisoning the water of a white family that would leave them ill and end in their death. Wells states “The white people concluded it was unnecessary to wait the result of the investigation – that it was preferable to hang the accused first and try him afterward” (Royster pg. 111). The three men were convicted without a fair trial and not only were they thrown in jail but were taken out to be lynched as well.
Because of the During the civil war we will notice that the whites had already formed groups such as the KKK (Klu Klux Klan) to terrorize the freed slaves that .the and mentions the benefits of having good foo It should be noted here that Slaves knew how to cook as well as sew their own clothing so here is distinct evidence of African-Americans development.Therefore The trend of former slaves working the fields for money began to arise. were part of the blueprints for building African-American development. Unfortunately white supremacy violence still lingered long after the civil war. Former slave masters were now considered as rich white southerners that were involved in mob groups specially designed to inflict violence and degrade African-Americans. Organizations and groups such as the Klu Klux Klan were one of many mob that targeted blacks. However. The development of African-Americans Society conditions and white supremacy violence were used as controlling mechanisms used by rich white southerners to slow and eventually end any form of African -American development. To elaborate more on this I will use texts from “When I Was A Slave Edited by Norman Yetman” and then I will go into “Southern Horrors Edited by Jacqueline Jones Royster”.
. Later in the text Mary goes on to explain how things suddenly changed after the civil war broke out and the Yankees freeing the slaves when she quotes ”Some were so glad to get back they cried, 'cause fare had been a mighty bad part of the time they were rambling around and they were hungry” (Yetman 4). Mary basically states that during the civil war slaves were freed by the yankees. Although money and food was hard to come by as well as shelter. This eventually made them come back to the plantation where they would work for minimum wage. This is important because it was society conditions that purposely led the now free slaves back to the plantation where resources remained.
Within this society controlled by whites ,there were also white people that roamed the streets after the main provider in their household went off to war. These white people would either trade with a runaway slave and actually lead them to freedom or trick them and turn them back into the hands of their slave owners. The ones that would trick a runaway slave was considered a sesesh which is basically a white person in favor of slavery and warring against the Yankees. Former slave Anthony Dawson who was interviewed in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the age of 105 reminisces on this terrible time when he quotes “he was the low-down sesesh dat would take what a poor runaway nigger had to give for his chance to get away, and den give him structions dat would lead him right into de hands of de patrollers” (Yetman 27). Anthony Dawson explains how a sesesh would trick an uneducated slave into giving up everything he had to escape and lead them back into captivity or even death. Life off of the plantation was no place for a slave to start a new life and progress in society. Progression was not an option for a black person and the white society had pawns sets all over the streets to make sure that it stayed that way.
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