Race Relations In The Urban South

1865-1890By Howard N. Rabinowitz

Logan Peer

History 331

Freed Slaves Enter The Cities

• Freed Slaves moved into the city after emancipation for many reasons:– Freedom, the ability to do so– To flee control of old masters– Safety in numbers– Federal troops and government located there– Escape white violence in rural areas– City attractions– City services– Tourism

White Reaction to Black Immigration

• White Southerners views to the influx of blacks into the cities:– A threat to the city– Feared uprising– Plague– Symbol of the lost Confederacy– Unacquainted with urban life

•Often referred to Blacks as children

Posed whites with many questions…

Justice•Rights allotted to African Americans:

-ability to sue and be sued-to marry-make contracts-Inherit property-allowed to buy and sell goods

•Black Codes and unspoken inequality -established to regulate black behavior

•Power of police officers in the south-vagrancy laws

Justice, cont.

• Punishments used against blacks:

-fines

-chain gang

-jail

-contracted out

-lynching

“…the blacks are sent to the chain-gang very readily; when men are wanted for a chain-gang they are always got.” (pg.49)

Jobs

• Freed slaves performed unwanted jobs for minimal wages: “Negro Jobs”– Docks or wharves– Domestics or laundresses– Sewers– Street work – Peddlers– Industrial labor

•Blacks had a near monopoly in barbering

Housing

• Ghettos

– poor sanitation

– minimal necessities

– shacks

– low lying valleys, contaminated water

– outskirts

– pneumonia and constipation

– near unfavorable institutions (i.e..slaughterhouses)

•General order number 6

Welfare Services

• Hospitals– freedmen hospitals– segregated facilities– “separate but equal”

•Orphanages

•Lack of service agencies left blacks to their own devices: -Colored Ladies Relief Society -churches

Churches

• Most important institution in the lives of urban blacks• Permissible at the time as a way to make blacks feel

happy about their situation in life• A way to teach blacks how to behave• Monitored by someone from the white community

•Churches served as town halls, lecture halls, meetinghouses, entertainment buildings, and schools

Education• Separate public schools arose for blacks

– attendance was higher than white counterparts– overcrowding and lack of funds– always busy due to adult education as well

• Whites largely opposed education for blacks– expressed hatred towards teachers through violence

• Many teachers came from the North– religious purposes– humanitarian desires– anti-slavery ideals

Politics

• Republican vs. Democratic government

• Fear of republican government by whites resulted in dirty politics:

– rise in poll taxes

– missing ballots

– lines

– unexplained arrests

– bribery

– gerrymandering

– ineligible ballots

Conclusion

• Whites aimed to hold blacks down because of fear of an upheaval, ideas of inferiority of blacks, and absolute hatred of the black race

• Many tactics were in place to continue “slavery” of blacks

• “Separate but Equal” was ideal, but never the reality

For More Information

• African American History• Civil War and Race Relations• Civil War class at UNC