Posted on 03/03/2020 5:24:59 PM PST by nickcarraway
Museum of the Cape Fear has rescheduled “Black Republicans From the 1868 North Carolina Constitutional Convention and the Reconstruction of the South” for Thursday at 7 p.m.
This presentation by Earl Ijames, curator of Agriculture and African American History, and many other programs and special events scheduled for Feb. 20 were canceled because of the threat of severe winter weather.
The end of the Civil War brought several firsts for African Americans. Most notably is the election to local, state and federal offices. From the state legislature to the United States Congress, African American North Carolinians served their nation in political positions.
Ijames’ presentation will chronicle the many African American men who, for the first time, legally entered politics on behalf of their race.
This presentation coincides with the museum’s newest special exhibit, “Freedom! A Promise Disrupted: North Carolina 1862-1901.” The exhibit provides accounts of the newly freedmen who entered politics and represented the issues and concerns faced by all African Americans during Reconstruction.
“North Carolina suffered under slavery for two hundred years until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865,” Ijames said. “After the Civil War formerly enslaved people formed families, established churches, educational institutions and communities for the first time in history only to see racism and segregation reverse those gains by the turn of the 20th century.”
It’s anathema to criticize Reconstruction, but, among policies, sending blacks to Congress was counter-productive of Reconstruction’s goals.
Our mainstream historians insist that it was noble and good — yet it could not and did not produce desired ultimate results. I thus fail to see its utility.
Now, it happened and set new conditions for ongoing outcomes, realities against which these historians vainly argue.
Similarly, I can’t offer any counter-factuals here, such as what if Lincoln had survived the War, etc. I’m only interested in what actually happened, and not in arguing against it.
Btw, I don’t mean to argue for limiting black participation in political society post-war, which this event is oriented towards, and correctly so.
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