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Original Publication Date
2018
Document Type
Presentation
Abstract
Heath Anderson’s research explores the overlooked legacy of Confederate General William Mahone, a figure who, unlike Robert E. Lee or Stonewall Jackson, was largely rejected by white Southerners after the Civil War. Through analysis of personal papers, correspondence, and political records, Anderson reveals that Mahone’s exclusion from Confederate hero worship stemmed from his postwar political alliance with African Americans. As the leader of Virginia’s Readjuster Party (1879–1883), Mahone built a biracial coalition that defended Black suffrage and expanded funding for Black schools and hospitals, even as he and other white leaders stopped short of advocating full racial equality. Mahone’s efforts galvanized Black political participation across Virginia but provoked fierce backlash from white conservatives, who eventually used violence, intimidation, and disenfranchisement to end his movement. Anderson’s study highlights this complex and pragmatic alliance between a former Confederate and Black voters, demonstrating both the political agency of African Americans in Reconstruction-era Virginia and how early opportunities for racial progress were systematically dismantled with the rise of Jim Crow.
Transcription
Hello my name is Heath Anderson I'm a masters student history here General Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are the most well known Confederate figures in the American Civil War However I'm here to talk to you about one Confederate general that most people are unfamiliar with and that is General William Mahone you can see pictured on the slide there. A native Virginia William Maghone by the end of the war was Robert E Lee's right hand man. However unlike other Confederate figures Leon Jackson was not communicated by Southern whites following the war anywhere in the South as a civil war scholar I was writing research began with the question of why. Through an extensive look at women's personal papers in the correspondence of his contemporaries I have concluded that William Mahone was excluded from white southerners adoration of Confederate War veterans due to his post-war political alliance with African-Americans. In the post Civil War era in the South African Americans figured prominently in every state election in Virginia prior to the 1000 new 2 state constitution completely disenfranchised them. William Mahone organized the 3rd party movement out of white and black people in Virginia known as the Rio jester party in 1989 this political party controlled politics in the state from 1880 to 1883 and it sent William home to the United States Senate in the Senate William Mahone rewarded his African-American constituents with jobs in the state post office public school system in Norfolk Naval Yard. It is important to stop here and note that William Mahone the party's white leadership never advocated full social equality with their black constituency Nevertheless they defended African-American suffrage and they funded black schools and hospitals this galvanized Virginia's black population to levels not seen since the end of the Civil War. It also enraged many white conservatives in the state that united to defeat Mahone the readjusted party and used violence intimidation and fraud to kick him out of office and they moved to disenfranchise all African-Americans in Virginia and you can see some of the political cartoons that used on the slide there. Our research is important because it highlights this unlikely relationship between a former Confederate general and black voters in Virginia it was not based on racial harmony but on mutual benefit were African-Americans supported Mahone as long as he provided them with patronage of the United States Senate. It is also important because it demonstrates the agency of black people in Virginia in advocating for political representation after the Civil War and for the implementation of Jim Crow laws. Finally my research challenges traditional scholarship and public perceptions about the lost cause ideology after the Civil War and the formation of institutionalized white supremacy in the south William Mahone was an unapologetic Confederate veteran yet he broke with his contemporaries by advocating for blacks sufferage and negotiating with African-Americans. This is my conclusion that if the readjusted party that he established was allowed to exist for a longer period of time they might have further defended African-American suffrage and provided additional benefits for black people before the implementation of Jim Crow in the south. Thank you.
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Comments
Finalist, 4th Annual VCU 3MT® Competition, held on October 18-19, 2018.