Episodes Located: RICHLAND, South Carolina in the 1870's

  1. The Second Taxpayer's Convention in South Carolina
    date February 19, 1874map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags Economy

    Taxpayer's met on February 19, 1874 at a convention in South Carolina a second time to protest the economic destruction of the state being wrought by the Republicans in power in South Carolina, especially by Governor Franklin J. Moses Jr. and his administration. The complaints of the convention included exorbitant taxes being waged by non-taxpayers, a “corrupt judiciary,' and an executive...

  2. South Carolina Gubernatorial Election of 1876
    date November 7, 1876 to April 11, 1877map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    For the 1876 gubernatorial race in South Carolina, the Democrats nominated General Wade Hampton, one of the state's most popular figures among the white population, and Republicans renominated Governor Chamberlain who was appointed during reconstruction. Hampton embarked on a tour of the state, accompanied by hundreds of armed supporters, while rifle clubs disrupted Republican rallies with violent...

  3. Black professor hired; first black student enrolls at the University of South Carolina
    date August, 1873 to 1877map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Education, Race-Relations

    “Blacks achieved greater political power in SC than in any other Southern state.' (Edgar 388) As a result of black Republicans' overwhelming legislative successes (blacks won 255 of the 487 federal and state elections in South Carolina between 1867 and 1876), equal opportunity education was made a top priority. A government-funded public school system was instituted, albeit with segregated...

  4. Ku Klux Klan pardons issued by President Grant in South Carolina
    date July 31, 1873map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    The South Carolina branch of the Ku Klux Klan was established during the 1868 Presidential campaign. The KKK promptly began using violence, including political murders, as a means of terrorizing black voters and assuring a Democratic victory. Violence and aggression on the part of the KKK toward black voters and Radical white supporters spiraled out of control; in April of 1871, President Grant...

  5. Southern States Convention of Colored Men
    date 1871map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    By 1870, southern black leaders were convinced that the black vote was worthless if black life and property rights were not respected. Outraged at the Republican Party's failure to protect their civil rights and promote blacks for office, many leaders debated withdrawing from the party at the Southern States Convention of Colored Men in 1871. The Convention called on the national government to protect...

  6. The Southern Cotton Industry
    date May 9, 1871map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy, War

    The cotton industry in the South in 1871 reported that the cotton crop was 4,185,000 bales, which was in excess of the cotton produced before the Civil War. The statistics were met by skeptics, and many southerners did not seem them to be reliable. The report was conducted by a New York company and many southerners saw it as a piece of propaganda by Republicans in the North. The data did not divulge...

  7. South Carolina Supreme Court adjourns after decisions to repeal the homestead exemption, and pay back most of the state debt
    date October 28, 1879map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags Economy

    On October 28th, the South Carolina Supreme Court adjourned after making a series of significant rulings that signified the restored control by the white planter class after reconstruction. One such ruling regarded the Homestead Law, in which the South Carolina Supreme Court effectively ruled that land owners would have their land holdings exempt from repossession in the event of a debt default...

  8. The Trials and Tribulations of the South Carolina Ku Klux Klan
    date December 28, 1871 to March 1, 1875map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Government, Politics, Race-Relations

    On December 28, 1871, in Columbia, S.C., Sherod Childers, Evans Murphy, Hezekiah Porter and William Montgomery received their sentencing for the infamous Ku Klux Klan conspiracy in South Carolina. It was here, in Columbia, that the federal court attempted to provide serious solutions to stunt the organization whose actions had become increasingly violent and oppressive. While these actions by the...