Episodes Nearest to August 31, 1886: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Major Earthquake Hits Charleston, South Carolina
    date August 31, 1886map CHARLESTON, South Carolinatags Health/Death, Economy

    Almost exactly one year after being hit by a category three hurricane that destroyed 90 percent of Charleston's homes, on August 31, 1886, the city was hit with another devastating blow. Before it had fully recovered from the effects of the hurricane, the city was rocked by an earthquake that registered a 6.6 on the Richter scale. Eyewitness accounts report that tremors were felt all over the...

  2. Major R. R. Henry runs for Congress
    date August 13, 1886map TAZEWELL, Virginiatags Economy, Government, Politics, War

    Major R. R. Henry of Tazewell County, Virginia campaigned for a seat in Congress under the Democratic Party in 1886. People from neighboring communities such as Lynchburg, Abingdon and Wytheville voiced their full support of his campaign and hopes for his success in the quest for a seat in Congress in the November elections. Although varied in their syntax, the message behind Henry's supporters...

  3. They Elope
    date March 18, 1886 to 1886map PITTSYLVANIA, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Women

    Miss Lizzie D. Hutter was everything a southern, Virginia belle should be. She was accomplished, beautiful, from a good family, and very popular in the highest of social circles. She was known as a poetically perfect and symmetrically beautiful girl. She was the eldest daughter of the superintendent of the Houston mines, and both her mother's and father's side were distinguished families...

  4. In Memory of Patriotism and Valor
    date July 31, 1886map NORTHUMBERLAND, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Migration/Transportation, War

    The camp ground at Marvin Grove was the site for this year's Annual Reunion of Confederate Veterans on the Northern Neck peninsula. The Northern Neck News widely advertised the event, hoping that the Reunion would receive ... the favor and patronage it justly merit[ed], especially because the proceeds went to the construction of a Methodist Church. While men stabled their horses, they recognized...

  5. Convict Standoff
    date July 13, 1886 to July 14, 1886map DADE, Georgiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Government, Law, Race-Relations

    It was already hot. As the Superintendent lined the convicts up to march back to the Dade County coal mines for another day of exhausting labor, one group refused to move. At the head of a long line of men chained together, the leader of the rebellion spoke up to Colonel Tower. He said that he and all the rest of the men from his stockade refused to work another day in the heat at their awful work....

  6. The New Teacher's Institute
    date October 21, 1886map RICHMOND, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, Education, Race-Relations, Women

    In Warsaw, Superintendent Robert Hall called a meeting for the new teachers of the Northern Neck Peninsula. The teachers needed to talk about the best way to educate the hundreds of students entering the new public school system. Reverend A. B. Kinsolving opened the session by leading prayers. Mr. Hall began the discussion by encouraging the teachers to express their candid views on each topic covered...

  7. The Education of African Americans After the Civil War
    date 1886map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags African-Americans, Economy, Education, Health/Death, Law, Politics, Race-Relations

    "Our crops are poor on account of too much wet in the summer which prevented us from working with them," John McClure, a resident of Albemarle County, wrote to his aunt and uncle. He went on to explain that "with what little (crops) we have to sell won't bring enough to pay for the expense of raising it." Other such maladies that McClure noted were that the livestock was not selling for a...

  8. African Americans in the Seminole Hotel
    date 1886map ORANGE, Floridatags Economy, Race Relations, african americans

    Observing the history of Winter Park, the Seminole Hotel which was built in 1886 is one location that is significant in many ways to the American Life, especially for African Americans. The Seminole Hotel was a grand resort in Lake Osceola and it was a vacation destination which attracted many wealthy northerners who were escaping the unpleasant weather from their home towns. While it is evident...

  9. State of Liberty and Immigrants: First Days
    date 1886map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Statue of Liberty, Immigrants

    The Statue of Liberty is an icon of today, just as it was for immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th Century.  The inauguration of the Statue of LIberty took place on Thursday, October 23, 1886.  The day started with a military, naval and civil parade in New York City.  After the parade, a signal was given for steamers in the bay to move in a particular and pre-calculated order towards the...

  10. Thanksgiving Day
    date November 6, 1886 to November 27, 1886map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, Economy, Government, Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War

    The November 6, 1886, edition of the Goodson Gazette of the Virginia Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind ran the announcement by President Grover Cleveland who declared Thursday, November 25 as a day of thanksgiving and prayer. He asked the families of the country to gather and show their thanks and gratitude for their lives. Two weeks later, the paper ran Governor...

  11. Teaching in the South
    date October 9, 1886 to 1886map BEDFORD, Virginiatags Economy, Education, Women

    Education in Southside Virginia during the late nineteenth century was sporadic and not completely uniform. While there had been an educational revival after the Civil War, public education was still defined by the typical one-room schoolhouse, taught by a young woman with children whose ages ranged from 6 years to 16 years. Teaching was not an ideal job; it was very difficult. Even with the difficulties,...

  12. A Morning in the Kitchen
    date December 1, 1886map BRISTOL, Massachusettstags Economy, Women

    In December of 1886, "A Morning in the Kitchen" was published in Rushlight, the magazine of Wheaton Female Seminary in Norton, Massachusetts. In this essay our unknown author provided accounts from a day without her cook. She began her essay by remarking on the morning outside and then discussed the tasks of making and cleaning up after a meal. She stated that men's genius was...

  13. Truly Religious or Putting on a Show?
    date May 30, 1886map FAIRFAX, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Economy, Education, Women

    As the women gathered together, they sat down to receive the discourse to be given by Mr. Philip Slaughter at Pohick Church in Fairfax, VA. The day was pleasantly warm, and the room was crowded with women. As the chatter and rustling all settled down, Mr. Slaughter began his speech. From great distances these women of the Mt. Vernon Association of the Union had traveled to hear this discourse in...

  14. Graduation Day
    date May 28, 1886 to June 1, 1886map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Health/Death, Economy, Education, Migration/Transportation, Women

    For four days, the Augusta Female Seminary, under the leadership of Mary Julia Baldwin, held commencement exercises for the class of 1886. Miss Baldwin reported that the school enrollment was at capacity and there was even a wait-list. There were many delicate pupils whose parents sent them to Staunton because of the healthful climate and atmosphere. The school's students hailed from 23 states....

  15. A Great City
    date December 4, 1886map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    By 1900, Staunton had a population of 7,289, and in 1886, the city already boasted of its greatness. The Goodson Gazette, a small circulation paper, ran a few lines devoted to the city's attractive characteristics. Not only did the city have electricity, but also they had streetlights on some of the main streets. They had a telegraph since the 1850's, but did not mention it, nor...

  16. Negro Family Turning White
    date December 11, 1886map TAZEWELL, Virginiatags African-Americans, Law, Race-Relations

    Race relations and classifications resounded strongly in the minds of many in the South. West Virginia was no exception to this. A story ran in the Martinsburg Gazette on December 11, 1866 that a young African American boy living in Chicago, Illinois was supposedly turning white. Born to two African American parents, the pigmentation in the young boy's skin was becoming increasingly lighter...

  17. Henry Grady sells the “New South'
    date December 22, 1886map FULTON, Georgiatags Economy

    Henry Grady was the editor of the Atlanta Constitution and a supporter and spokesman of the “New South' concept. Grady was invited to speak at the New England Club of New York in 1886, where he made a famous speech about the New South. He disarmed his listeners by saying “There was a South of slavery and secession that South, thank God, is dead. There is a South of union and freedom...

  18. Henry Grady and His New South Speech
    date December 22, 1886map NEW YORK, New Yorktags Politics

    A man of great charisma and incredible oratory skills, Grady was a man with a goal. Henry W. Grady was born in Georgia and was throughout his career a spokesman, a proponent, and an ambassador for the South to the rest of the world. Growing up in the disenfranchised and embittered South, Grady had a vision of a reintegrated South that would take its place of glory and prominence in the newly restored...

  19. The Powerful Influence of Politics
    date May 3, 1886map ALBEMARLE, Virginiatags Government, Law, Politics

    On May 3, 1886, Samuel B. Woods wrote a letter to the Rector of the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia about reapplying to the Commissionership of Accounts. A year earlier in June 1885, Woods, an attorney from Charlottesville, was appointed and was "in sympathy with the political tenets of the majority of the board...and recommended by some of the professors." Now, he was worried...

  20. A Strike at the Docks
    date January 15, 1887map WARWICK, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Politics

    The Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company lay powerless, while over 300 mostly black dockworkers armed themselves with any object they could find. Once organized, they forced their way through the barricaded doors of Pier 2. Now inside the docks, they struck out at the scabs, filling their jobs, and ravaged the offices, where they stole a barrel of whiskey. The effects of their new capture only further...

  21. Texas Farmer's Alliance
    date January 20, 1887map MC LENNAN, Texastags Agriculture, Economy, Race-Relations, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    When they met on January 20, 1887 in Waco, members of the Texas state alliance made plans to stage a coup that would get rid of the current president of the organization and unite smaller factions already within the coalition. This newly integrated group created a national alliance, known as the Texas Farmer's Alliance, and declared C.W. Macune their president. <br /><br />The...

  22. P.B.S. Pinchback (Governor of Louisiana) admitted to the bar 1886.
    date April 10, 1886map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans

    After only a year in Straight University's law school, the son of a mulatto slave who was manumitted and a wealthy white plantation owner was admitted to the bar on April 10, 1886. His experience in politics, high intelligence, and knowledge of Louisiana law led to his early admittance. Percy Bysshe Shelly Pinchback became known as one of the most brilliant politicians of his era. His father...

  23. Male Competition and a Female Audience
    date January 26, 1887map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags Government, Politics, Women

    On January 26, 1887, the Virginian Weekly & Carolinian reported with little excitement that the Senate had rejected a constitutional amendment for women's suffrage. Paying more attention to the Army Appropriation bill, funding for public building, and the Railroad Attorney's Bill, the article hardly focused on women's perpetual disenfranchisement. While one senator presented...

  24. The Federal Government Passes the Dawes Act
    date February 8, 1887map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Indians

    By the 1870s, prime agricultural land remained in the plains. Many American citizens believed the federal government should free this valuable land from nomadic Indian tribes for white settlers. Other whites approached the situation from a paternalistic perspective and insisted Indians should be assimilated into American society. Named after Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts, the Federal Government...

  25. Methodist Episcopal Church, South Conference
    date March 14, 1886 to March 16, 1886map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Church/Religious-Activity, War

    During mid-March 1886, The Methodist Episcopal Church, South hosted their conference in Staunton, Virginia. During the conference, the church had different ministers primarily speak on the state of the church and other business matters. Theological matters had a strong presence, also. The church was active in giving money to the Foreign Missionary Society and had increased the amount given each...