Episodes Nearest to January 1, 1888 to December 31, 1897: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Lynching of Bob Harper
    date December 14, 1892 to December 28, 1892map WARREN, Kentuckytags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    On December 14, a black man assaulted Kate Anderson in her home in Park City, Kentucky. While working in her home, a masked black man entered through the rear of the house. Armed with a knife, the man threatened to kill her if she did not follow his instructions. When his mask fell, he cut her throat, bit her cheek, and inflicted other injuries.<br /><br />The authorities arrested...

  2. First Annual Report Issued on the State Industrial and Normal School for Women
    date December 20, 1892map GUILFORD, North Carolinatags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Education, Women

    The North Carolina State Normal and Industrial School for Women in Greensboro, N.C. had been open for four months when President Charles D. McIvers wrote the college's first annual report to the Board of Directors on December 20, 1892. In this document, he discussed the institution's goals, claiming that the main objective was to prepare women for positions in the house, business office,...

  3. Solicitation at a Populist Party Meeting
    date December 5, 1892map FRANKLIN, Georgiatags African-Americans, Health/Death, Politics, Race-Relations

    Hands burrowed into pockets and handbags searching for coins, small bills, or anything to give to Joseph Pearson, a poor African American man who spoke so tenderly of his recently deceased wife and her last wish. Indeed, attendants of the People's Party mass meeting in Thomson Friday, December 5, were deeply stirred as Pearson described his wife who requested that she wanted to give something...

  4. Lynching of Henry Smith
    date February 1, 1893map LAMAR, Texastags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    On February 1, 1893 in Paris, Texas, Henry Smith was tortured and burned on a ten-foot high platform surrounded by an audience of thousands. Although there are only three reported lynchings in Texas in 1893, Henry Smith's lynching quickly became national news. The New York Times ran the headline “Another Negro Burned' and reported the story of the allegations raised against Henry Smith....

  5. Ambrose Powell Hill Statue Unveiling
    date November 29, 1892map DINWIDDIE, Virginiatags War

    Colonel W. Gordon McCabe, Commander of A.P. Hill Camp, Number 6, stood and slowly walked towards the podium pulling his carefully folded notes from his pocket. He asked everyone present to stand and raise their glass to themselves as guests of this special event, the infantry, artillery, and cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia, the staff of the Army, the women of the South, the strong cities...

  6. A Near Miss
    date November 25, 1892map MARION, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Race-Relations

    George Dawson, a white man, was murdered in the town of Jasper, TN. Sheriff Rogers of Jasper had in his custody the three men believed to be responsible for the murder: Floyd Woodlee, John Turner, and Cal Collins. In fact, Woodlee was the only man who confessed to the act. Sheriff Rogers was keeping the men in the county jail until such time as their trial could take place. However, a mob surrounded...

  7. Land donated to American Red Cross
    date February 10, 1893map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Health/Death

    Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross organization and later set up its business headquarters in Washington, D.C. On February 10, 1893, however, a gentleman wrote her a letter offering the American Red Cross a donation of land in Indiana. On March 18, 1893, Clara Barton replied to the gentleman's letter, thanking him immensely and promising that his gift of land would be used only in ways...

  8. Mistaken Identity
    date February 14, 1893map HAMILTON, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Race-Relations

    Mrs. M.A. Moore, widowed mother of seven grown children, was alone in her home one morning. As she went about her household business, a black man forced himself into her house and assaulted her. He then escaped, leaving Mrs. Moore in her house. The white population of Chattanooga was outraged that such an offense could be committed in broad daylight upon a well-respected white woman. So, they cast...

  9. Mistaken Identity
    date February 14, 1893map HAMILTON, Tennesseetags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Race-Relations, Women

    Mrs. M.A. Moore, widowed mother of seven grown children, was alone in her home one morning. As she went about her household business, a black man forced himself into her house and assaulted her. He then escaped, leaving Mrs. Moore in her house. The white population of Chattanooga was outraged that such an offense could be committed in broad daylight upon a well-respected white woman. So, they cast...

  10. Rural delivery amendment to post office appropriation bill passed
    date February 17, 1893map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Urban-Life/Boosterism

    By 1892, rural Southern farmers were practically begging Washington for free delivery of their mail. The Committee on Post Office and Post Roads refused to submit a bill for the service to the House of Representatives because they feared that the cost of rural delivery would put too much of a burden on Americans. Southern congressmen, however, decided to take a different route and, instead, attempt...

  11. Rural delivery amendment to post office appropriation bill passed
    date February 17, 1893map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Urban-Life/Boosterism

    By 1892, rural Southern farmers were practically begging Washington for free delivery of their mail. The Committee on Post Office and Post Roads refused to submit a bill for the service to the House of Representatives because they feared that the cost of rural delivery would put too much of a burden on Americans. Southern congressmen, however, decided to take a different route and, instead, attempt...

  12. Regulators in Louisiana Dismantle a Secretive Group
    date February 17, 1893map TANGIPAHOA, Louisianatags African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    David Stern, a prominent storekeeper in Amity City, a city in Tangipahoa, Louisiana, was the leader of a secret society. The organization - an oath-bound society, complete with grips, signs, and password and the ultimate goal of banishing Jewish merchants, wealthy residents, and negroes from the well-populated parish of Tangipahoa - was highly guarded and only wanted a very small set of people to...

  13. Lands Key in Social Standing
    date March 2, 1893map CHARLES, Marylandtags African-Americans, Agriculture, Economy

    On March 2, 1893, the land would be handed down from the Jerdone and Coleman family to the Archer Williams. The deed needed to be witnessed, signed, and sealed. The land was 132 acres and all the boundaries were listed. Land was essential in social standing and those with land were of higher class than those who weren't even if they were of different races.

    Land not only provided social...

  14. March 3, 1893 act of Congress to aid Cherokee Nation, NC
    date March 3, 1893map WASHINGTON, Virginiatags Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations

    On March 3, 1893 Congress passed an act to allow for a training school for the remaining citizens of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina. The Cherokee Nation still owned land called the Cherokee Outlet in northwestern Oklahoma, although the Cherokee weren't able to use the land because other displaced tribes had settled there and Texas ranchers mostly used the land for grazing their cattle....

  15. African American insurrection
    date October 2, 1892map COAHOMA, Mississippitags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Race-Relations

    Racial violence occurred very often in the south during the 1890s. Southern whites still believed in white supremacy and tried to assert their control over political, economic, and domestic realms. But blacks did not back down. This was a period of strong black assertiveness.<br /><br />In Clarksdale, Mississippi, on October 2, a neighborhood of blacks organized a mob. They led an...

  16. Kentucky Act of 1893 passed
    date April 5, 1893map FRANKLIN, Kentuckytags Agriculture, Migration/Transportation

    On April 5, 1983, after being in session for an entire year, Kentucky legislature passed the act to control different aspects of corporations, railroads in-particular. Increasing railroad rates, along with other economic hardships throughout the eighties, pushed citizens to ask for more government control over corporations in general, but the railroads especially. Although Governor John Young Brown...

  17. “Whitecapping' becomes serious issue in Mississippi
    date April 14, 1893map LINCOLN, Mississippitags African-Americans, Agriculture, Crime/Violence, Race-Relations

    On April 14, 1893, farmers in Lincoln County, Mississippi were arrested and put in jail for acts of whitecapping against other African American farmers. Whitecapping in Mississippi specifically refers to using violent tactics to force African American farmers to leave their farm land and their homes. Farmers living in poverty because of widespread agricultural problems were usually the culprits...

  18. Adventists Pardoned
    date April 17, 1893map RHEA, Tennesseetags Arts/Leisure, Church/Religious-Activity, Law

    In Tennessee, Sunday was a sacred day. In fact, there were state-wide laws expressly prohibiting doing any sort of work on Sundays. So when nine Seventh-Day Adventists were caught doing work on a Sunday, they were arrested, tried, and convicted. They were sentenced to short jail terms and locked up.

    Later, Judge James C. Parks, the trial judge who passed the prison sentence on the men decided...

  19. Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute Flyer
    date September 15, 1892map CHESTERFIELD, Virginiatags Education, African-Americans

    In 1892 the administrative staff at Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute (what is today Virginia State University) created a flyer for the prospective students giving them general information about the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute's entrance requirements, educational programs, and cost. It was very important during the 1890s to create this type of flyer, since this was the...

  20. The Washington Post reports on the Homestead Strike
    date June 30, 1892 to November 20, 1892map Washington City, District of Columbiatags Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Economy

    The Homestead Strike was a series of labor confrontations that occurred for nearly five months in 1892 in Homestead, Pennsylvania. On June 30, 1892, a three-year contract with the National Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers expired. The Carnegie Steel Company, managed at this time by Henry Clay Frick, attempted to cut the wages of the skilled steel workers. When the workers refused...

  21. World championship fights in New Orleans
    date September 5, 1892 to September 7, 1892map ORLEANS, Louisianatags African-Americans, Arts/Leisure, Race-Relations

    Boxing was extremely popular in the South, especially during the 1880s and early 1890s. The national center of boxing was in New Orleans, and the height of 19th-century American boxing occurred in September 1892. In that month, New Orleans's Olympic Club staged three world championship fights. On September 5, the fights began. The crowd was very large and varied. Representatives from every...

  22. Women's place in Post-Civil War Society
    date September 3, 1892map FAUQUIER, Virginiatags Women

    Women's roles in the post-bellum south were changing. On September 3, 1892, the True Index published an editorial discussing the change in women's behavior. The unnamed author expressed his disappointment that women had begun to take on typical male roles. The author found this transformation unflattering. He saw women as sweet and lovable. In his eyes, however, women had become mannish...

  23. Racist Poem
    date August 26, 1892map FULTON, Georgiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    Whoever thought all poetry was Shakespeare and emphatic cries of carpe diem has not read any poetry by H.C. Fairman. In an incredibly vehement and highly-charged poem submitted to the People's Party Paper, Fairman charges niggers with nothing less than starting the Civil War, the subsequent complete and utter destruction of the South, and the sorry fate of so many people in the South. He again...

  24. Tennessee miner strikes over convict-lease laws
    date August 13, 1892 to August 19, 1892map GRUNDY, Tennesseetags Crime/Violence, Economy

    The system of convict leasing was prevalent in the South following the Civil War. Under this system, private businesses could lease convicts for a small fee. Tennessee adopted this system as a way to deal with the rising prison population and to help relieve the burden of its state debt. In 1884, the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company leased the state penitentiary. The system caused...

  25. Rate war begins among southern railroads
    date August 13, 1892map SHELBY, Tennesseetags Economy, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    After Reconstruction ended, the South began to rapidly construct railroads. Many different lines rose up, connecting all major cities. Competition arose between these lines. Although these railroads had cost advantages, the railways in the South experienced many financial crises. They increased the South's vulnerability to economic fluctuations, especially in the early 1890s.<br /><br...