Episodes Nearest to May 1, 1896 to May 3, 1897: 1 through 25 of 25

  1. Portsmouth Star calls attention to water purification
    date September 5, 1896 to 1896map NORFOLK CITY, Virginiatags Health/Death, Urban-Life/Boosterism

    During the late nineteenth century, urbanization prompted mass migrations of

    southerners to cities. This caused crowding within the cities and soon sanitation became

    an issue. Despite the problems, it was not until the last two decades of the 1800's that

    cities started addressing this problem. However, once it started in one city, others started

    following suit....

  2. Southern Methodist minister Sam Jones speaks to 150,000 people during crusade to Atlanta
    date October, 1896map FULTON, Georgiatags Church/Religious-Activity

    By 1896, the Alabama-born evangelist Sam Jones was the most famous itinerant preacher in the South. His crusade to Atlanta drew an enormous crowd and demonstrated how much his “equal opportunity' sermons, in which he was “hard on everyone,' resonated with a Southern audience. In an age of emerging political demagogues all over the South such as Ben Tillman and Tom Watson, Ed Ayers...

  3. A Visit From Booker T. Washington
    date November 17, 1896map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Health/Death, Economy, Education, Government, Law

    The black man would have hope on this Tuesday evening.On November 17, 1896, Booker T. Washington addressed a large crowd of people at First Baptist Church in Richmond.The event was covered by the Virginia Planet, an African American newspaper based in Richmond.The subject of the speech given by Mr. Washington centered around industrial force.According to the Planet, the event attracted the largest...

  4. Hurricane destroys much of Cedar Key, FL
    date September 29, 1896map LEVY, Floridatags Health/Death

    A hurricane with 135-mph winds caused millions of dollars worth <br />of damage and scores of deaths at Cedar Key, FL. The hurricane demolished two hotels, several churches and schoolhouses and many other buildings while the storm also hit lumber and turpentine industries extremely hard. The storm caused major floods, which begat fires throughout the city. The hurricane so damaged the Florids...

  5. The Bloomer in Alabama
    date December 9, 1896map GREENE, Alabamatags Arts/Leisure, Law, Politics, Women

    The bloomer was booming in Alabama. Passing by a young lady on the street one fine afternoon, an elderly Alabama politician caught an eyeful. Was she wearing an article of male clothing? The Greeneville Advocate documented the growing women's fashion trend with a sense of urgency: THE BLOOMER IN ALABAMA. The article informed the readership of the so-called Alabama Bill in the December...

  6. Cabell comments on 1896 election
    date November 29, 1896 to 1896map NELSON, Virginiatags Government, Politics

    For the first time, William Cabell voted Republican and broke his loyalty to the

    Democrats. 1896 was a major year for presidential elections, and silver was the major

    political issue of the election year. At the time there were three political parties:

    Republicans, Democrats, and Populists. In a letter to his wife, William D. Cabell wrote

    about a conversation he had...

  7. Crimes of Hate
    date September 4, 1896map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law

    Hatred and Prejudice went hand in hand in the late nineteenth century south.The end of the Civil War did not mean the end of oppression and violence.On September 4, 1896, a young black boy was being held on account of a felonious assault on a white girl in the Richmond area.The boy was being held prisoner in the custody of city police awaiting his trial.Following a preliminary hearing at the courthouse,...

  8. Victims Flee Harm in Richmond
    date December 31, 1896map HENRICO, Virginiatags African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Economy

    The streets of Richmond were no place to be at night.Chastain Riggins found this out the hard way as he was attacked while returning to his home on New Year's Eve 1896.At approximately 10:30 at night, Mr, Riggins was attacked by a large black man.The man grabbed Mr. Riggins by the neck and attempted to take his watch with his free hand.Mr. Riggins fought the man for a period of time until a...

  9. A Change in Direction
    date January 6, 1897map CARROLL, Marylandtags Education, Government, Politics, Race-Relations

    1897 was an important year for the educational system of Maryland, and subsequently, the South as a whole. Mayor Hooper of Baltimore, Maryland was becoming upset with the members of the school board. He strongly felt that the board of school commissioners were becoming too political in their decisions and straying from the board's intent to deliver the best quality of education to all public...

  10. Tariffs and Agriculture
    date January 7, 1897map ROCKBRIDGE, Virginiatags Agriculture, Economy, Politics

    On January 7, 1897 the Rockbridge County News released its weekly edition in the town of Lexington. One specific article presented the news of a new tariff bill to be passed by the United States House of Representatives. This bill was designed to protect young American manufacturers and the economy from competing foreign markets. The article also gave insight into the fact that many...

  11. A Blind Man Can See
    date January 21, 1897map AUGUSTA, Virginiatags Health/Death, Education, Migration/Transportation

    On the seventh day, Dr. Edson said, Let there be light and there was for the blind man John Martin in 1897. Dr. Edson administered X-rays to Martin every day for a week as a treatment for blindness. He based his hypothesis on the improvement patients with atrophied muscles had when they received massages. Dr. Edson believed X-rays would accomplish the same for an atrophied optic nerve. Before the...

  12. Lynching in the South
    date August 1, 1896map FULTON, Georgiatags Crime/Violence, african americans

    Run, Ed, run. This is what was probably going through Ed Aiken’s mind when he realized that he could not catch Sallie Harris, a young white lady. Ed Aiken was a black man who was on his way to work on Joe Maddox’s farm. Sallie was leaving her grandmother’s home and was going to her home, the farm of J.F. Harris, a well-known farmer in the Conyers, Georgia area. When Sallie got home and told...

  13. William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech
    date July 8, 1896map HENRICO, Virginiatags Economy

    This speech, delivered at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, made Nebraska's William Jennings Bryan famous across the United States. His call for calculating the value of the United States dollar based on silver rather than a gold standard held particular appeal for poor farmers, many of which were located in the South. The resulting inflation caused by adhering to a silver...

  14. Religion Spawns Murder in South Carolina
    date March 1, 1897map RICHLAND, South Carolinatags Church/Religious-Activity, Crime/Violence

    On the last day of February 1897, according to The State, John Yochum was shot and killed by a coworker from the Richland mill, Bryce McComb. When McComb, a young man not yet of age, approached Yochum, a man of 53, to reprimand him for his treatment of another worker, Owens, the elder retaliated with violence. Owens had approached a group of his coworkers asking them if they would have...

  15. Populist platform of Georgia includes plank denouncing the current lynching laws
    date 1896map FULTON, Georgiatags Race-Relations

    From the inception of the Populist party, going back to antecedent parties such as the Readjusters and Greenbackers, as well as the previous attempts in the 1880s to fuse the Farmers' Alliances and the Colored Farmers National Alliance, an attempt was made to attract the Negro to the fold using an approach devoid of what C. Vann Woodward calls “sentimental liberalism' and “romantic...

  16. National Association of Colored Women Formation
    date 1896map Washington City, District of Columbiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    Through the merger of the National Federation of Afro-American Women (headed by the dean of women at the Tuskegee Institute) and the National League of Colored Women, the formation of the National Association of Colored Women began which would culminate in its formation. Comprised of state and local affiliates, it addressed many social issues facing African American communities. Founded by abolitionist...

  17. Weather plagues the Southern States' Economies
    date 1896map LEXINGTON, South Carolinatags Agriculture, Economy

    The depression of the 1890s was only exacerbated by the weather conditions in the spring of 1896. The drought of 1896 brought a huge setback to the agricultural sectors of many southern states, particularly Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi. The lack of water caused crucial crops to wither, and brought the economy further into its depression. In Mississippi, the state also faced downpours...

  18. Race-Relations in Georgia Gubernatorial Race
    date 1896map FULTON, Georgiatags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    The occurrence of mass mob lynching or by individuals escalated during the decade of the 1890s. The severe racism of Georgia “swept away the Bourbon notion of race relations and revolutionized popular attitudes towards blacks.' The violence against African-Americans was at an unprecedented level. The gubernatorial race and the ensuing debates brought the issue of race relations to the forefront...

  19. Celebrating a Leader
    date July 2, 1896map HENRICO, Virginiatags Arts/Leisure, Economy, Government

    The South had not lost its Confederate culture following the end of the Civil War.Those criminalized by the North were made immortal by southerners in the form of monuments.Churchill Gibson Chamberlayne and all six of his family and friends attended the festivities surrounding the laying the cornerstone of the monument for former Confederate President Jefferson Davis on July 2, 1896.The event included...

  20. A Lyncher Is Revealed
    date July 2, 1896map WARREN, Tennesseetags Crime/Violence, Government

    Mob violence was prevalent in the Southern United States towards the turn of the twentieth Century. Noah B. Jones, who had been thought to be a victim of a mob attack in turn was identified as an actually lyncher, stifled by a defensive blow from a Mr. Maxwell. Jones and his party had come to Maxwell's house to terrorize him, and in turn was struck down by Maxwell with an ax in self defense....

  21. The Republican Party Platform Adopted
    date June 16, 1896map ST LOUIS, Missouritags Crime/Violence, Economy

    The Republican Party adopted their platform. In it, they aimed for protecting the gold standard, advancing American interests at home and abroad, reaffirming the Monroe Doctrine, and giving sympathy to Cuba among other things. The Republican Party named William McKinley its presidential candidate . In this platform the Republicans have a provision claiming their “unqualified condemnation'...

  22. Woman Shoots Man
    date May 18, 1896 to May, 1896map LEWIS, Tennesseetags Women

    Violence was very prevalent amongst people of the Post- Bellum era. A young woman named Sarah Hunn, better known as Fascinating Sarah Bunn, was the most expert thief and all round female crook in the city. While in her room she shot her lover, a black man named Alex Howard, with a fatal wound to the stomach. He died later that night in the City Hospital. She claimed that it was performed out of...

  23. Supreme Court Cases: Blacks Not Allowed on Juries
    date May 19, 1896map JEFFERSON, Mississippitags African-Americans, Race-Relations

    The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the Mississippi Constitution's suffrage provision which did not allow blacks on juries as they became ineligible upon disenfranchisement with the 1890 Constitution, in its decision in Ratliff v. Beale. The United States Supreme Court upheld this ruling by making the following distinction: discriminating against race and discriminating against “its characteristics...

  24. Ladies Let In
    date May 14, 1896tags Women

    Post Reconstruction in the United States brought along many evaluations of the emancipated slaves and their rights, yet through debates on black issues, women's issues arose. In 1896, modern women were taking advantage of the liberties to congregate together in clubs as their husbands did. One evening about sixty to seventy ladies, with permission, sat down together at the club to where their...

  25. George Henry White is Nominated for Republican Party Congressman
    date May 13, 1896map EDGECOMBE, North Carolinatags African-Americans, Government, Politics, Race-Relations

    On May 13, 1896, the Republican Party of the Second Congressional District nominated George Henry White, a black native of New Bern, North Carolina, for their delegate to Congress. He showed a masterful display of personal strength as he denied his brother-in-law, Henry Cheatham's, bid for a fifth straight nomination. John Fields had appointed a credentials committee that favored Cheatham, just...