Bishop Benjamin William Arnett delivered a graduation address to the youths of the Georgia State Industrial College for Colored Youth on June 7, 1899. In his speech Arnett spoke to the youths about the many commendable achievements of African Americans. He noted that the black race had gone through many changes throughout history and many more changes needed to occur. Arnett's speech mainly...
Southern Negroes were mostly aligned with the Republican Party through the 1870's. In the 1880s Republicans began to lose hold on their Negro supporters. In October of 1883 the Supreme Court declared the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional, and after the compromise of 1877 Godkin decreed the impossibility of incorporating a Negro into “a system of government for which you and I would have...
The Huntsville chamber of commerce called for the Southern Industrial Convention to discuss southern industrial conditions. The convention was attended by all southern states. The convention lasted for six days allotting time for the discussion of the industrial condition of each state individually. Booker T. Washington spoke on the impact of racial relations on southern industry, and Senator...
A newspaper in Barnwell, South Carolina reported in their May 11 edition that the Southern Railroad had purchased the Carolina Midland, a main road that cut across the state. The Railroad had recently purchased the South Carolina and the Georgia road. The Railroad intended to use this road to construct a direct line from Columbia, SC to Savannah, GA. Cities like Barnwell paid close attention to...
Water is a necessity; however, white southerners knew that indoor plumbing was only a nicety. As the white administrators of the Paris Mountain Water Company drafted new rules of their newly acquired waterworks, they established regulations to prevent or oppress most African Americans in their struggle for survival in the post-Reconstruction era southern United States. For example, as a newly reunited...
This religious meeting held in Atlanta brought together “some of the most prominent leaders in the entire Christian world', according to the Atlanta Constitution. Over the course of several days, these leaders met with religious leaders from across the country, as well as ordinary citizens of Atlanta to discuss topics of religion and to raise money for churches and Sunday schools across...
To celebrate 100 years of Methodism in the city of Richmond, five days of services and prayer meetings were held in the state capitol. Thousands were in attendance and the zeal the event created led one reporter from the Dispatch to claim: “the celebration is in effect the same as a religious revival on a colossal scale'. <br /> Services began Sunday April 23 as crowds packed...
The French Canadian fishermen of Belle Isle pull in their catch. The seine net, hauled in by canoes, horsepower, and manpower, is 1,600 feet long and twelve feet deep, full of black bass, muskallonge, whitefish, and other species. All these men care about, however, are the whitefish. Their bounty greatly varies each seine haul; some hold four whitefish, some hold two hundred. They used to not care...
The South was a region characterized by extreme violence following the civil war, much of which resulted from racial tensions. The flagrant racism found throughout the south explains why the majority of murders were committed by white men against black victims. However, many killings of blacks remained unreported as they often went unpunished. All murder cases in which the victim was white were...
In a letter written to a friend, Edwin L. Johnson describes his experiences in an army camp in Florida during the previous summer of 1898. Johnson's friend, Julius E. Boggs, forwarded the letter to the Charleston newspaper, the News and Courier, where it was published on June 18, 1899. Johnson volunteered for the army when the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898 and was enlisted into the...