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A black gambler's world of liquor, vice, and presidential politics : William Thomas Scott of Illinois, 1839-1917 / Bruce L. Mouser ; foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Van Pelt Library E185.97.S37 M68 2014
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Mouser, Bruce L., author.
- Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., author of foreword.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Scott, William Thomas, 1839-1917.
- Scott, William Thomas.
- African American presidential candidates--Biography.
- African American presidential candidates.
- Gamblers--Illinois--Biography.
- Gamblers.
- African Americans--Political activity--History--19th century.
- African Americans.
- African Americans--Political activity--History--20th century.
- Political participation.
- History.
- Illinois--Politics and government--1865-1950.
- Illinois.
- Politics and government.
- United States--Politics and government--1901-1909.
- United States.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Physical Description:
- xxi, 187 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2014]
- Summary:
- William Thomas Scott (1839-1917) was an entrepreneur and political activist from East Saint Louis and Cairo, Illinois, who in 1904 briefly became the first African American nominated by a national party for president of the United States before His scandalous past forced him to step aside. A free man before the Civil War, Scott was a charismatic hustler who built his fortune through, both vice trades and legal businesses including hotels, saloons, and real estate. Publisher and editor of the Cairo Gazette and an outspoken advocate for equal rights, he believed in political patronage and frequently rebelled against political bosses who failed to deliver, whether they were white, black, Republican, or Democrat. Scott helped build the National Negro Liberty Party to forward economic, political, and legal rights for his race. But the hustling that had brought him business success proved his undoing as a national political figure. He was the NNLP's initial presidential nominee, only to be replaced by a better-educated and more socially acceptable candidate, George Edwin Taylor. Book jacket.
- Contents:
- 1 A Gambler's World of Liquor, Vice, and Hometown Politics in the Post-Civil War Era 19
- 2 Covering His Past with Rebellion and Journalism, the Early 1880s 39
- 3 Reinvention as a Respectable Democrat, 1884 to 1893 59
- 4 Scott's Frenetic Decade, 1893 to 1904 78
- 5 The National Negro Liberty Party and the Debacle of the 1904 Election 92
- 6 Hard Landing and Slow Recovery in Springfield 104.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780299301842
- 0299301842
- OCLC:
- 872654843
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