Local matters : race, crime, and justice in the nineteenth-century South / edited by Christopher Waldrep and Donald G. Nieman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Waldrep, Christopher, 1951-

Nieman, Donald G., Ph.D.

Series:

Studies in the legal history of the South.

Studies in the legal history of the South

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slavery--Law and legislation--Southern States--History--19th century.

Slavery.

Discrimination in justice administration--Southern States--History--19th century.

Discrimination in justice administration.

African Americans--Legal status, laws, etc--Southern States--History--19th century.

African Americans.

African American criminals--Southern States--History--19th century.

African American criminals.

Southern States--Race relations--History--19th century.

Southern States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (282 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Athens : University of Georgia Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Much of the current reassessment of race, culture, and criminal justice in the nineteenth-century South has been based on intensive community studies. Drawing on previously untapped sources, the nine original papers collected here represent some of the best new work on how racial justice can be shaped by the particulars of time and place. Although each essay is anchored in the local, several important larger themes emerge across the volume-such as the importance of personality and place, the movement of former slaves from the capriciousness of "plantation justice" to the (theoretically) more evenhanded processes of the courts, and the increased presence of government in daily aspects of American life. Local Matters cites a wide range of examples to support these themes. One essay considers the case of a quasi-free slave in Natchez, Mississippi-himself a slaveowner-who was "reined in" by his master through the courts, while another shows how federal aims were subverted during trials held in the aftermath of the 1876 race riots in Ellenton, South Carolina. Other topics covered include the fear of black criminality as a motivation of Klan activity; the career of Thomas Ruffin, slaveowner and North Carolina Supreme Court Justice; blacks and the ballot in Washington County, Texas; the overturned murder conviction of a North Carolina slave who had killed a white man; the formation of a powerful white bloc in Vicksburg, Mississippi; agitation by black and white North Carolina women for greater protections from abusive white male elites; and slaves, crime, and the common law in New Orleans. Together, these studies offer new insights into the nature of law and the fate of due process at different stages of a highly racialized society.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Introduction

Judging Slavery: Thomas Ruffin and State v. Mann

The Roots of Fairness: State v. Caesar and Slave Justice in Antebellum North Carolina

Slaves and Crime: New Orleans, 1846-1862

The Law and the Culture of Slavery: Natchez, Mississippi

Women and the Law: Domestic Discord in North Carolina After the Civil War

Extralegal Violence and the Planter Class: The Ku Klux Klan in the Alabama Black Belt During Reconstruction

Federal Enforcement of Black Rights in the Post-Redemption South: The Ellenton Riot Case

African American Communities, Politics, and Justice: Washington County, Texas, 1865-1890

Black Political Leadership: Warren County, Mississippi

Contributors

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-43206-4

9786613432063

0-8203-4205-X

OCLC:

775468379