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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.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Mouser, Bruce L., author.
- Gates, Henry Louis Jr., author of introduction, etc.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- African American presidential candidates--Biography.
- African American presidential candidates.
- Gamblers--Illinois--Biography.
- Gamblers.
- African Americans--Political activity--History--19th century.
- African Americans.
- Scott, William Thomas, 1839-1917.
- Scott, William Thomas.
- Illinois--Politics and government--1865-1950.
- Illinois.
- United States--Politics and government--1901-1909.
- United States.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (200 p.)
- Place of Publication:
- Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, 2014.
- Language Note:
- English
- 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.
- Contents:
- Contents; Foreword / Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; Preface; Acknowledgments; List of Abbreviations; Introduction: Scott's Foundational Years; Chapter 1. A Gambler's World of Liquor, Vice, and Hometown Politics in the Post-Civil War Era; Chapter 2. Covering His Past with Rebellion and Journalism, the Early 1880's; Chapter 3. Reinvention as a Respectable Democrat, 1884 to 1893; Chapter 4. Scott's Frenetic Decade, 1893 to 1904; Chapter 5. The National Negro Liberty Party and the Debacle of the 1904 Election; Chapter 6. Hard Landing and Slow Recovery in Springfield
- Conclusion: More Complicated Than That Notes; Bibliography; Index
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on print version record.
- ISBN:
- 9780299301835
- 0299301834
- OCLC:
- 892686692
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