We will be satisfied with nothing less : the African American struggle for equal rights in the North during Reconstruction / Hugh Davis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Davis, Hugh, 1941-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Americans--History--1863-1877.

African Americans.

African Americans--Civil rights--History--19th century.

Equality before the law--United States--History--19th century.

Equality before the law.

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (229 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Historians have focused almost entirely on the attempt by southern African Americans to attain equal rights during Reconstruction. However, the northern states also witnessed a significant period of struggle during these years. Northern blacks vigorously protested laws establishing inequality in education, public accommodations, and political life and challenged the Republican Party to live up to its stated ideals. In "We Will Be Satisfied With Nothing Less", Hugh Davis concentrates on the two issues that African Americans in the North considered most essential: black male suffrage rights and equal access to the public schools. Davis connects the local and the national; he joins the specifics of campaigns in places such as Cincinnati, Detroit, and San Francisco with the work of the National Equal Rights League and its successor, the National Executive Committee of Colored Persons. The narrative moves forward from their launching of the equal rights movement in 1864 to the "end" of Reconstruction in the North two decades later. The struggle to gain male suffrage rights was the centerpiece of the movement's agenda in the 1860's, while the school issue remained a major objective throughout the period. Following the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870, northern blacks devoted considerable attention to assessing their place within the Republican Party and determining how they could most effectively employ the franchise to protect the rights of all citizens.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Prologue

1. Launching the Equal Rights Movement

2. Toward the Fifteenth Amendment

3. The Crusade for Equal Access to Public Schools, 1864-1870

4. The Equal Rights Struggle in the 1870's

5. The Republican Retreat from Reconstruction

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780801463655

0801463653

9780801463648

0801463645

OCLC:

754718627