Emancipation

[xoxoxoBruce]

June 19, 1865, is what most experts say the last slaves in United states were freed. That's 2.5 years after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Now consider 42 years later in the spring of 1907, the following news items;

IF HE DOESN'T COME UP WITH $2.75, HE COULD BE IN JAIL FOR LIFE: A black man, Gordon Phillips, is in jail in Mount Holly, N.J. He is there because he owes the county $1 for a poll tax and $1.15 for costs. He was arrested on Aug. 25. He is held under Section 700 of the Revised Statues of New Jersey. Under that provision a tax delinquent must stay in jail until the tax is fully paid. A check of the records fails to reveal any other such instance of such an imprisonment in the history of the county, according to today's New York Times. Sensing a double standard, the writer of the article adds,
However, the county would require a jail several times larger than the New Jersey State Prison if all the poll tax delinquents had the law enforced against them as it has been against this man.

BLACK LABORERS AT THE B&O PIER WORKED AND DIED IN ANONYMITY: Between 15,000 and 20,000 rubberneckers showed up in Baltimore yesterday at the sight of the under-construction Baltimore and Ohio pier that collapsed. People waited at the scene all day, cordoned off by police, even though there was little to see. Owners of launches made $10 an hour ferrying people near the disaster on the water side.
The number of men killed is not known. An unknown number of black workers will be added to the tally, according to today's Washington Post. Their identification is a problem. They were employed by the McLean Construction Company and are identified by NUMBERS ONLY. The Post adds, "Their fate cannot be known until payday arrives."

QUAKER DONATES $1 MILLION FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG BLACKS: A Philadelphia Quaker named Anna T. Jeanes (right) has donated $1 million to set up an endowment to help southern states educate young black students. According to the front-page article in today's New York Times, this gift "is said to be by far the largest single gift for public elementary school purposes ever donated by any philanthropist in this country." Miss Jeanes is older than 80 and is the last member of a long-established Quaker family.

FLORIDA POLITICIANS VOTE TO TAKE THE VOTE AWAY FROM BLACKS: Members of Florida's State Senate yesterday took a big swipe at the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by voting to disenfranchise blacks in Florida. The man behind the resolution is John Beard of Pensacola. According to today's New York Times, he spoke at length and said the amendments were, in a paraphrase, "irregularly adopted and hence illegal." The Senate backed it by a 23 to 5 vote. The House is expected to approve the resolution without a dissenting vote. It looks like this will head toward the U.S. Supreme Court. A "great crowd" heard the debate in the capitol (right) and responded to the Senate's action with applause, according to the Times. The story ran on the FRONT PAGE of the Times and on PAGE 4 of The Washington Post.

WHEN WILL LYNCHERS LEARN TO LET JUSTICE TAKE ITS COURSE? A group of about 20 men tried to lynch a black man in Bunkie, La., on the night of April 14. At one point, after the mob had plucked the accused man from the local jail, the captive broke free. In the confusion, members of the mob began firing their guns. When the smoke cleared, three men in the mob had been hit by bullets. For one the injuries were fatal. Not surprisingly, another mob was formed to try and find the escaped prisoner. I wonder if they tracked him down with loaded guns.

It seems there's a little more to this freedom stuff than emancipation, huh?

[DanaC]

That's really interesting. Thanks for that Bruce.