It was not planned out, but there was a narrative that emerged with my writing. It became especially clear when I listed the books in chronological order, rather than the order read.
The Betrayal of the Negro: From Rutherford B. Hayes to Woodrow Wilson by Rayford Whittingham Logan
We start with the upending of reconstruction, therefore former slaves not having protection from former masters and even those who had not been owners before. So there are beatings and lynchings and rapes, except generally the rapes are of Black women by White men, but the lynchings are supposedly because Black men are so likely to rape White women.
No. It was to punish financial success, which was even more impressive considering the obstacles. Perhaps that made it more galling to those who had been working so hard against it.
The Left Great Marks On Me: African American Testimonies of Racial Violence from Emancipation to WWI by Kidada E. Williams
On Lynchings by Ida B. Wells
Revolt Against Chivalry: Jessie Ames Daniel and the Women's Campaign Against Lynching by Jacquelyn Dowd Hall
In general I don't believe in having heroes, but Wells became my hero before I was so set against it and additional reading hasn't disappointed me.
I have On Lynchings here as kind of a bridge for the documentation of the abuses and the documentation of the fighting against them. There was always resistance.
That includes White women campaigning against lynchings in Revolt Against Chivalry, with women organizing to say that are not protecting us this way, you are not making our lives better, do not use us to make it noble!
In many cases those organizers were themselves subject to racism or misogynoir -- that is why I generally avoid declaring anyone "my hero" -- but they were still working for good.
Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights by David Margolick
Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class by Blair LM Kelley
Perhaps the worst thing to look back on is for how long lynchings were common.
You can make arguments that it started even before Emancipation and that recent events like the murder of Ahmaud Arbery count, but generally people look at the time period from the end of Reconstruction to the end of World War II, almost seventy years.
(Here is one set of statistics: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingyear.html)
Part of what makes Black Folk so interesting is how much of that resistance was labor organization, and how necessary it was. That might not seem so much like "civil rights", but the ability to provide for oneself, and to have reasonable freedom in your manner of doing so is essential to everything about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
In many ways, the switch to "Civil Rights" was largely a matter of entering the public consciousness.
Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey into Mississippi's Dark Past, a Memoir by W. Ralph Eubanks
Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and the Deep South's Most Compelling Pennant Race by Larry Colton
Once we get more into the "Civil Rights" period, some of the things that stuck with me were very personal, but of course these are books written by people who were closer to it.
Eubanks looked into old records and found some of the threats and surveillance that happened with his parents (thank you Freedom Of Information Act). There is the home he remembered and the people he remembered, and some of them were dangerous in a way he had not suspected.
With Colton, the thing that stands out most is him interviewing White players who remembered some of the new Black team members as not being very social without ever thinking about the inability of those teammates to stay at the hotels they stayed at or enter the bars where they hung out.
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Possibly the thing that brought it home the most was this book of essays by Coates. Eight years is the Obama presidency, right?
It is in fact a collection of essay written during that presidency, yes, but the quote comes from South Carolina state congressman Thomas Miller, arguing against the disenfranchisement of Black Americans (including himself) at the end of Reconstruction.
Also...
*Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker by Jennifer Chiaverini
When I obtained this book, I had not realized it was a novel. I had meant to read a historical account.
I don't think it's a bad telling. There is more on the sewing than I would have looked for.
I am putting this here because it doesn't seem to go with any of the other books, and Andrew Johnson looks like a jerk, which makes sense, but also leads to this thought:
It made apparent sense to choose Andrew Johnson as a running mate to show a commitment to unity going forward. That sounds reasonable, but given Lincoln's death, it is hard to imagine a worse choice.
While that starting Betrayal had more to do with later presidents -- like Rutherford B. Hayes and Woodrow Wilson, as mentioned in the title -- well, there are times when the appearance of unity cannot possibly be as valuable as taking steps to guarantee continued progress.
Inasmuch as there has always been resistance to racist abuse, there has also always been resistance to progress.
Anyone who cares will need to constantly remember that and be vigilant about fighting its many forms.
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