|
The "nadir of American race relations" was the period in the history of the Southern United States from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 through the early 20th century, when racism in the country was worse than in any other period after the American Civil War. During this period, African Americans lost many civil rights gains made during Reconstruction. Anti-black violence, lynchings, segregation, legal racial discrimination, and expressions of white supremacy increased. Historian Rayford Logan first used the term "nadir" to describe this period in his 1954 book ''The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877–1901''. The term continues to be used, most notably in the books of James Loewen, but also by other scholars. Loewen argued that the post-Reconstruction era was actually one of widespread hope for racial equity, when idealistic Northerners championed civil rights. The true nadir, accordingly, began only when northern Republicans ceased supporting Southern blacks' rights around 1890, and extended through 1940. This period followed the financial Panic of 1873 and a continuing decline in cotton prices and coincided with the Progressive Era, and the sundown town phenomenon across the country.〔Loewen, ''Sundown Towns''〕 ==Reconstruction== In the early part of the 20th century, some white historians put forth the concept of Reconstruction as a tragic period, when Republicans motivated by revenge and profit used troops to force Southerners to accept corrupt governments run by unscrupulous Northerners and unqualified blacks. Such scholars generally dismissed the idea that blacks could ever be capable of governing. Notable proponents of this view were referred to as the Dunning School, named after influential Columbia historian William Archibald Dunning. Another Columbia professor, John Burgess, famously wrote that "black skin means membership in a race of men which has never of itself... created any civilization of any kind."〔John William Burgess, ''(Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1866-1876 )''; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905; p. (133 ).〕〔Robert Gregg, "Giant Steps: W.E.B. DuBois and the Historical Enterprise", in ''W.E.B. DuBois, Race, and the City: "The Philadelphia Negro" and Its Legacy'', ed. Michael B. Katz & Thomas J. Sugrue; University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998; p. https://books.google.com/books?id=50o5DUMo6fcClpg=PA92 92].〕 The Dunning School's view of Reconstruction held sway for years. It was represented in D. W. Griffith's popular movie ''The Birth of a Nation'' (1915) and to some extent in Margaret Mitchell's novel ''Gone with the Wind'' (1934). More recent historians of the period have rejected many of the Dunning School's conclusions, and offer a different assessment.〔(Current, pp. 446-447)〕 Today's consensus regards Reconstruction as a time of idealism and hope, with some practical achievements. The Radical Republicans who passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were, for the most part, motivated by a desire to help freedmen.〔(Current, pp. 446-447)〕 African-American historian W. E. B. Du Bois put this view forward in 1910, and later historians Kenneth Stampp and Eric Foner expanded it. The Republican Reconstruction governments had their share of corruption, but they benefited many whites, and were no more corrupt than Democratic governments or, indeed, Northern Republican governments.〔(Foner, p. 388)〕 Furthermore, the Reconstruction governments established public education and social welfare institutions for the first time, improving education for both blacks and whites, and tried to improve social conditions for the many left in poverty after the long war. No Reconstruction state government was dominated by blacks; in fact, blacks did not attain a level of representation equal to their population in any state.〔(Current, pp. 446-449)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nadir of American race relations」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|