The Tillman Movement in South Carolina

The Tillman Movement in South Carolina PDF Author: Francis Butler Simkins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : South Carolina
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
This study seeks to tell of the most significant transformation that has affected the political life of South Carolina since Reconstruction; namely, the passing of the control of the state from the hands of Wade Hampton and the men who surrounded him into the hands of Ben Tillman and his farmer friends. While there is danger of over-emphasizing the social significance of this transfer of power, for in fact Hampton and Tillman both were ever loyal Democrats believing the whites should rule to the exclusion of the Negro; nevertheless, there was a fundamental social difference which made the rivalry of these men something more than personal. Hampton believed in the rule of the white democracy through a leadership derived from the social system which existed before the Civil War; whereas Tillman believed in the rule of the white democracy through the leadership of a new generation, which had arisen as the result of social changes after 1865. I have found it convenient to approach the study of this topic through the personality of Tillman, as I feel that Tillman, in his life and work, embodied the spirit of this transference of leadership. Yet no attempt has been made to produce a biography of Tillman, for biographical matter is subordinated to the general narrative of the so-called Tillman Movement. With this purpose as a guide, the work begins with a description of politics in South Carolina after Reconstruction and with an attempt to show why the overthrow of the regime established in 1877 was inevitable; then follows a description of the early life and influences of Tillman, his advent into the politics of the state, his ideas of reform; later comes the story of his attempts at reform through others, followed by his own successful candidacy for governor, his administrative methods, and the constructive reforms which he accomplished. The study closes with an attempt to estimate the influence of Tillman upon South Carolina after he became United States senator and after his death. - Preface.

The Tillman Movement in South Carolina

The Tillman Movement in South Carolina PDF Author: Francis Butler Simkins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : South Carolina
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
This study seeks to tell of the most significant transformation that has affected the political life of South Carolina since Reconstruction; namely, the passing of the control of the state from the hands of Wade Hampton and the men who surrounded him into the hands of Ben Tillman and his farmer friends. While there is danger of over-emphasizing the social significance of this transfer of power, for in fact Hampton and Tillman both were ever loyal Democrats believing the whites should rule to the exclusion of the Negro; nevertheless, there was a fundamental social difference which made the rivalry of these men something more than personal. Hampton believed in the rule of the white democracy through a leadership derived from the social system which existed before the Civil War; whereas Tillman believed in the rule of the white democracy through the leadership of a new generation, which had arisen as the result of social changes after 1865. I have found it convenient to approach the study of this topic through the personality of Tillman, as I feel that Tillman, in his life and work, embodied the spirit of this transference of leadership. Yet no attempt has been made to produce a biography of Tillman, for biographical matter is subordinated to the general narrative of the so-called Tillman Movement. With this purpose as a guide, the work begins with a description of politics in South Carolina after Reconstruction and with an attempt to show why the overthrow of the regime established in 1877 was inevitable; then follows a description of the early life and influences of Tillman, his advent into the politics of the state, his ideas of reform; later comes the story of his attempts at reform through others, followed by his own successful candidacy for governor, his administrative methods, and the constructive reforms which he accomplished. The study closes with an attempt to estimate the influence of Tillman upon South Carolina after he became United States senator and after his death. - Preface.

Pitchfork Ben Tillman, South Carolinian

Pitchfork Ben Tillman, South Carolinian PDF Author: Francis Butler Simkins
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 9781570034770
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 636

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Book Description
The definitive biography of a controversial South Carolina leader Upon its initial publication in 1944, Pitchfork Ben Tillman was a signal event in the writing of modern South Carolina history. In a biography the Journal of Southern History called "definitive," Francis Butler Simkins, a South Carolinian and Columbia University-educated historian, brings his research skills and professional dispassion to bear upon a study of one of the state's most controversial political leaders. Benjamin Ryan Tillman (1847-1918) accomplished a political revolution in South Carolina when he defeated Governor Wade Hampton and the old guard Bourbons who had run the state since the end of Reconstruction. Tillman and his movement aimed to expand the political control of the state to lower- and middle-class whites at the expense of African Americans and the state's former leaders. During his political ascendancy as governor and then United States Senator, Tillman introduced the state's dispensary system and shaped the state's 1895 constitution into a bulwark of white supremacy. His legacy was one of divisiveness between black and white and between whites of differing economic and geographical backgrounds. Even as Tillman championed greater equity for white farmers and mill workers, he masterminded the pernicious system of segregation and disfranchisement for African Americans during the 1890s when he not only trampled their needs, but stripped them of fundamental political and civil rights. Almost single-handedly Tillman established the iniquities of Jim Crow that countless other Southern demagogues would imitate. These "accomplishments" would plague the South and the nation until this day. Orville Vernon Burton's new introduction to this Southern classic looks at both Tillman and author Francis Simkins as prime examples of southerners with tremendous talent but unsettling accomplishments.

The Tillman Movement in South Carolina

The Tillman Movement in South Carolina PDF Author: Francis Butler Simkins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy

Ben Tillman and the Reconstruction of White Supremacy PDF Author: Stephen Kantrowitz
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469625555
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Through the life of Benjamin Ryan Tillman (1847-1918), South Carolina's self-styled agrarian rebel, this book traces the history of white male supremacy and its discontents from the era of plantation slavery to the age of Jim Crow. As an anti-Reconstruction guerrilla, Democratic activist, South Carolina governor, and U.S. senator, Tillman offered a vision of reform that was proudly white supremacist. In the name of white male militance, productivity, and solidarity, he justified lynching and disfranchised most of his state's black voters. His arguments and accomplishments rested on the premise that only productive and virtuous white men should govern and that federal power could never be trusted. Over the course of his career, Tillman faced down opponents ranging from agrarian radicals to aristocratic conservatives, from woman suffragists to black Republicans. His vision and his voice shaped the understandings of millions and helped create the violent, repressive world of the Jim Crow South. Friend and foe alike--and generations of historians--interpreted Tillman's physical and rhetorical violence in defense of white supremacy as a matter of racial and gender instinct. This book instead reveals that Tillman's white supremacy was a political program and social argument whose legacies continue to shape American life.

The Tillman Movement in South Carolina

The Tillman Movement in South Carolina PDF Author: Francis Butler Simkins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Entangled by White Supremacy

Entangled by White Supremacy PDF Author: Janet Hudson
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813173035
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Despite its significance in world and American history, the World War I era is seldom identified as a turning point in southern history, as it failed to trigger substantial economic, political, or social change in the South. Yet in 1917, black and white reformers in South Carolina saw their world on the brink of momentous change. In a state politically controlled by a white minority, the war era incited oppositional movements. As South Carolina’s economy benefited from the war, white reformers sought to use their newfound prosperity to better the state’s education system and economy and to provide white citizens with a better standard of living. Black reformers, however, channeled the feelings of hope instilled by a war that would “make the world safe for democracy” into efforts that challenged the structures of the status quo. In Entangled by White Supremacy: Reform in World War I–era South Carolina, historian Janet G. Hudson examines the complex racial and social dynamics at play during this pivotal period of U.S. history. With critical study of the early war mobilization efforts, public policy debates, and the state’s political culture, Hudson illustrates how the politics of white supremacy hindered the reform efforts of both white and black activists. The World War I period was a complicated time in South Carolina—an era of prosperity and hope as well as fear and anxiety. As African Americans sought to change the social order, white reformers confronted the realization that their newfound economic opportunities could also erode their control. Hudson details how white supremacy formed an impenetrable barrier to progress in the region. Entangled by White Supremacy explains why white southerners failed to construct a progressive society by revealing the incompatibility of white reformers’ twin goals of maintaining white supremacy and achieving progressive reform. In addition, Hudson offers insight into the social history of South Carolina and the development of the state’s crucial role in the civil rights era to come.

Jumpin' Jim Crow

Jumpin' Jim Crow PDF Author: Jane Dailey
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069121624X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
White supremacy shaped all aspects of post-Civil War southern life, yet its power was never complete or total. The form of segregation and subjection nicknamed Jim Crow constantly had to remake itself over time even as white southern politicians struggled to extend its grip. Here, some of the most innovative scholars of southern history question Jim Crow's sway, evolution, and methods over the course of a century. These essays bring to life the southern men and women--some heroic and decent, others mean and sinister, most a mixture of both--who supported and challenged Jim Crow, showing that white supremacy always had to prove its power. Jim Crow was always in motion, always adjusting to meet resistance and defiance by both African Americans and whites. Sometimes white supremacists responded with increased ferocity, sometimes with more subtle political and legal ploys. Jumpin' Jim Crow presents a clear picture of this complex negotiation. For example, even as some black and white women launched the strongest attacks on the system, other white women nurtured myths glorifying white supremacy. Even as elite whites blamed racial violence on poor whites, they used Jim Crow to dominate poor whites as well as blacks. Most important, the book portrays change over time, suggesting that Strom Thurmond is not a simple reincarnation of Ben Tillman and that Rosa Parks was not the first black woman to say no to Jim Crow. From a study of the segregation of household consumption to a fresh look at critical elections, from an examination of an unlikely antilynching campaign to an analysis of how miscegenation laws tried to sexualize black political power, these essays about specific southern times and places exemplify the latest trends in historical research. Its rich, accessible content makes Jumpin' Jim Crow an ideal undergraduate reader on American history, while its methodological innovations will be emulated by scholars of political history generally. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Edward L. Ayers, Elsa Barkley Brown, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Laura F. Edwards, Kari Frederickson, David F. Godshalk, Grace Elizabeth Hale, Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, Stephen Kantrowitz, Nancy MacLean, Nell Irwin Painter, and Timothy B. Tyson.

Wade Hampton

Wade Hampton PDF Author: Walter Brian Cisco
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597974668
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 689

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Book Description
On the eve of the American Civil War, Wade Hampton, one of the wealthiest men in the South and indeed the United States, remained loyal to his native South Carolina as it seceded from the Union. Raising his namesake Hampton Legion of soldiers, he eventually became a lieutenant general of Confederate cavalry after the death of the legendary J. E. B. Stuart. Hampton's highly capable, but largely unheralded, military leadership has long needed a modern treatment. After the war, Hampton returned to South Carolina, where chaos and violence reigned as Northern carpetbaggers, newly freed slaves, and disenfranchised white Southerners battled for political control of the devastated economy. As Reconstruction collapsed, Hampton was elected governor in the contested election of 1876 in which both the governorship of South Carolina and the American presidency hung in the balance. While aspects of Hampton's rise to power remain controversial, under his leadership stability returned to state government and rampant corruption was brought under control. Hampton then served in the U.S. Senate from 1879 to 1891, eventually losing his seat to a henchman of notorious South Carolina governor "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, whose blatantly segregationist grassroots politics would supplant Hampton's genteel paternalism. In Wade Hampton, Walter Brian Cisco provides a comprehensively researched, highly readable, and long-overdue treatment of a man whose military and political careers had a significant impact upon not only South Carolina, but America. Focusing on all aspects of Hampton's life, Cisco has written the definitive military-political overview of this fascinating man.

South Carolina State University

South Carolina State University PDF Author: William C Hine
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN: 1611178525
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
The turbulent history of one of South Carolina's historically black colleges and its significant role in the civil rights movement Since its founding in 1896, South Carolina State University has provided vocational, undergraduate, and graduate education for generations of African Americans. Now the state's flagship historically black university, it achieved this recognition after decades of struggling against poverty, inadequate infrastructure and funding, and social and cultural isolation. In South Carolina State University: A Black Land-Grant College in Jim Crow America, William C. Hine examines South Carolina State's complicated start, its slow and long-overdue transition to a degree-granting university, and its significant role in advancing civil rights in the state and country. A product of the state's "separate but equal" legislation, South Carolina State University was a hallmark of Jim Crow South Carolina. Black and white students were indeed provided separate colleges, but the institutions were in no way equal. When established, South Carolina State emphasized vocational and agricultural subjects as well as teacher training for black students while the University of South Carolina offered white students a broad range of higher-level academic and professional course work leading to a bachelor's degree. Through the middle decades of the twentieth century, South Carolina State was an incubator for much of the civil rights activity in the state. The tragic Orangeburg massacre on February 8, 1968, occurred on its campus and resulted in the deaths of three students and the wounding of twenty-eight others. Using the university as a lens, Hine examines the state's history of race relations, poverty and progress, and the politics of higher education for whites and blacks from the Reconstruction era into the twenty-first century. Hine's work showcases what the institution has achieved as well as what was required for the school to achieve the parity it was once promised. This fascinating account is replete with revealing anecdotes, more than sixty photographs and illustrations, and a cast of famous figures including Benjamin R. Tillman, Coleman Blease, Benjamin E. Mays, Marian Birnie Wilkinson, Mary McLeod Bethune, Modjeska Simkins, Strom Thurmond, Essie Mae Washington Williams, James F. Byrnes, John Foster Dulles, James E. Clyburn, and Willie Jeffries.

The Race Problem

The Race Problem PDF Author: Benjamin Ryan Tillman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : African Americans
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
Tillman, a white senator from South Carolina, speaks for political control in the South by southern whites in the face of the mass of "ignorant" African American masses, who constitute a majority in many areas and in some states. He also questions the grant of the franchise to African Americans, and specifically protests Republican patronage appointments in the South.