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Published by Number I New Series Volume XXI Volume Natchitoches, Louisiana Natchitoches, Northwestern State University State Northwestern Spring/Summer 2014 The Southern Studies Institute Southern Studies The An InterdisciplinaryAn Journal of the South Southern Studies Southern Studies Volume XXI Number I 2014 Non-Profit Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South Organization Southern Studies Institute POSTAGE Northwestern State University PAID Natchitoches, Louisiana 71497 Permit No. 204 Natchitoches, LA 71457 SS Southern Studies An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South New Series Volume XXI • Number I Spring/Summer 2014 Published by The Southern Studies Institute Northwestern State University Natchitoches, Louisiana SS Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South is published biannually by the Southern Studies Institute of Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana. 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Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South Director, Southern Studies Institute Editor Charles Pellegrin Managing Editor William Housel Book Review Editor Allison Rittmayer Editorial Board Margaret Bauer Rod Andrew, Jr. East Carolina University Clemson University Angela Boswell Tim Huebner Henderson State University Rhodes College Brian Brox Randy Sanders Tulane University Southeastern Louisiana University Casey Clabough Jay Watson Lynchburg College University of Mississippi Holly Stave Jeannie Whayne Louisiana Scholars' College University of Arkansas Pearson Cross W. Kirk Wood University of Louisiana—Lafayette Alabama State University Katherine Henninger Joshua D. Rothman Louisiana State University University of Alabama James MacDonald Stephen D. Shaffer Northwestern State University Mississippi State University New Series Volume XXI • Number I Spring/Summer 2014 Contents Tim Scott to the United States Senate: Putting His Appointment and High-Profile Statewide Office Candidacy in Historical Context. Judson L. Jeffries 1 Alexander Cumming - King or Pawn? An Englishman on the Colonial Chessboard of the Eighteenth-century American Southwest. Ian Chambers 33 Colonial Servitude and the "Unfree" Origins of America. Matthew Pursell 55 Bundles, Passes, and Stolen Watches: Interpreting the Role of Material Culture in Escape. Matthew C. Greer 87 Book Reviews A New Day in the Delta: Inventing School Desegregation as You Go. Thomas Aiello 97 Wade Hampton: Confederate Warrior to Southern Redeemer. Robert H. Butts 101 The Past Is Not Dead: Essays from the Southern Quarterly. Kimberly Fain 105 The Odyssey of an African Slave. Ryan Frisinger 111 Nancy Batson Crews: Alabama's First Lady of Flight. Erinn McComb 115 Southern Studies • Volume XXI • Number I • Spring/Summer 2014 About the Authors Judson L. Jeffries is Professor of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University. Ian D. Chambers is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Idaho. Matthew Pursell is Assistant Professor of History at the University of West Florida. Matthew C. Greer is a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Southern Mississippi. His paper, published in this volume, won the William F. Coker Award at the 2013 Gulf South History and Humanities Conference. Thomas Aiello is Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies at Valdosta State University. Robert H. Butts is Instructor of History at Tyler Junior College. Kimberly Fain is Adjunct Instructor of English at Houston Community College. Ryan Frisinger is a graduate student in the Department of History at the University of Louisiana - Monroe. Erinn McComb is Assistant Professor of History at Del Mar College. Southern Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the South Spring/Summer 2014 • 21(1): 1 - 31 Tim Scott to the United States Senate: Putting His Appointment and High-Profile Statewide Office Candidacy in Historical Context Judson L. Jeffries Introduction In American politics, no elective offices have proven more difficult for African Americans to capture than the high profile1 statewide posts of governor and U.S. Senate. Only three Blacks have served as governor of an American state since Reconstruction—L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, and David Paterson2 of New York. Five African Americans3 have occupied seats in the United States Senate—Republican Edward W. Brooke III of Massachusetts, and Carol Moseley Braun, Barack Obama, and Roland Burris,4 all of Illinois as well as the October 2013 special election of Cory Booker in New Jersey. Recently, the appointment of Congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina, an African American, to the United States Senate by Republican Governor Nikki Haley reverberated throughout both the hallowed halls of Congress and the corridors of academia, especially in the field of American Politics where the study of candidates and elections is featured prominently in classroom lectures around the country. While many saw Scott’s appointment as reason for celebration, Political Scientist Adolph L. Reed Jr. offered that while Scott’s elevation “seemed like another milestone for African Americans”, that perception needed rethinking. He cautioned against “cheerleading over racial symbolism” and suggested that Scott was merely the latest in a long line of “cynical tokens” put forward by Republicans.5 Reed’s observation is not altogether unwarranted given the party’s apparent antipathy toward African Americans since the election of Richard Nixon nearly forty-five years ago. Not to be outdone, weeks later, the Democratic governor of Massachusetts appointed an African American to fill the senate seat vacated by John Kerry who joined the president’s cabinet as secretary of state. On this appointment Reed and other students of Black Politics were noticeably silent. The irony is--a party originally established by racist southern white men to enhance and maintain their real and perceived interests gets a pass--as it is now perceived - 1 - by some as the party of African Americans, liberals and moderate whites and Latinos. Although the appointment of Mo Cowans, an African American former chief of staff for Governor Patrick was seemingly without substance,6 it escaped public criticism. Be that as it may, Haley’s appointment of Scott is historic in two ways: a) Scott is the first Black to represent the U.S. Senate from the South since Reconstruction and b) his appointment represents only the second time since then that a Black Republican will occupy a United States Senate seat. This combination of unique circumstances prompted editors of several major newspapers to give the story high priority.7 Few editors and their reporters pass up an opportunity of such historic importance. While Black high-profile statewide officer seekers are not the novelty they once were; their candidacies are still relatively infrequent. Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, no more than fifty African Americans have posed serious8 challenges for the offices of governor and United States Senate. Over that period, thousands of African Americans around the country have run for and won political offices of varying types. Some of the most notable wins by Black candidates have occurred in the U.S. Congress where more than one hundred African Americans have been elected to the House of Representatives. Moreover, since redistricting for the 1992 elections, African Americans have consistently held 40 or more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Blacks have also experienced tremendous success at the mayoral level. Since the Voting Rights Act of 1965 voters in more than 300 cities have elected African Americans to serve as their mayor. Blacks have been elected mayor in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,