Wilbert L. Jenkins. Seizing the New Day: African Americans in Post-Civil War Charleston. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998. xvi + 238 pp. $29.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-253-33380-3.
Reviewed by Everette Swinney
Published on H-CivWar (March, 1999)
In his introduction, Wilbert Jenkins promises Jenkins accomplishes this in seven tightly correctives to the traditional story of the black ex‐ written, logically organized chapters which treat perience during Reconstruction. First, where the (1) the nature of slavery in Charleston, (2) the im‐ standard accounts treat regional or state-wide mediate impact of manumission, (3) the struggle patterns, he will focus on local history. Second, for economic independence and security, (4) the where predecessors have emphasized the political quest for education, (5) the efects of emancipa‐ experience of the freedmen, he will elucidate the tion on family and community life, (6) the estab‐ social and economic. And third, where scholars lishment of independent black churches, and (7) have too often treated post-war Negroes as a ho‐ the eforts (sometimes violent, sometimes politi‐ mogeneous group, he will reveal the wide diversi‐ cal) blacks made to protect and enhance their ty within that community. new freedom. It is in the realization of his frst objective that Charleston's blacks enjoyed their greatest suc‐ Jenkins' contribution is most obvious and most cesses in those arenas where defning freedom valuable. Seizing the New Day is, frst and fore‐ was least dependent on white approval or cooper‐ most, a local history which thoroughly documents ation--family and religion. Despite obvious hard‐ for Charleston, South Carolina, the triumphs and ships and the perceptions of many contemporary tragedies, successes and failures, and hopes and observers, the black family had "achieved a de‐ disappointments of blacks during the frst few gree of stability by 1870. Of black adults living in years of freedom. At the national and state levels, all-black households, the percentage of those who the general nature of this experience has been were married was in fact strikingly close to the well told by Eric Foner, Leon Litwack, and Joel percentage of married white adults living in all- Williamson among others.[1] This monograph, white households" (p. 96). however, provides detail and nuance which is The winning of religious freedom, however, simply not possible in general histories. was the most clear-cut achievement. Charleston's H-Net Reviews blacks, associating white churches with the Old 1870 were comparable to white, and black illitera‐ Regime, seized emancipation as an opportunity to cy was down to 54.4 percent. sever ties with white denominations and establish Charleston blacks were less intimidated by churches of their own. White ambivalence speed‐ white violence than was generally true through‐ ed the process, and organized religion was soon out the South. Indeed, blacks aggressively used vi‐ completely bifurcated along racial lines. These olence, as well as political action, to protect and black churches "became the central institution extend the new privileges of freedom. In a suc‐ within the black community of Charleston ... and cessful sit-in campaign to integrate the city's street their leaders became the nucleus of black commu‐ cars, in full-fedged riots attempting to obliterate nity life, providing sacred services to blacks but the lingering efects of slavery, and in individual functioning also as a social, economic, and politi‐ retaliation for insults or abuse to black women, cal institution within the black community" (p. Charleston's Negroes clearly held their own. The 132). author concludes that "The incidents of racial vio‐ In other areas, the benefts of freedom were lence in Charleston during the Reconstruction pe‐ more ephemeral. Economic independence was riod suggest that freedmen had adjusted to the crucial. Most blacks were eager to work, willing to new social order better than had whites" (p. 152). save money, and hungry for land; but the circum‐ In pursuance of his second goal, avoiding an stances and politics of the post-war era made overemphasis on politics, Jenkins has perhaps prosperity illusive. The mass migration of rural succeeded too well. Although politics, in one way blacks into Charleston at war's end depressed the or another, was an important tool in the quest to labor market. The Black Code and white hostility achieve social and economic freedom and is so circumscribed choices. Free land, of course, never recognized in each of the chapters, there is no re‐ materialized. The Panic of 1873 undermined a ally comprehensive discussion of the subject. powerful black labor movement and depressed Black voting, for example, is discussed only wages. Despite black acceptance of capitalist briefy in a single paragraph on page 145 where ideals and great perseverance in the pursuance of one learns simply that "freedmen were encour‐ same, high unemployment rates became a reality aged to register and vote." A chapter on this sub‐ by the end of the period. ject would have been an informative addition. Education was a very high priority for post- By the same token, a more thorough discus‐ emancipation blacks in Charleston. They aggres‐ sion of black soldiers could have been elucidating. sively politicked for free public schools, and There has been some confusion regarding the scraped and saved to provide the books and sup‐ number and the duration of use of Negro troops plies which even the tuition-free institutions re‐ during Reconstruction.[2] The generalization, quired. "Indeed, some of the sacrifces freedpeo‐ drawn from one incident in 1865, that "Through‐ ple made to obtain literacy after emancipation are out the Reconstruction Period in Charleston, black unprecedented in American history" (p. 75). The soldiers were active participants in many racial necessity of such sacrifces increased with the clashes, often as the aggressors" is probably wide passage of time, because Northern humanitarian of the mark (p. 139). groups and the Freedmen's Bureau cut back their Jenkins third corrective--to focus on the het‐ programs and worsening economic conditions ex‐ erogeneity within the black community--is very acerbated black poverty. Never wavering in their efectively done. The free black population in thirst for learning, black school enrollments by Charleston had always been large, ranging up to as much as 20 percent of total Negroes. Predomi‐
2 H-Net Reviews nantly mulatto, this group included both laborers, mary sources including records of the Freedmen's who were treated scarcely better than slaves, and Bureau, Freedmen's Savings Bank, and American a very small wealthy elite, who often owned Missionary Association, and he has made particu‐ slaves themselves and supported the Confederacy. larly efective use of the population schedules of Charleston's slaves, mostly domestics, were joined the United States manuscript censuses for the pe‐ at war's end by a huge infux of black agricultural riod. He has used the latter to compile a number laborers from the hinterland. Thus, there was a of revealing tables on free blacks, slaves, residen‐ diverse black population: the lighter-skinned free‐ tial distribution, education, employment, mar‐ born, both middle class and elite, and the darker- riage, etc. This methodology is an excellent model skinned freedmen, urban and rural. for others who would study change at the local Although often united, these black subgroups level in this fascinating period of American histo‐ were frequently divided. "Blacks from the ante‐ ry. And the volume is handsomely illustrated with bellum free black elite were scornful of the re‐ well- chosen photographs, drawings, and maps. cently freed blacks, who in turn were distrustful Seizing the New Day is an worthwhile addi‐ of them. House servants thought themselves bet‐ tion to the growing shelf of books which empha‐ ter than feld hands, and blacks who were not size the important role that blacks played in shap‐ very prosperous envied the well-to-do. There ing the changes which came with emancipation. were also tensions between established city Notes: dwellers and rural migrants" (p. 107). [1]. Reconstruction: America's Unfnished And the impact of freedom varied somewhat Revolution, 1863-1877 (New York: Harper and from group to group. The freeborn middle class, Row, 1988); Been in the Storm So Long: The After‐ for whom emancipation and Black Code brought a math of Slavery (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, loss of status, provided political leadership which 1979); After Slavery: The Negro in South Carolina was often antithetical to the interests of the freed‐ During Reconstruction, 1861-1877 (Chapel Hill: man majority. Skin color and status often deter‐ University of North Carolina Press, 1965). mined which schools blacks attended and which [2]. See John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction: churches they joined. Curiously, rural freedman after the Civil War (Chicago: University of Chicago pursued education more aggressively than their Press,1961), 35-36; and James E. Sefton, The United urban brethren. And intraracial bickering was States Army and Reconstruction, 1865-1877 (Ba‐ one of the factors which led to the collapse of the ton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1967), Republican Party in the city. 52-53, 97-98. In an epilogue, Jenkins briefy treats the un‐ Copyright (c) 1999 by H-Net, all rights re‐ raveling of Reconstruction and the erosion of eco‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft nomic status and civil and political rights in the educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ late nineteenth century. "Blacks in Charleston and thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ throughout the South took one step forward and tact
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Citation: Everette Swinney. Review of Jenkins, Wilbert L. Seizing the New Day: African Americans in Post-Civil War Charleston. H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews. March, 1999.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=2859
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