Gender & Jim Crow: Book Review Essay -- essays research papers fc

In Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore’s book Gender & Jim Crow, Gilmore illustrates the relations between African Americans and white in North Caroline from 1896 to 1920, as well as relations between the men and women of the time. She looks at the influences each group had on the Progressive Era, both politically and socially. Gilmore’s arguments concern African American male political participation, middle-class New South men, and African American female political influences. The book follows a narrative progression of African American progress and relapse. Gilmore argues that African American male political participation between 1890 and 1898 represented a movement toward greater inclusion. She claims that African American males in politics strove for the balance of power between political parties in North Carolina, and that the Populist-Republican victory in 1896 kept African American votes in contention and maintained some African American men in political office for a short period of time. There was an agreement between African Americans and whites that the â€Å"Best Men,† middle class African Americans, were to be the only African Americans to hold office. This was because by being dubbed the â€Å"Best Men,† they had met certain standards and were suitable for office according to the white politicians. The â€Å"Best Men† clashed with the South’s â€Å"New White Man,† who sought to re-monopolize voting rights and political power, as well as to completely dominate African Americans. Gilmore attri butes the â€Å"New White Man’s† goals to these men’s bitterness towards their fathers who were blamed for the defeat in the Civil War, southern underdevelopment, and black progress. Nonetheless, African American men rapidly increased power in politics when many positions became publicly elected. Gilmore reasons that the progress of African American men in politics caused upwardly mobile and middle-class New South men, Southern Progressives, to formulate disenfranchisement and Jim Crow laws, and to later blame the deficient â€Å"cracker† for acting on their verbal violence. She also says that white supremacists reacted to white women’s movement into public space, urbanization, industrialization, and African-American advancement, and â€Å"responded to black power even as [they] capitalized on black weakness† (p 118). The â€Å"Best Men† were blamed for the supposed rapists and malingerers in the Afr... ...th Carolina. I agree with her arguments, and found a great deal of the information in this book surprising, and also disturbing. I did not know a lot of the history of race relation in North Carolina, which was different from the rest of the south since whites barely outnumbered African Americans at that time in North Carolina. Because of this legal segregation came late and was more intense since the African Americans were able to put up more of a fight. All of Gilmore’s evidence supports her arguments, and makes a lot of sense. She did enough research and knows enough about the South that there is no reason any of the standpoints that she makes should be false. Glenda Gilmore’s book Gender & Jim Crow shows a different point of view from a majority of history of the south and proves many convictions that are not often stated. Her stance from the African American point of view shows how harsh relations were at this time, as well as how hard they tried for equity in society. Gilmore’s portrayal of the Progressive Era is very straightforward and precise, by placing educated African American women at the center of Southern political history, instead of merely in the background.