Book Description

Recounts the rise & fall of African Americans in Alabama politics. Delves into the efforts to establish banks, labor unions, newspapers, churches, schools, & the Republican party. Also distills the role of the Freedmen's Bureau, Union League, & American Missionary Association in their rise to political power. Outlined are their prewar activities, especially their occupations, manumissions, quest for an education, & service to the Union or the Confederacy. Shows that blacks were loyal members of the party & were especially crippled when intraparty factionism & Federal programs failed to move them beyond emancipation. Emphasized are the reasons for the decline of black officeholding. Includes two maps, eight tables, & 57 photographs, many of them rare. Among the 14 appendices are some correspondence of these lawmakers, data on Alabama's black schools, names & hometowns of AMA teachers, a list of black property owners, identification of black major & minor officeholders, & a recapitulation of the number of slaves & slaveholders in 1850. Six plus, 20% discount. Call 1-800-484-8620, Ext. 5198 (orders only), 205-284-5138 (inquiries only), or 205-281-4904 (FAX). Richard Bailey Publishers, P.O. Box 1264, Montgomery, AL 36102-1264.